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a photo of un cut spiced cranberry orange cookie bars on a white platter.

Spiced Cranberry Orange Cookie Bars

Sweet, spicy and bursting full of fresh cranberries, these spiced cranberry orange cookie bars are a welcome edition to any dessert table or cookie swap. The tartness of cranberry is sweetened with zesty orange and spiced cinnamon. Almonds are mixed into the batter and layered over top, addiing nutty flavor and a bit of crunch!
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Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 12 People
Calories 576 kcal

Equipment

  • Tart Pan with removal bottom
  • Food Processor

Ingredients
  

Cranberry Filling

  • 1 ½ Cup Fresh Cranberries
  • 1 Cup Sugar white
  • 3 Tbsp Orange Juice freshly squeezed
  • 1 Stick Cinnamon or ½ tsp ground cinnamon, but honestly the cinnamon stick works so much better for this recipe.

Crust Dough

  • 1 ½ Cup Flour All- Purpose
  • ½ Cup plus 1 tsp Butter unsalted
  • 2 Tbsp Sugar white
  • 1 yolk Separate from whole egg save white of egg for another use
  • 1 Tbsp Cold Water

Almond Batter

  • ½ Cup Butter unsalted
  • ½ Cup Sugar white
  • 1 Cup Almonds ground in food processor until they are fine or you can sub almond flour
  • ½ Tsp Vanilla Extract you can also use ¼ tsp vanilla paste if you prefer

Crispy Almond Topping

  • 2 Tbsp Slivered Almonds
  • 1 Tbsp Sugar white

Instructions
 

Cranberry Filling

  • Make the cranberry filling first by adding the cranberries, and sugar to a small saucepan. Bring to a low boil over medium heat.
  • Slowly cook until the sugar has melted and the cranberries soften, about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
  • When the cranberries have broken down in the sugar, add the cinnamon stick or ground cinnamon and orange juice. Cook for another 7 minutes.
  • Remove saucepan from stove and allow to cool.

Crust Dough

  • Preheat oven to 400℉
  • Sift flour into a medium bowl and crumb butter into flour. You want a fine breadcrumb texture to your beginning dough.
  • Stir in egg yolk, sugar and water until you have a firm dough.
  • Wrap in plastic wrap or a covered bowl and chill in refrigerator for 15 minutes or until the dough if firm enough to roll flat.
  • Roll dough out and place into tart pan, I like to use my rolling pin that is already covered in flour to to move the crust over to the baking pan I'm using.
    Prick bottom of crust with fork, see photo.
    Place pan in fridge for 15 minutes to chill.

Almond Filling

  • While the crust chills preheat oven to 350℉ and start on the almond filling.
  • Beat the butter and sugar together in a medium bowl until until light and the butter mixture has a light lemon color and is fluffy. Add the ground almonds, vanilla, and eggs. Beat and combine.

Construct Your Cookie Bars

  • Remove chilled crust from fridge and layer cranberry filling over the crust, spreading evenly.
  • Next spread almond filling over the top of cranberry filling.
  • Sprinkle sliced almonds over the almond batter and put the tart pan into oven.
  • Bake for 40 minutes or until set. 10 minutes before pulling from oven, sprinkle a little sugar over almonds for some added sparkle and sweetness if you prefer.
  • Pop out of tart pan and slice into 1 inch slices and serve. These bar cookies will last 5 days in you refrigerator (I prefer to keep them unsliced if storing).

Nutrition

Serving: 1 SliceCalories: 576kcalCarbohydrates: 68gProtein: 5gFat: 33gSaturated Fat: 15gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 62mgSodium: 185mgPotassium: 192mgFiber: 4gSugar: 45gVitamin A: 736IUVitamin C: 7mgCalcium: 103mgIron: 2mg
Keyword baked goods, christmas, cookie, cookie swap, cranberries, cranberry, cranberry orange, holiday, thanksgiving
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