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Cranberry Shortbread Bars

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These Cranberry Shortbread Bars are here just in time for your holiday baking! Soft, sweet, buttery, and rich with fresh cranberries, these bars are tasty treats that you definitely can’t have just one of.

Shortbread bars have been sliced into multiple pieces on a sheet of parchment paper.

Cranberry Shortbread Bars

Shortbread cookies are one of my favorite weaknesses. I can never pass them up if I’m offered one! And as much as I love recipes like my Salted Shortbread Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies, I think these bars offer a contrasting flavor profile to those cookies.

What makes these simple bars so delicious isn’t just the buttery shortbread consistency; it’s also the fact that they’re chock-full of real, juicy, fresh cranberries! The combination of the shortbread and the berries is downright mouthwatering and makes for the best bite every single time. You get a little bit of tang and a little bit of salty, buttery, and sweet. It’s like all the senses combined!

With Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner, you’ll want to stock up on new dessert recipes! It’s the baking season, and these bars deserve a spot on your holiday spread this year. After all, don’t cranberries just scream Thanksgiving and Christmas?!

Cranberries are placed around slices of shortbread bars.

Ingredients for cranberry shortbread bars

These ingredients are simple, sweet, and likely already in your kitchen.

  • Butter – Unsalted is preferred.
  • Sugar – You’ll need both plain white granulated and light brown sugar.
  • Vanilla – Pure vanilla extract will yield better flavor than imitation.
  • Salt – Just a pinch! And omit this if you end up using a salted butter.
  • Flour – All-purpose is perfect.
  • Cranberries – Fresh cranberries, not dried.
  • Macadamia nuts – These are optional, but I love the delicate crunch they provide!
  • White chocolate chips – These are also optional, but their added sweetness is SO scrumptious, I couldn’t imagine making these bars without them.
Several cranberry shortbread bars are stacked on top of each other.

Ingredient substitutions

Cranberry sauce. Around Thanksgiving, we’re always seem to be left with a bunch of cranberry sauce (not the canned one, but the fresh cranberry sauce). This recipe would be a great candidate to use up the leftover cranberry sauce! You would simply add the cranberry sauce when the recipe calls for you adding the fresh cranberries.

Dried cranberries. I highly, highly recommend using fresh cranberries. Dried cranberries have lost all of their natural juices and won’t bake into the bars the same way as fresh cranberries. Fresh berries will release their juices into the batter as the bars bake, helping to create delicious cranberry flavor throughout the shortbread bars.

Citrus zest. A great way to give bold flavor to these bars would be to use some citrus zest! If you haven’t used any in your cranberry sauce yet (my cran-orange sauce already has it) then a great time to zest in some citrus zest (lemon or orange would be best here) is right before you add your cranberry sauce to the shortbread crust. If you’re using fresh cranberries, I would just sprinkle the zest on top throughout the pan.

Alternatively, you could mix the citrus zest into the shortbread mixture!

A bite has been taken out of a cranberry shortbread bar.

Storing instructions

Do I need to refrigerate cranberry shortbread bars? Nope! These sweet bars will stay fresh at room temperature for up to five days. No need to refrigerate, you can just reach for a bar right there on the kitchen counter when you’re feeling peckish! Since they stay fresh for so long, this is also a wonderful make-ahead dessert.

Three bars are stacked on top of one another on a white surface.

If you love cranberries half as much as I do, you’ll love these recipes!

Herbed Cranberry Chicken

Cranberry Orange Loaf

Pumpkin Cranberry Granola

Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

Cranberry Shortbread Bars

Soft, sweet, buttery, and rich with fresh cranberries, these bars are every bit delicious as they are pretty to look at!
5 from 6 votes
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Servings: 15 bars
Author: Julie Chiou
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Ingredients 

  • 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups fresh cranberries, rinsed and dried (about a 10 ounce bag will yield 2 cups)
  • 1 cup macadamia nuts, optional
  • ½ cup white chocolate chips, optional

The default measuring system for this website is US Customary. Unit conversions are provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. While we strive to provide accurate unit conversions, please be aware that there may be some discrepancies.

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 °F and line a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper and set aside for later.
  • Beat the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  • Pour in the vanilla extract and salt and beat again just until combined.
  • Fold in the flour one cup at a time until there are no more lumps.
  • Press two-thirds of the dough into the bottom of the prepared baking pan then add in the cranberries, macadamia nuts and chocolate chips in an even layer then crumble the remaining dough on top.
  • Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the top turns a light, golden color.
  • Let the bars set for about 30 minutes before slicing and serving.

Recipe Notes

These bars can be stored for up to five days in an airtight container.

NUTRITION FACTS

Serving: 1 bar | Calories: 447 kcal | Carbohydrates: 48 g | Protein: 4 g | Fat: 27 g | Saturated Fat: 14 g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1 g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11 g | Trans Fat: 1 g | Cholesterol: 50 mg | Sodium: 89 mg | Potassium: 107 mg | Fiber: 2 g | Sugar: 25 g

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition information can vary for a variety of reasons. For the most precise nutritional data use your preferred nutrition calculator based on the actual ingredients you used in the recipe.

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: bar recipe, easy dessert, thanksgiving desserts
Recipe Rating




Hailey

Sunday 25th of December 2022

Absolutely delicious. Easy and a total hit. I will make these again.

Alyssa

Thursday 24th of November 2022

I get requests to make these for holiday events now! I add some lemon zest and about a tbsp of lemon juice to the batter and they are delicious. Thanks for a great recipe!

Michelle

Monday 14th of November 2022

Wanted to get ahead on holiday baking. Set the recipe to 2x. Read 3 sticks of butter and used that. Quantity didn't agree with what was written. (3 sticks was for single batch). This round didn't work at all. Just be aware...

Julie Chiou

Monday 14th of November 2022

hi Michelle! sorry about that. the sticks shouldn't have even been in there (my mistake) since europeans don't use sticks and use grams and it's easier for americans to just do it by cups. the quantity didn't change for the sticks portion (only the cups) b/c it was in parenthesis and the recipe card wasn't smart enough to convert - so sorry! hope you'll try it again.

Ines

Tuesday 30th of November 2021

These are buttery, sweet with pockets of tart juicy cranberries…Perfection!

Cheryl

Monday 29th of November 2021

Made these for Thanksgiving last week, huge hit. The sweetness of the shortbread is balanced by the tart cranberries. Will be making it for Christmas party this weekend. Recipe is wonderfully written and perfect for the holiday season.