Cranberry White Chocolate Crumb Bars
Serving
Cooking Time
Difficulty
Last week I shared my Lemon Ricotta Cranberry Bars here. If they weren’t reason enough that you should be buying extra bags of fresh cranberries when you’re at the grocery store this week, well, here’s another reason to – Cranberry White Chocolate Crumb Bars!
If you haven’t done so already, I’d be running to the store this very minute to pick up extra bags of fresh cranberries so that you can make these insanely delicious holiday dessert. I say holiday dessert because cranberries are only available for purchase around this time of year. But if you were to purchase bags of fresh cranberries and frozen them, then you’d be able to have these these yummy cranberry white chocolate bars all year round. How amazing would that be???!!! And your friends would be blown away, wondering how you managed to make cranberry dessert when cranberries are nowhere to be found. They’d think you were a magician!
I made these treats in early December to give out as Christmas presents. When I made them, Cranberries weren’t yet available. They don’t usually show up in the grocery store until the 2nd week of December. Knowing this in advance, I made sure to freeze some cranberries that I’d purchased around Canadian Thanksgiving. That way, I would have them on hand when I needed them. For my tips on freezing cranberries, be sure to read my how-to posts here.
What are Cranberry White Chocolate Crumb Bars?
If you like the combination of sweet and tart, then you’re going to love these cranberry white chocolate crumb bars. They consist of 4 layers – a firm sugar cookie base, a layer of sweet yet tart cranberry jam, a layer of white chocolate chips and a crumbly layer of cookie dough. For extra measure, I always add a sprinkling of white chocolate chips on top before baking.
The dessert is easy to whip up and requires no additional equipment other than your fingers, a bowl, a wooden spoon, a saucepan and a baking tray. The sugar cookie base relies on a rub-in method where you use the tips of your fingers to rub the butter into the flour mixture. If you prefer pulling out your food processor to do this, you certainly can! As for the cranberry jam, instead of being flavoured with orange, it’s perfumed with lime zest and a little lime juice. I like lime over orange in this recipe because the flavor of lime adds a freshness to the cranberries. Moreover, this dessert is very rich and the hint of of lime just helps cut through the richness of the two layers of sugar cookies dough and the generous layer of white chocolate.
How to get clean slices?
Like most dessert bars, this cranberry white chocolate crumb bar can get a little messy to slice up. Clean slices start well before baking. To help you remove the bars from the pan, I recommend that you lightly spray your baking pan with a little cooking spray, then line it with a piece of parchment paper that’s larger than your baking pan. This way, you can use the extra parchment as handles to help you remove the baked dessert from the pan.
To get your parchment paper to contour to the pan, use a pair of scissors and cut diagonally into the corners so that the cut ends where the corner of the pan meets. Use your fingers to smooth out the parchment paper and overlap parchment where it meets in the corners.
Prepare the recipe as usual. Once the cranberry white chocolate crumb bars have been baked and cooled, lift the dessert from the pan using the parchment paper as handles. Place the dessert on a baking sheet and place it in the refrigerator to chill for at least 4 hours or until firm. To slice, warm a sharp chef’s knife to slice through the dessert. Clean the knife with hot water and dry with a paper towel in between cuts.
CRANBERRY WHITE CHOCOLATE CRUMB BARS
Makes one 9” pan
Sugar Cookie Dough
- 2 cups(240g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 cup(100g) Granulated Sugar
- 1 cup(227g) Butter, Cold and Cubed
- 1Large Egg
- 2 tspVanilla Extract
- 1 lb(480g) Fresh or Frozen Cranberries
- 1/2 cup(100g) Brown Sugar
- 2 tbs(30ml) Water
- 1 tbsFreshly Squeezed Lime Juice
- 1/2 tspGrated Lime Zest
- 1-1/2 cupsWhite Chocolate Chips
Instructions for Cranberry Jam:
- Rinse the fresh cranberries well and add them to a medium size saucepan. Add the brown sugar and water.
- Place the saucepan over medium heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Stir and continue cooking the cranberries until the skins burst and the mixture becomes thick and jammy, about 10-15 minutes.
- Remove from heat. Add the lime juice and lime zest. Stir until well combined. Set aside to cool.
- Once the cranberry jam is at room temperature, prepare the cookie dough.
Instructions for Cookie Dough:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Spray a 9” baking pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. (see above for tips). Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk flour and sugar until combined. Add the cold, cubed butter. Using your fingers, rub butter into the flour and sugar mixture until they resemble coarse crumbs.
- In a small bowl, whisk the egg and vanilla extract together until well combined. Add the egg mixture to the crumbs. Using a wooden spoon, stir until the dough starts to clump together.
To assemble:
- Divide the dough in two. Using your fingers, press one half of the dough firmly into the bottom of the prepared 9” baking tray.
- Place the baking tray into the oven and bake for 13-15 minutes until the crust is lightly golden around the edges.
- Remove the pan from the oven. Allow the crust to cool.
- Once the crust has cooled, add the cranberry jam and evenly spread it over the cookie crust.
- Add a generous layer of white chocolate chips, reserving a 1/4 cup to add to the top.
- Crumble the balance of the cookie dough over top of the white chocolate. Do not press it down. Sprinkle the remainder of the white chocolate chips over the cookie crumbs.
- Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 25 minutes until lightly golden round the edges. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
- Once cooled to room temperature, lift the dessert from the baking tray by using the excess parchment paper as handles. Place the dessert on a baking sheet and place it in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours until well chilled.
- To make clean slices, warm a sharp knife with hot water, then dry, before slicing into the dessert. In between cuts, rinse the knife with hot water and dry with a paper towel. Enjoy!
Store leftover bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
