Cranberry Bars

This is a cookie that I've been making for quite a few years now. When I was a kid, my older sister did the baking at home. Our mother rarely bakes. So, if we wanted treats it was either the store bought variety from the pantry or my sister.  She had two specialties:  white cake with fudge frosting and date bars.  

Then one day the date bars disappeared. Apparently not everyone loved them as much as we did and the company stopped making the mix.

Along came the internet and someone at work introduced me to newsgroups. He showed me a cooking one where people shared recipes and requested advice and there I saw that someone had made a request for a date bar recipe just like that mix they used to buy. There were no date bar recipes shared, perhaps date bar lovers all used a mix, but someone had shared this recipe for cranberry bars and suggested that they could use it and make their own date bar filling.

We tried them at home and honestly, we've never attempted a date filling.  They are so good with cranberry that we just make them that way.  Canned sauce (either the jelly kind or the whole berry variety) or homemade sauce work equally well.

This year I did play a bit.  I used half whole wheat flour for half of the white flour.  I also added in 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed.  They came out quite well and with the additional healthy additions I can feel justified in stating that they are not only a delicious cookie but also a good breakfast food.  Dessert is always good for breakfast, particularly in December.

Cranberry Bars

3/4 C butter

1 1/2 C flour

1 1/2 C oatmeal

3/4 C brown sugar

1/4 t baking soda

1 - 16 oz can cranberry sauce

1/4 C nuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter in a 9x13 inch pan. Add flour, oatmeal, sugar, baking soda and nuts and

mix well. Set aside one cup of the mixture.

Pat down remaining flour mixture in pan for the crust. Top with cranberry sauce,

spreading it evenly over the crust. Sprinkle with reserved flour mixture.

Bake for 35-40 minutes. Let cool slightly and cut into squares.

printable version:  cranberry_bars.pdf

-- marcella