There are those who only swear by chocolate desserts, but a bright citrus dessert wins out in my book any day. I love classic lemon bars, with their buttery shortbread cookie crust and lemon curd-like filling. Around the holidays, I like to shake things up by giving them a festive twist. Meet: Lemon-cranberry bars.
Spreading some cranberry onto the crust (made from canned cranberry sauce!) adds a vibrantly colored, sweet-tart layer to all the deliciousness that’s already there. Bring a tray of these to your next gathering and I promise you they’ll be one of the first desserts to disappear from the table.
Why You’ll Love It
- Lemon bars get a festive twist. Cranberries add a sweet-tart, brightly colored layer to traditional lemon bars, and you only need to buy canned cranberry sauce for it.
- It’s a perfect little bite or edible gift. Cut small squares if you’re serving these bars as part of a dessert spread, or cut them into bigger pieces, wrap in parchment, and gift some lucky friends a delicious treat.
Key Ingredients in Lemon-Cranberry Bars
- Lemons: To get the best lemon-y flavor into the bars, use both zest and freshly squeezed juice in the filling. Get four medium lemons, and try to buy organic if you can, as you’ll be using the zest.
- Whole berry cranberry sauce: Yup, the canned stuff served at Thanksgiving dinner with turkey makes for an easy cranberry layer in these bars. Get a whole berry one so that there are juicy pieces of cranberry, and serve the leftover sauce in the can with some turkey meatballs.
- Eggs: These help to add richness and set the lemon filling. You’ll need four that are at room temperature.
- Butter: Softened unsalted butter gives the crust a delicious flavor and shortbread-like texture.
