Make use of Winter’s favorite berry with these White Chocolate Cranberry Crumb Bars. Sweet and tart cranberry and white chocolate filling paired with buttery shortbread crust are a great dessert to make for the holidays. There is also a hint of orange and cinnamon in the cranberries to brighten the flavors even more and add a cozy touch.
Why You’ll Love These Cranberry Crumb Bars
- Easy to make — use the same dough for the crust and the crumble.
- The cranberry filling is tart and sweet, with orange, cinnamon, and white chocolate.
- Great way to use up a bag of cranberries.
- Perfect for the Holidays. If you love seasonal baking as much as I do, then you’ll love these cranberry bars in the wintertime.
If you are on the hunt for Holiday recipe ideas, I also recommend Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies, Caramel Gingerbread Layer Cake, and Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls.
Ingredient Notes
- All-Purpose Flour: Measure flour with a food scale for the best results. If you don’t have a food scale, then use the spoon and level method.
- Large Egg, at Room Temperature: Soak the egg in a bowl of hot water for 5-10 minutes before baking to bring it to room temperature.
- Cranberries: Either fresh or frozen cranberries are okay. If using frozen, do not thaw. You may also need to bake the bars for longer if using frozen since they’re cooking from a colder temperature.
- Cornstarch: This thickens the cranberry filling as it cooks and cools. Do not forget this otherwise you’ll end up with a runny dessert.
- Orange Zest and Juice: Adds a bright, citrusy flavor to the cranberry filling. For the best results freshly squeeze the orange juice.
- Vanilla Extract and Ground Cinnamon: Add sweet and cozy flavors.
- White Chocolate Chips: You can use either white chocolate chips or chopped up white chocolate. Whichever you use, it’ll go both into the filling and drizzled on top.
Baker’s Tips
- Let the bars cool down completely before serving. Some desserts are best enjoyed warm, but alas not these. As they cool, the cranberry filling and crust set completely. These will be too difficult to cut when they are fresh out of the oven. In addition, the sweet and tart cranberry flavors really come through once the dessert has had a chance to cool. You lose a lot of that depth and sweetness when the cranberries are warm.
- If you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container. The bars will be good on the counter for the first 24 hours, and then I recommend moving them to the fridge. Due to the fruit content, they’ll keep better in the fridge.
- I’ve already said this (sorry not sorry), but measuring flour accurately is crucial to baking success. Baking is a science and over or under-measuring flour will impact the final result. Flour is notoriously easy to get wrong since it both fluffs up and packs down. If you find yourself baking a lot, I highly recommend getting yourself a little food scale for measuring.
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Happy baking my friends and as always, hope you love your white chocolate cranberry bars!
White Chocolate Cranberry Crumble Bars
Sweet and tart cranberry crumble bars that are perfect for a crowd. With a cranberry and white chocolate filling and buttery cookie base and crumble on top, these bars are the perfect wintertime dessert.
Prep Time
25 minutes
Cook Time
55 minutes
Total Time
1 hour 20 minutes
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (50g) light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pur vanilla extract
- 3 cups (360g) all-purpose flour, weighed or spooned & leveled
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Cranberry Filling
- 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (do not thaw)
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tsp orange zest
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
- Splash of vanilla
- Pinch of cinnamon
- ⅓ - ½ cup white chocolate chips + more for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease an 8x8 inch square baking pan. Line the pan with a strip of parchment paper to help lift the bars out when they're done.
- In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars together on medium-high speed for 3-4 minutes until fluffy. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat for another minute until combined.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until a dough just comes together.
- Press a little more than ⅔ of the dough into the base of your baking pan. When in doubt opt for more dough than less. Bake for 10 minutes to start cooking the base.
- While the base is baking, prepare the cranberries. Toss the cranberries together with the sugar, orange zest, orange juice, cornstarch, vanilla extract, and cinnamon until well combined.
- Remove the baking pan from the oven and top of the layer of dough with the cranberries, forming an even layer. Then, sprinkle ¼-⅓ cup of white chocolate chips on top. Crumble the remaining dough on top, leaving some gaps for the cranberries to peek through.
- Bake for another 40-45 minutes, until the top of golden brown and cranberries are bubbly. Let the bars cool completely. To speed up the process, allow the bars to cool for one hour at room temperature before transferring them to the fridge.
- Optional: Drizzle the bars with melted white chocolate. Heat ¼ cup of white chocolate in the microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring between each until smooth. If the chocolate starts to clump up or seize, add a drizzle of oil to help smooth it out.
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