Every year around Thanksgiving, the grocery stores have fresh cranberries on sale, and I usually grab a bunch of bags. I'll use some for holiday baking, but most of them, I put away in the freezer. Today, I pulled a bag out to make these great Cranberry Oat Bars.
It's hard to really classify these as "dessert" because you could eat them for breakfast. At least I do. I mean, they do have oats in them, so technically that's OATMEAL which is totally good for you, right? Plus, cranberries are FRUIT and are high in antioxidants. See, these bars ARE good for you…
Cranberry Oat Bars
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 T. orange juice
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup oats
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly grease a 9×9-inch pan.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring cranberries, 1 cup sugar, and orange juice just to a boil. Cook until sugar dissolves and cranberries begin to pop open, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, oats, cinnamon, brown sugar, and baking powder until well combined. Using a pastry blender, cut butter into flour mixture until coarse crumbs form. Stir in walnuts. Press half the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread cranberry mixture carefully over crust. Sprinkle remaining flour mixture over cranberry layer and lightly press to cover cranberries. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden. Cool completely before slicing into bars. Makes about 16 servings.
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