Cranberry Shortbread Bars are a delicious treat with a shortbread bottom, cranberry sauce middle, and streusel topping! You can use canned or leftover cranberry sauce for this recipe.
Cranberry Shortbread Bars are a delicious and easy way to use up leftover cranberry sauce! This is also an excellent recipe to have on hand for the holidays and can be made with canned cranberry sauce.
If you love cranberry desserts, don’t miss this Cranberry Ricotta Cake or this Cranberry Orange Cake with cream cheese frosting. For another show-stopping holiday dessert, don’t miss this delicious Pound Cake Trifle recipe!
You’ll Love Cranberry Shortbread Bars!
The flavors and textures of these Cranberry Shortbread Bars make it a truly delicious dessert to have on hand during the holidays. With a shortbread bottom and streusel top, this recipe is perfection!
If you love cranberry sauce, you are going to love these bars. This recipe is a great way to use up leftover cranberry sauce but can also be made using canned sauce with great results.
With three layers, you may think that this recipe will be difficult to make. However, the recipe is made in a food processor and comes together in just minutes. Plus, because you are using cold butter, no waiting for it to come to room temperature either.
This is a great bar to make ahead too! It’s the perfect addition to your holiday dessert table or just to have around to snack on during the season.
So, if you have some leftover cranberry sauce, give these bars a try. They may just be your new favorite way to eat cranberries!
Ingredients
To make Cranberry Shortbread Bars you will need: flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, rolled oats, butter, cinnamon, vanilla, and cranberry sauce.
- Butter: cold, unsalted butter works best here. The butter gets combined in food processor, so just cut it into cubes or chunks before adding it in.
- Cranberry Sauce: this is a great recipe to use up leftover cranberry sauce like my Cranberry Pineapple Sauce. However, you can also use a canned cranberry sauce from the grocery store. Use whatever variety you like.
- Rolled Oats: the rolled oats give the bars a nice crunch with the streusel topping. Use whatever variety of oats you have on hand.
How to Make Cranberry Shortbread Bars
To make Cranberry Shortbread Bars, start by spraying a 9 x 9 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and then line it with parchment. Arrange a baking rack in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Step 1: Make the shortbread bottom.
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To start, you will need to combine the ingredients for the shortbread in a food processor. This includes the flour, sugar, vanilla, salt, and cold cubed butter. Then, just pulse the ingredients until they are combined. The mixture will look dry like sand, but this is fine. (Don’t clean out the food processor, you will need it for step 4.)
Step 2: Press the shortbread into the pan.
Press the shortbread mixture into the bottom of the lined baking pan. The mixture will be very crumbly but should hold together when pressed. You can use the bottom of a measuring cup or your hands for this.
Step 3: Spread on the cranberry sauce.
Next, spoon the cranberry sauce on top of the shortbreads. Use a butter knife or spatula to gently spread the sauce over the top of the bars.
Step 4: Make the streusel topping.
The last step is to combine the rolled oats, flour, butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, in the food processor. Pulse it just until the butter has been distributed throughout the mixture. Then, sprinkle the streusel on top of the cranberry layer.
Bake on the center rack in the oven for about 40 minutes. When done baking, remove the bars and place on a cooling rack to cool completely before cutting.
Expert Tips
- The entire recipe is made in the food processor. No need to wash it out after making the shortbread layer.
- The shortbread mixture will appear very crumbly; this is normal. Just pour it into the pan and press it in using the bottom of a measuring cup, a spatula, or clean hands.
- If you don’t have leftover cranberry sauce you can use canned. I like the Ocean Spray whole berry cranberry sauce here.
- Just pulse the streusel mixture in the food processor until the butter is combined. You still want bit of rolled oats in there so be careful not to over-process.
- Cool the bars completely before removing from the baking pan using the parchment. Cut into squares once cooled.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. You can also freeze for up to a month.
- If you love shortbread, try this classic Shortbread Cookie Bar Recipe!
Frequently Asked Questions
When making shortbread, expect the mixture to be crumbly before baking. Just press it into the baking pan and bake. It should firm up and come together once baked.
The jellied cranberry sauce is made without any whole cranberries. You can substitute the jellied cranberry sauce here but the texture will be slightly different.
Leftover cranberry sauce can be used in baking whenever a recipe calls for jelly or jam. You can make thumbprint cookies out it or spread it on these Cranberry Shortbread Bars.
More Holiday Bar Recipes!
Cranberry Shortbread Bars
Equipment
- 9 x 9 inch baking pan
- food processor
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 14 ounces cranberry sauce (about 1 ½ cups)
Streusel Topping
- ½ cup rolled oats
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 9 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment paper; set aside.
- In a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, add in the flour, ½ cup cubed butter, sugar, vanilla and salt. Place the lid on the food processor and pulse the mixture until it is well combined and resembles sand. Press the mixture into the baking pan using the bottom or a cup or with a spatula.
- Gently spread the cranberry sauce over top of the shortbread; set aside.
- In the same food processor, add in the streusel topping ingredients: rolled oats, brown sugar, ½ cup flour, ¼ cup cubed butter, and cinnamon. Pulse the mixture until combined and it resembles a coarse crumb. Sprinkle the streusel over the cranberry layer.
- Place the bars on the middle rack of your preheated oven. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Let the bars cool in the pan completely before cutting into squares.
Notes
- The entire recipe is made in the food processor. No need to wash it out after making the shortbread layer.
- The shortbread mixture will appear very crumbly; this is normal. Just pour it into the pan and press it in using the bottom of a measuring cup, a spatula, or clean hands.
- If you don’t have leftover cranberry sauce you can use canned. I like the Ocean Spray whole berry cranberry sauce here.
- Just pulse the streusel mixture in the food processor until the butter is combined. You still want bit of rolled oats in there so be careful not to over-process.
- Cool the bars completely before removing from the baking pan using the parchment. Cut into squares once cooled.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. You can also freeze for up to a month.
These shortbread bars are incredibly easy to make and tasty. The whole family LOVES THEM… a new favorite!
This recipe sounds delicious but how do you make cranberry shortbread bars if you don’t have a food processor ?
You can use a pastry cutter or your hands to mix the butter into the dry ingredients. Hope this helps!
Every time I’ve made this recipe it’s a huge hit! I even get compliments from people who don’t usually like sweets. It’s super easy too! You can prep it ahead for dinner parties and bake it fresh for guests. It’s heavenly right out the oven like a cobbler or as bars once it fully cools. I’ve made it with blueberries, peach compote and raspberry jam instead of cranberry sauce too and they all work great. Make this – it’ll become a new favorite!!
Used my homemade cranberry sauce for this and it came out AMAZING!
So happy you loved it!
These cranberry shortbread bars look fantastic. They are a perfect Holiday treat.
I have extra cranberry sauce and can’t wait to these shortbread bars! The recipe sounds delicious and can’t wait to make it for the family!
Perfect for Christmas! I’ve just made some cranberry sauce so will give these shortbread bars a go!
These would make a great dessert for any holiday gathering. I LOVE that cranberry flavor.