Cranberry Lemon Bars

These Cranberry Lemon Bars are tart, sweet and delicious. The crust and topping are made using the same mixture and they’re filled with a luscious cranberry lemon filling. This recipe is perfect for breakfast, snack or dessert!

These cranberry lemon bars have bottom and top layers of soft oatmeal brown sugar crumble. They have a a jammy cranberry lemon middle layer. They’re soft, crumbly and bursting with fresh cranberry and lemon flavor.

These lemon cranbery bars are similar to a store bought cereal bar, but way more delicious. I loved this recipe so much that I used it to create these cherry pie bars!

For more treats you can enjoy for both breakfast and dessert, try my blueberry banana coffee cake, apple cider coffee cake and rhubarb coffee cake.

Jump to:

• Why This Recipe Works
• Ingredients
• Substitutions & Variations
• Instructions
• Recipe FAQs
• Expert Tips
• More Recipes You Will Love
• Cranberry Lemon Bars

Why This Recipe Works

• The crust and topping are made from the same simple mixture!
• No need to chill the crumble and you don’t have to prebake the crust.
• Cranberries and lemon make these bars so tart and fresh tasting. They are perfect for Thanksgiving! Be sure to check out my yummy cranberry shortbread cookies!
• The cranberry filling is luscious and the crust and topping are tender and crumbly.
• So easy and quick to make. No mixer needed!
• Enjoy them around the holidays for breakfast, brunch, an afternoon snack or dessert! For another festive holiday dessert, you’ll love my caramel and pecan brownies.

Ingredients

Below are some useful notes on some of the ingredients.

• Cranberries: Cranberries are a small, tart fruit. I love the tart, sweet, fresh flavor they add to desserts! Use fresh or frozen cranberries to make the sauce. Be sure to also try my orange cranberry pound cake and cranberry white chocolate scones!
• Lemon: Lemon adds bright fresh flavor. Lemons and cranberries are both tart fruits. They are delicious together. We are using both the zest and juice in the cranberry sauce.
• Butter: Use unsalted, room temperature butter.
• Brown sugar: Use fresh, light brown sugar for the crust and topping.
• Granulated sugar: Granulated sugar sweetens up the cranberry sauce.
• Cornstarch: For thickening the cranberry sauce.
• Cinnamon: It adds a nice depth of flavor to the cranberry sauce.

Please see recipe card below for full list of ingredients and measurements.

Substitutions & Variations

• Cranberry sauce- instead of homemade cranberry sauce, you can use store bought cranberry sauce or leftover cranberry sauce. You’ll need about 3/4 cup.
• Jam-if you don’t have cranberry sauce, you could use homemade or store bought jam.
• These bars are delicious with a drizzle of icing on top! The lemon icing from my blueberry blondies makes the perfect topping.
• Dust a little powdered sugar on top of the cooled bars just before serving.
• Add some chopped nuts to the crust and/or topping. If you love banana walnut cake, add an additional 1/4 cup chopped walnuts to the crust.

Instructions

Here is how to make these cranberry oatmeal bars.

Step 1: Make the cranberry sauce. Bring the water, lemon juice, cinnamon stick and sugar to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce to a simmer. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.

STEP 2: Add the cranberries and cornstarch. Add the cranberries and cornstarch and simmer for 6-8 minutes. Stir constantly until sauce thickens and most of the cranberries burst.

STEP 3: Add the lemon zest. Remove from heat. Stir in the lemon zest. Remove the cinnamon stick. Set aside to cool.

STEP 4: Combine the ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, stir to combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, salt and baking powder.

STEP 5: Stir in the butter. Use a rubber spatula, wooden spoon or your hands to mix in the butter.

STEP 6: Form the crust. Press half of the mixture into a butter 8X8 inch square pan lined with parchment paper with an overhang on two sides.

STEP 7: Layer with cranberry sauce. Use an offset spatula or rubber spatula to spread the cranberry sauce over the crust.

STEP 8: Top with remaining crumble. Sprinkle the rest of the crust over the cranberry layer. Press very lightly just to make sure it’s in place.

STEP 9: Bake. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-35 minutes.

Then, place the pan on a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before serving.

Recipe FAQs

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