Tart and Tangy Cranberry Bars
These tart and tangy Cranberry Bars are one of my favorite treats. I've been craving cranberries lately and this gluten free dessert more than hits the spot when it comes to mouth puckering goodness.
I first made these Cranberry Bars as a tart. That was before Robyn and her children came over to have an afternoon of baking with us last week; she suggested making this as a bar, so it would more readily make an on-the-go type snack. Robyn is an absolute genius on so many levels.
With a protein packed pecan crust and anti-oxidant rich cranberry topping this tangy treat is good for Christmas parties, Thanksgiving dessert, your child's lunch or an on the run bite.
1 cup raw pecans
5 dates, pitted
1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
6 cups fresh cranberries, picked over (discard bad ones)
1 cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon orange zest
- Place pecans and dates in a food processor and pulse until coarsely ground
- Pulse in oil and salt until mixture begins to form a ball
- Press crust into an 8x8 inch greased baking dish
- Bake at 350° for 8-12 minutes until lightly browned
- To make cranberry topping, place 4 cups cranberries, agave and orange zest in a pot on the stove
- Bring mixture to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer 10-15 minutes, until cranberries start to dissolve
- Add remaining 2 cups cranberries and cook covered for 5 more minutes
- Remove mixture from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes
- Pour mixture over pecan crust
- Allow bars to set for 60-90 minutes
- Serve
Have fun with this versatile delicious gluten free dessert that has fall written all over it.
I was so happy to be asked by blogs.com to list 10 Gluten Free Blogs. Of course, this was far from an easy decision. If you are a gluten free blogger and I did not mention you, please leave a comment below with a link to your site so that we can all check out your gluten free offerings.
Coincidentally, the lovely Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen also created a list of gluten free blogs for blogher.com. Kalyn's list is excellent and, like everything she does, it is well researched and very detailed.
We are buried in snow here today and school was canceled --it's been snowing for 20 hours straight and we have accumulated feet, not inches. I've been cozying up with my gluten free cookbook (The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook
Posted on October 28, 2009 in desserts by Elana
you might also like: Pumpkin Cranberry Upside-Down Cake
or Cranberry Apricot Truffles
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20 comments
Mmm, these look wonderful! I love bars for their versatility & these ones definitely fit the bill =D.
im a BIG cranberry fan--thanks for this!
These look wonderful. This will be my first holiday season baking and cooking low glycemic and gluten free - so I really appreciate how easy you're making it for me! Thanks for all your ideas and yummy recipes.
I love how simple this recipe is! And it looks so delicious too. Perfect for the holidays.
I'm a gluten-free, fish and seafood free blogger that loves cooking and being a young professional. Check it out at: sarahglauben.blogspot.com
Elana, your blog is inspiring and I always enjoy seeing what delicious foods you make!
Cranberries are perfect for winter too. And to make a smiling red mouth on a snowman.
Oh my, those bars look HEAVENLY!! Cranberry sauce in a handheld form :)
Hang in there with all the snow!!
Ooh, I love cranberries, and this sounds lovely - especially when you add pecans! And wow - I've watched the news and have heard about all your snow, I bet it's crazy! We're about to get hit with the same storm (here in Dallas), but of course, for us, it'll just mean crazy amounts of rain and cooler temps.
That looks like a beautiful treat for thanksgiving! Yum!
Not only have I discovered a lovely snack recipe but a wonderful crust-substitution for all my old cheesecake recipes. Nut crusts instead of cookie-based crusts... I love it!
This looks amazing--I have a few pounds of fresh cranberries and will definitely be making this for the Halloween parties I'm attending this weekend. One question: do you allow the bars to set at room temperature or do you refrigerate them?
Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes!
If those taste anywhere near as good as they look, well I might eat the whole pan myself!
I never know how to use up a bag of fresh cranberries. Thanks for inspiration!
These look AMAZING!!! Can't wait to try them!
so fantastic! i can't wait to get fresh cranberries at work and try these out!!
Going to make this tonight for my family! Better they snack on this than the mini candy bars. Thinking I may drizzle it in some chocolate too.
These were a huge hit at my house. I easily could have halved the cranberries to make it less expensive (I used organic) and it still would have been delightful. I kept them at room temperature-- they were best the next day after setting all night. I also used 3/4 c. honey instead of agave b/c I didn't have any agave on hand-- turned out great. Thanks for this recipe, definitely a keeper! I think I'll try it with other fruits too!
I just made these and the crust was delicious, the cranberries delightfully tangy. But there is WAY WAY WAY too much cran and way too little crust. If I make these again I'll triple the crust and halve the cran. I'm gonna go find some gluten free bread or crackers to spread this extra cranberry filling onto...
Julie, I agree with you about proportions. But I recently tried doubling the crust and it didn't come out so well-- not firm enough. I think next time I will not double the oil and see if that helps. Also, I made one of these with a pear-blueberry-lemon sauce instead of cranberries. It was definitely lacking something not being tart and tangy!
Does anyone know whether this works with frozen cranberries? I still have a bunch left from last year!
Really great, I did find the crust a little too salty when i first made this, so i added in a touch (literally a tiny drizzle) of agave. I found this in the pie crust recipe too, maybe i need to make sure that i'm not putting in heaping 1/4 teaspoons or whatever.
This recipe is super delicious though. Made it for Thanksgiving and it was a hit. I love the combination of the more and less cooked cranberries, always the best way to go, so that you get those little "pops" exploding cranberries in your mouth!
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