Recipe Review: Cranberry Bars

Want one?! Yeah, you do. These are so yummy! You can taste the spices in the crust, along with the sweetness of the crust, and then a little tartness. Overall they're sweet, but not excessively so. Next time I think I'll use a slightly larger pan because I'd prefer the crust a little thinner. Maybe will try it on a jelly roll sized pan or my Pampered Chef bar pan. They go together pretty quickly - the only part that takes too long is waiting for them to cool enough to get one out of the pan without it crumbling apart and then burning your mouth because you threw it in there while it was crumbling. Who can wait 40 minutes for them to cool?!






Cranberry Bars
original recipe allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1 (12 ounce) package whole cranberries
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup water
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
3/4 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon *I used Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus spice blend in place of these 2 spices

Directions:  In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the cranberries, white sugar, and water. Cook, stirring occasionally until all of the cranberries have popped, and the mixture is thick, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, melted butter, and eggs. Stir in the oats, brown sugar, ginger and cinnamon. Set aside about 1 1/2 cups of the mixture, and spread the rest into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish**. Pack down to form a solid crust, getting it as even as possible. Spread the cooled cranberry mixture over the crust. Pinch off pieces of the remaining mixture and place evenly over the cranberry layer.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top is lightly browned. Cool in the pan for about 40 minutes before slicing into bars.

	**I found that spraying the baking dish with cooking spray made the bars come out really easily. The cranberry mixture didn't get hard and stuck to the sides of the dish around the edges.