Here’s the thing. My mom has been making these exact bars for over 30 years, and they are my FAVORITE bar EVER! She can’t recall which magazine/newspaper exactly she found the recipe in, but she always had/has a small notepad and pen in her purse to jot down important recipes just like this.

*this post may contain affiliate links. This means that a small portion of the sale goes to me, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Lion’s Bread possible.

What are Cranberry Date Bars?

The oat shortbread crust doubles as the crumb topping. In between those gorgeous layers is a sticky, sweet, and tart jammy layer of dates and fresh cranberries that have been cooked down slowly with orange juice and zest.

On top of it all is the most delicious fresh orange juice glaze that melts in and between the crumbly oat shortbread topping. It is DELICIOUS! 

I cut these Cranberry Date Bars into 24 smaller bars, but feel free to slice into 16 larger bars for a picnic, holiday dessert board, or cookie boxes.

Ingredients you’ll need

old fashioned rolled oats – be sure to use ROLLED OLD FASHIONED oats for this recipe. They are flat in shape, and maintain a chewy texture, even when baked, which is so delicious..

butter – this shortbread oat crust is super rich and buttery, so it’s important to use the good stuff here (spoiler: it’s always important). I go with Kerrygold brand Irish butter for its incredible flavor and high fat content.

brown sugar – feel free to use light or dark brown sugar here. The adding molasses gives the shortbread crust and crumble a caramel flavor that works really well here.

dates – juicy, sticky, and sweet Medjool variety dates are the best for this recipe. Make sure that they’re soft, not rock hard.

cranberries – use fresh, unsweetened cranberries in these bars. During holiday season, it’s easy to find cranberries everywhere. Grab an extra bag, and pop it in the freezer, so that you can make these Cranberry Date Bars year round.

oranges – I use the juice and zest here. Rinse the oranges well before zesting to remove any wax or pesticides.

Tools I use – *all links are shoppable

the only 9×13″ baking pan – my favorite 9×13 baking pan is made by USA pan. It is commercial grade allow steel coated in a harmful-chemical-free nonstick layer, which is perfect for all of my bakes.

small offset spatula – this little tool is perfect for getting smooth, even layers in your Cranberry Date Bars. I also use  this little spatula for decorating cakes, tarts, and pies.

the best rubber spatulas – I always have 3-4 spatulas at any given time. They’re such a useful kitchen tool to fold in ingredients, smooth out edges, and scrape bowls. You’ll use them for anything and everything in both baking and cooking.

How to make Cranberry Date Bar

• Over low heat in a medium saucepan, simmer the fresh cranberries, chopped dates, and water for 10-15 minutes. Stir occasionally until the cranberries pop and breakdown. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the vanilla and fresh lemon juice, set aside to cool slightly. 
• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13” baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, oats, brown sugar, kosher salt, and baking soda. Stir to combine.
• Pour the melted Kerrygold Salted Butter into the flour/oat mixture and use a wooden spoon to stir until incorporated. The mixture should look crumbly. Pat half of the oat mixture into the prepared 9×13″ baking pan. Use your fingers, or the bottom of a measuring cup, to press the mixture down firmly into an even layer.
• Gently spread the cranberry date filling over the bottom crust using a small offset spatula.
• Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture on top of the filling in an even layer.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the topping is golden brown. Allow the bars to cool completely.
• Make the glaze: combine the powdered sugar, orange juice, vanilla extract and salt in a bowl. Whisk until smooth, and then drizzle over the cooled bars. Allow the glaze to set up completely and cut into bars. 

How to Store Leftovers

Cranberry Date Bars will stay fresh for 3-4 days at cool room temperature. Store leftovers in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.

Check out the brownies + bar recipes below for more baking inspiration

Jammy Raspberry Crumb Bars

Cherry Cheesecake Bars

Peanut Butter Marbled Brownies

Flourless Double Chocolate Brownies with Roasted Hazelnuts

If you do make this Cranberry Date Bar recipe (first of all, thank you!!), be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram and through social media so I can be sure to see what you’re making! If you’d like to stay in touch and get the latest to your inbox, sign up for my Newsletter here as well!

Print

Cranberry Date Bars

tart and sweet cranberry date filling sandwiched between brown butter oat shortbread crust and crumb topping

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Bars, cranberries, date, holiday cookies

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Servings 24 small bars

Author LeAnne

Equipment

• 1 9x13 baking pan here's my favorite one https://amzn.to/44F0lxj

Ingredients

For the Filling:

• 12 oz. fresh cranberries 1 bag, 3 cups, 320 g
• 18-20 Medjool dates pitted and chopped
• ⅔ cup water 157 g
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

For the Crust/ Topping:

• 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour 240 g
• 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats 180 g
• 1 ½ cups brown sugar 260 g
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 16 tablespoons Kerrygold salted butter, melted 226 g

For the Glaze:

• 2 cups powdered sugar 235 g
• 2-3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
• ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of kosher salt, I use Morton's

Instructions

• Over low heat in a medium saucepan, simmer the fresh cranberries, chopped dates, and water for 10-15 minutes. Stir occasionally until the cranberries pop and breakdown. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the vanilla and fresh lemon juice, set aside to cool slightly.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13” baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, oats, brown sugar, kosher salt, and baking soda. Stir to combine.
• Pour the melted Kerrygold Salted Butter into the flour/oat mixture and use a wooden spoon to stir until incorporated. The mixture should look crumbly. Pat half of the oat mixture into the prepared 9×13″ baking pan. Use your fingers, or the bottom of a measuring cup, to press the mixture down firmly into an even layer.
• Gently spread the cranberry date filling over the bottom crust using a small offset spatula.
• Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture on top of the filling in an even layer.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the topping is golden brown. Allow the bars to cool completely.
• Make the glaze: combine the powdered sugar, orange juice, vanilla extract and salt in a bowl. Whisk until smooth, and then drizzle over the cooled bars. Allow the glaze to set up completely and cut into bars.

The post Cranberry Date Bars first appeared on Lion’s Bread Blog

The post Cranberry Date Bars appeared first on Lion's Bread.

One of my absolute favorite flavor combinations is jammy fruit and buttery shortbread. I reinterpret this combo over and over again in different ways, sometimes in tarts, cookies, and bars, and it never gets old.

Want more recipes like this? check out:

Blueberry Lemon Crumb Bars,

Pink Lemonade Thumbprint Cookies,

Cherry Cheesecake Bars.

You’ll combine fresh raspberries with great raspberry preserves (or notes to make your own!) and lemon juice for an irresistible, slightly tart, fruity filling. I’ll show you a few pro tips to take this short list of ingredients in these Jammy Raspberry Crumb Bars to the next level.

When I’m making a recipe with jam, I always like to mix fresh fruit into the jam for added texture, flavor/tang, and bring out the brightness of the fruit. The lemon juice adds a tart, bright flavor as well, and works to enhance the natural flavors of the fruit, without overpowering it.

HOW DO YOU BROWN BUTTER?

Browning butter may seem intimidating but it’s very simple, and worth every extra minute of effort in the final product. You’re basically cooking the butter of medium heat for about 7-8 minutes. First, it will bubble up, then it will start look foamy on top, and then you’ll see the browned milk solids poking through the middle. That’s when you know you’re done! Hot tip: don’t walk away from the stove, and don’t try to multitask. You don’t want to get distracted and burn your precious salted butter. Stay close by, and whisk the butter very regularly for about 8 minutes.

Then pour the browned butter out of the pan, into a heatproof bowl, to stop the cooking. Brown butter instantly makes EVERYTHING taste richer, with real depth of fllavorbut don’t take my word for it, try it for yourself!

Quick and easy Homemade raspberry jam

to make your own raspberry jam, place 2 cups of fresh raspberries in a small saucepan. Add 1/2 cup granulated sugar. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally to breakdown the berries, and prevent the berries from burning on the bottom of the pan. Once the mixture has liquified, simmer over medium heat for about 20-25 minutes. The jam will reduce as it simmers, and it is ready when it has reduced by at least 1/2. Pour the jam into a heatproof and allow it cool completely.

I grow sweet red and golden raspberries

freshly picked

HOW TO MAKE EASY CRUMB BARS

The beauty of this recipe is that you’re making one shortbread dough for both the crust and the crumbly topping. I like to use the back of a measuring cup to firmly press down the dough for the bottom crust layer. Then, use a rubber spatula or better yet, a small offset spatula, to spread the raspberry filling evenly over the base. I add a bit more rolled oats to the topping before I crumble it on top for some extra chewiness. Very minimal effort, but very delicious bars!

Ingredients

• salted butter – I’m using salted butter because I really love the extra salt to bring out the flavor of the shortbread and sweet jam. We’re browning the butter here, but allow it cool for at least 15 minutes before mixing it into the rest of ingredients.
• unbleached all purpose flour – I always go for unbleached all purpose flour, specifically King Arthur Baking Company. I really appreciate their attention to quality and detail, and fair business practices.
• old fashioned rolled oats – go for old fashioned rolled oats here. The extra chewiness of the oats adds amazing texture and flavor to these simple bars. Don’t use instant or quick oats, they tend to lose their structure, and just turn into mush.
• pure vanilla extract – always always always use pure vanilla extract. I know it’s pricier, but the flavor it adds is so worth it. Some great vanillas are from Madagascar and Mexico.
• dark brown sugar – dark brown sugar is regular granulated sugar with added molasses. The Difference between dark brown and light brown sugar is the amount of molasses. Since molasses has a deep caramel flavor, I always love more of it! That being said, if you prefer light brown sugar, feel free to go for and use that here!
• raspberries – use fresh, in season berries if you can! That being said, you can also make these Jammy Raspberry Crumb Bars with frozen berries and store-bought raspberry preserves.
• kosher salt – I use Morton’s kosher salt in all of my recipes. The saltiness of a recipe is actually very important, especially in desserts. It doesn’t make the bars salty, rather enhances the other flavors of the raspberry crumb bars.

ingredients

Substitutions

I’m using raspberries here, but this recipe is incredibly adaptable. Feel free to substitute blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, peaches, apricots, even pears and apples. Crumbly Oat shortbread goes with any and all fruit, so get creative!

As far as the ingredients in the shortbread, you could also swap into a gluten free flour blend and gluten free oats. If you wanted to make it vegan, just use melted vegan butter instead of the browned butter.

pre-bake

Did you make this recipe? It really helps when you rate and comment below to let me know how it went – thank you!

Remember to share it on Instagram and tag me @lions.bread so I can see my recipes coming to life in your kitchens! Don’t forget to Pin this, or any recipe from the blog, to your favorite Pinterest boards by clicking on the “Pin It” icon on any of the images.

– happy baking, LeAnne

Print

Jammy Raspberry Crumb Bars

tart and sweet raspberry jam sandwiched between layers of brown butter oat shortbread

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Bars, crumble, raspberries, shortbread

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 12 people

Author LeAnne Shor

Equipment

• 1 8x8" baking pan
• parchment paper

Ingredients

Raspberry Filling

• 1 cup raspberry preserves 338g
• 1 ½ cups frozen or fresh raspberries 184g
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

For the crust + crumble topping

• ¾ cup 14 tablespoons salted butter 170g
• ½ cup dark brown sugar 106g
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 ½ cups old Fashioned oats 120g
• 1 ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour 192g
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

• Add the salted butter to a small saucepan, over medium heat. Melt the butter, and continue to cook, whisking constantly, until it smells nutty, and begins to brown, about 6-7 minutes. Pour into a heatproof bowl, and set aside to cool slightly.
• Make the filling: Add the fresh raspberries, raspberry preserves, and lemon juice to a small sauce pan, and cook on medium heat until the raspberries have mostly broken down. Use the back of a spoon to gently smash the strawberries. This should take about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
• OPTIONAL: To make your own raspberry jam: place 2 cups of fresh raspberries in a small saucepan. Add 1/2 cup granulated sugar. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally to breakdown the berries, and prevent the berries from burning on the bottom of the pan. Once the mixture has liquified, simmer over medium heat for about 20-25 minutes. The jam will reduce as it simmers, and it is ready when it has reduced by at least 1/2. Pour the jam into a heatproof and allow it cool completely.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, add the browned butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract, kosher salt, 1 cup of the oats, and all-purpose flour. Use a spoon to mix, until dough comes together, is crumbly, and there are no dry patches of flour.
• Line an 8×8″ baking pan with parchment paper. Pour 1/2 of the mixture into the prepared baking pan. Use the bottom of a cup or measuring cup to press the mixture down into an even layer. Spread the raspberry filling over the bottom crust.
• Add the remaining 1/2 cup of oats to the remaining dough, and evenly sprinkle the crumbly mixture on top of the raspberry filling. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Allow to cool completely, then slice into 9 large square bars, or 18 smaller bars.

Notes

to make your own raspberry jam, place 2 cups of fresh raspberries in a small saucepan. Add 1/2 cup granulated sugar. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally to breakdown the berries, and prevent the berries from burning on the bottom of the pan. Once the mixture has liquified, simmer over medium heat for about 20-25 minutes. The jam will reduce as it simmers, and it is ready when it has reduced by at least 1/2. Pour the jam into a heatproof and allow it cool completely.

The post Jammy Raspberry Crumb Bars first appeared on Lion’s Bread Blog.

The post Jammy Raspberry Crumb Bars appeared first on Lion's Bread.

What makes brownies fudgy?

How to get the crackly shiny top

How to make homemade Hazelnut Butter

Print

Fudgy Cocoa Brownies with Homemade Hazelnut Butter

They’re extremely chocolatey, rich, and so comforting at the same time. Swirling homemade hazelnut butter on top takes these brownies to another orbit. Seriously, roasting our hazelnuts add so much flavor and nuttiness that’s perfectly with the dark chocolate. 

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Brownies, fudgy, hazelnut butter

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 33 minutes minutes

Servings 12 brownies

Author LeAnne Shor

Equipment

• stand mixer
• blender

Ingredients

Hazelnut Butter:

• 2.5 cups raw hazelnuts
• 2 tablespoons avocado oil or any neutral oil
• 1 tablespoon real maple syrup
• pinch of kosher salt

Brownies:

• 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee or espresso powder
• 3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup chopped dark chocolate I like 70% cacao
• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 1/3 cup brown sugar loosely packed
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 11 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon flakey sea salt for finishing I like Maldon

Instructions

Instructions:

• Make the hazelnut butter - Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the hazelnuts on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake for 12-15 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Place the warm hazelnuts in a clean towel, and make a bundle, enclosing the hazelnuts. Shake vigorously for 1 minute to remove all of the papery skins from the hazelnuts. Place the hazelnuts in a high powered blender, like the Kitchen Aid K400 Steel Blue Blender, along with the avocado oil, maple syrup, and kosher salt. Blend on medium speed until the mixture reaches a smooth consistency, about 3-4 minutes. Stop the mixture occasionally to scrape down the sides. Scoop the hazelnut butter out into a jar, and set aside.
• Prepare an 8x8" cake pan, by lining it with two thick strips of parchment paper. Fill a small saucepan with 2 inches of water, and bring the water to a simmer. Place a heat proof bowl over the top of the pan. Add the chocolate chips, chopped chocolate, and butter to the bowl. Whisk occasionally until the butter and chocolate have completely melted. Whisk in the pure vanilla extract and instant coffee. Remove the bowl from the heat, and allow to cool slightly.
• In a small bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch and salt. Whisk to combine and remove any lumps. Set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (I love my Kitchen Aid Artisan Steel Blue Stand Mixer) add the eggs, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed for 4-5 minutes until the mixture is pale yellow, and airy. With the mixer on low, add the chocolate/butter mixture to the beaten eggs. Whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients, and whisk on low to just combine. Remove the bowl from the mixer, and use a rubber spatula to continue to gently fold in the dry ingredients until no dry patches of flour remain, making sure to get to the bottom of the bowl.
• Pour the brownie batter into the prepared baking pan. Use a small offset spatula to spread the batter evenly out to the corners of the pan. Drop about 7 tablespoon of the homemade hazelnut butter on top of the brownie batter. Use a wooden skewer or sharp knife to swirl the hazelnut butter into the butter, creating a marble pattern. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out with lots of moist crumbs. Don't overbake! Sprinkle flakey sea salt on top, and allow to cool completely before slicing.

The post Fudgy Cocoa Brownies with Homemade Hazelnut Butter first appeared on Lion’s Bread Blog.

The post Fudgy Cocoa Brownies with Homemade Hazelnut Butter appeared first on Lion's Bread.