Christmas Cranberry Bars: The Perfect Holiday Treat

Cranberry Bars are buttery, crumbly, and beautifully rustic with a gorgeous pop of tart cranberry flavor baked right in! They’re incredibly easy to make with simple pantry ingredients, fresh cranberries, and a soft, cookie-like dough that doubles as both the base and the topping.

Love More Cranberry Desserts? Try My Cranberry Brie Bites or this Cranberry Orange Cookies next.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

The dough is forgiving and comes together in one bowl—no mixer required if you don’t want to use one. The fresh cranberries burst with flavor as they bake, creating little pockets of tart-sweet goodness throughout each bar. Plus, they look absolutely stunning with that rustic crumble top and the ruby-red cranberries peeking through.

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Ingredient List

For the Bars:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• ⅔ cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups cake flour (or all-purpose flour)
• 1½ cups fresh cranberries, rinsed and patted dry

Why These Ingredients Work

Butter (Room Temperature): Has to sit out for about an hour before you start. If you forget like I always do, you can soften it in the microwave for like 10 seconds at a time, but be careful not to melt it.

Sugar: Less sugar than you’d think for a dessert bar. My friend added more once and said they were too sweet.

Cake Flour: Makes them softer. I keep a box in my pantry just for baking. Regular flour works if that’s what you have though.

Fresh Cranberries: The whole reason these bars work. They get soft when they bake but still hold their shape.

Vanilla Extract: A whole tablespoon. Don’t use imitation vanilla—it tastes weird.

Salt: Brings out all the other flavors. Skip it and they’ll taste flat.

Essential Tools and Equipment

• Stand mixer or hand mixer (or just a bowl and spoon if you’re feeling it)
• 8×8 or 9×9 inch baking pan
• Parchment paper or aluminum foil
• Mixing bowl
• Wire cooling rack

How To Make Cranberry Bars

Step 1: Preheat Your Oven

Set it to 350°F. Do this first because ovens take forever.

Step 2: Cream the Butter and Sugar

Mix your butter and sugar together for maybe 2-3 minutes. It’ll get lighter and fluffier looking. My arm gets tired when I do this by hand.

Step 3: Add Vanilla and Salt

Toss in the salt and vanilla. Mix until it’s all one color.

Step 4: Incorporate the Flour

Add the flour and stir until you stop seeing white streaks. Then stop stirring. I used to keep mixing “just to be sure” and my bars always came out tough. Don’t do that.

Step 5: Prepare Your Pan

Tear off a piece of parchment paper and line your pan. Let it stick up over the sides so you can grab it later. This saves so much hassle.

Step 6: Press the Bottom Layer

Take most of the dough—eyeball about two-thirds—and smoosh it into the bottom of your pan. I use my hands. It sticks to your fingers but whatever, just work with it.

Step 7: Add the Cranberries

Pour the cranberries on top. Push them around with your hand so they’re spread out pretty evenly.

Step 8: Add the Crumble Top

Grab chunks of the leftover dough and drop them on top of the cranberries. Don’t try to cover every cranberry. It’s supposed to look messy.

Step 9: Bake to Golden Perfection

Put the pan in the oven. Set a timer for 45 minutes and check it. If the edges are turning brown, it’s done. If not, give it 5 more minutes.

Step 10: Cool Completely

Take it out and put the pan on a cooling rack. Wait until you can touch the pan without burning your hand. Then wait some more. Seriously, they need to be completely cool or they’ll fall apart when you cut them.

You Must Know

Butter has to be room temp. Not cold, not melted. Room temp means you can poke it with your finger and it leaves a dent. I set mine out when I start my morning coffee if I’m baking later that day.

Let them cool all the way down. I messed this up the first time and the bars just crumbled into a pile. Now I bake them at night and cut them in the morning.

Personal Secret: I dry my cranberries really well after rinsing them. Like, I put them on a dish towel and pat them for a solid minute. Wet cranberries make the dough soggy.

Pro Tips & Cooking Hacks

• Frozen cranberries work fine. Don’t thaw them, just use them straight from the bag.
• Dough too sticky? I stick the whole bowl in the fridge for 10 minutes. Makes it way easier to handle.
• Use parchment paper with the sides hanging over. You can just lift the whole thing out when it’s cool instead of trying to cut bars in the pan.
• My oven runs hot so I check these at 45 minutes. Yours might need the full 50.
• I use an 8×8 pan because that’s what I have. My sister uses a 9×9. Both work fine.

Flavor Variations & Suggestions

Orange Cranberry: Add orange zest. I did this once and it was really good but I forget to buy oranges most of the time.

White Chocolate Cranberry: Throw in white chocolate chips with the cranberries. Makes them sweeter.

Almond Cranberry: Use almond extract instead of some of the vanilla. My mom does this.

Add Nuts: Chop up pecans or walnuts and put them on top. Adds crunch.

Lemon Cranberry: Grate lemon zest into the dough. Good if you like lemon stuff.

Make-Ahead Options

I make these ahead constantly because I’m always running behind on holiday baking.

Make the Dough Ahead: Mix it all up, wrap it in plastic, stick it in the fridge. It’ll keep for a couple days. Let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes before you try to work with it or it’ll be too hard.

Bake and Store: These are better the next day anyway. Something about letting them sit makes the flavor better. I bake them, wait till they’re cool, cut them up, and put them in a plastic container.

Freeze Baked Bars: Wrap each one in plastic wrap and put them all in a freezer bag. They last for months. Just take one out whenever you want it.

Freeze Unbaked: Put the whole pan together, cover it with plastic wrap and then foil, and freeze it. When you want to bake it, just pop it in the oven frozen and add some extra time.

Recipe Notes & Baker’s Tips

• I buy cake flour just for these because I like how soft they turn out. But I’ve used regular flour plenty of times when I’m out and they’re still good.
• Don’t worry about making the top look perfect. Mine always looks kind of messy and people still eat them all.
• Everything should be room temperature. Not that it matters much since there’s no eggs or milk, but whatever.
• The dough is soft and sticky. That’s normal. It’s not cookie dough.

Serving Suggestions

I take these to cookie exchanges and people always ask me for the recipe. They’re different from all the sugar cookies and brownies everyone else brings.

Good for Thanksgiving when you’re sick of pumpkin pie. Good for Christmas morning. Good for snacking on Tuesday afternoon when work is annoying.

Sometimes I shake powdered sugar over them to make them look nicer. Most times I don’t bother.

Last year I gave a box to my kid’s teacher and she said they were the best thing she got all year. So they make decent gifts if you need something.

How to Store Your Cranberry Bars

Room Temperature: Stick them in a container. They’ll be fine for 3 days sitting on the counter.

Refrigerator: Same container but in the fridge. Last about a week. My husband eats them straight from the fridge. I like them room temp better.

Freezer: Wrap them individually, throw them in a freezer bag. They keep forever basically. Pull one out and let it sit for half an hour.

No Reheating Needed: Just eat them however you want.

Allergy Information

Contains:

• Dairy (butter)
• Gluten (flour)

Substitutions:

Dairy-Free: Use that vegan butter stuff. Earth Balance or whatever. Same amount.

Gluten-Free: Get gluten-free flour that says it’s a 1:1 substitute. I’ve never tried it but my cousin has celiac and she said it worked.

Egg-Free: Already egg-free so you’re set.

Questions I Get Asked A Lot

My dough is too sticky to work with. What should I do?

Refrigerate it for 10 minutes. Makes it firmer. But it’s supposed to be sticky so don’t expect it to feel like play-doh or something.

Why are my bars falling apart when I cut them?

You didn’t wait long enough. They have to be completely cool—like room temperature cool, not just warm. I usually bake these at night and cut them the next morning.

How do I know when they’re done baking?

Edges turn brown. That’s it. If they’re brown, take them out.

💬 Tried this recipe? Leave a comment and rating below! Let me know how they turned out. And if you changed anything tell me that too because I’m always looking for new ways to make these.