Oven Baked Orange Cranberry Bars are perfect dessert bars to enjoy fresh seasonal cranberries. A combination of sweet, tangy and nutty flavors in a bar will make you crave for more.
Apart from the cold, I always wait in anticipation for the fall and winter season particularly for enjoying delicious foods. Especially warm soups, baked goods made using seasonal produce and all the delicious desserts that make me feel warm and cozy. Nothing is more satisfying than sitting on the couch binge-watching your favorite Netflix TV show along with delicious food with you to give you company. Who on the earth would deny this setting? I know I won’t.
I just realized that I am running sort of an oven baked recipe series on my blog unintentionally. Some of my absolute favorites are whole baked chicken, healthy apple crisps, and roasted tomato soup to name a few. As if someone turned on the ‘baking switch’ in me and now I am completely into baking mode these days.
After reading all this chit-chat of mine I am sure you must have guessed by now that I am going to share yet another fall and baked recipe. And you are right! Presenting before you Oven Baked Orange Cranberry Bars to enjoy all the goodness from fresh seasonal cranberries! I hope you love them as much as we do! 🙂
How to make Orange Cranberry Bars?
This recipe involves two steps: making the cranberry sauce and the base of the bar. To make the cranberry sauce as the topping, cook fresh cranberries with some orange juice, zest, water, sugar and a little bit of cornstarch. While for the base mix flour, sugar, butter, egg, vanilla extract and some chopped pecans together. Spread and tap this crumbly mixture into a square baking pan. Bake it in the oven till it’s cooked. Once the base is done, evenly spread the prepared cranberry orange sauce. Then upon cooling cut it into small bars before serving. Detailed instructions are given below.
Recipe variations:
- If you are not a big fan of orange flavors you can omit the orange juice and zest in this recipe.
- You can also use your favorite nuts or mixed nuts in place of pecans in the flour base when preparing the bar.
- Try drizzling the top of these bars with a simple powdered sugar and milk glaze to give it a beautiful presentation.
I’m sure you’re going to love these bars!
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Oven Baked Orange Cranberry Bars
Ingredients
Toppings:
- 2 cup cranberries
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup sugar, or more
- 1 tsp cornstarch
Base:
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup chopped pecans
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp butter, or more
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp orange juice
Instructions
- Add cranberries, orange juice, zest, water, sugar, and cornstarch in a medium pot. Bring mixture to boil and then simmer on low-medium heat for about 10-15 mins. This sauce should be a little thick in consistency (like fruit jam).
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a medium mixing bowl add flour, sugar, chopped pecans, vanilla, butter, egg, orange zest, orange juice, and salt. Combine them together to form a crumbly mixture.
- Line 8x8 inch baking pan with parchment paper. Evenly spread and lightly tap the flour mixture in the pan to form a base.
- Bake it in a preheated oven for 18-20 min.
- Slightly cool the base and then evenly spread the prepared cranberry sauce over the flour base. Once completely cool cut into small bars.
- Optionally, drizzle some powdered sugar and garnish with some crushed pecans and orange zest.
Notes
Cut the parchment a little larger than the pan height for easy removal of bars after baking so that they don't break.
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