Cranberry Caramel Date Bars: A Luscious, Rich Bar Cookie Recipe
Cranberry Caramel Date Bars combine fresh cranberries with caramel sauce, dates, and nuts – ingredients that combined make one of the more perfect holiday cookie recipes. These cookies work well not only at Christmas but also as a Thanksgiving treat, when fresh cranberries are readily available in grocery stores.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Bake time: 35 minutes, divided
Makes 80-100 1-inch bars
Ingredients
1 cup fresh cranberries, chopped finely in food processor
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/3 cups all-purposed flour
2 cups oatmeal
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ cups dates, chopped
¾ cup chopped walnuts
1 jar (10 ounces) caramel topping or sauce
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350º F (325º F for a glass dish).
- Lightly grease a 13 x 9 baking pan.
- In a small bowl, combine chopped cranberries and 2
tablespoons granulated sugar. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine 2 cups all-purpose flour, oatmeal,
remaining ½ cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and baking soda. Cut in butter,
as for a pie crust. Mix well. The mixture will be crumbly.
- Reserve 1 cup of crumb mixture. Press the remainder firmly
into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove pan from the oven. Sprinkle the crust with dates, walnuts, and cranberry mixture.
- Combine caramel topping with remaining 1/3 cup flour. Pour
caramel mixture over fruit and nuts, spreading evenly. Sprinkle reserved crumb
mixture over caramel layer.
- Bake bars 20 minutes or until set and crumb surface begins
to brown slightly. Remove the pan from the oven and allow it to cool completely
on a wire rack. Cut bars into 1-inch squares.
- Place bars in airtight container with waxed paper in between layers. Store in the refrigerator.
A Special Tip from The Elf
Cranberry Caramel Date Bars are very thick. Cutting bars
into 1-inch squares (or smaller) y gives you a large number of cookies from one batch. Because the cookies are so rich, a smaller cut bar is not too small for one serving.
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