Description
Easy cranberry orange crumb bars with almond flour base, tart cranberry-orange filling, crispy oat crumble. Naturally sweetened maple syrup, gluten-free, dairy-free.
Ingredients
Cranberry-Orange Filling:
- 12 ounces cranberries (fresh or frozen)
- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (about 1 large orange)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Base and Crumble:
- 1 cup blanched almond flour
- 1/2 cup tapioca starch (tapioca flour)
- 1 1/2 cups sprouted rolled oats (or regular gluten-free rolled oats)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 cup natural almond butter
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
Substitutions & Notes:
- Almond butter: Ran out once and used cashew butter. Couldn’t tell the difference. Peanut butter works but then they taste like peanut butter bars (duh) and get softer.
- Oats: Whatever’s in your pantry. I grab the Trader Joe’s rolled oats usually. Sprouted ones are chewier but not necessary.
- Cranberries: Costco frozen bags live in my freezer year-round. Fresh ones only show up at the store for like six weeks, and my family wants these in July.
Instructions
Dump cranberries, orange juice, maple syrup, and vanilla in a pot. Blast the heat until it boils, then turn it down to medium. Stir every minute or so because cranberries stick to the bottom and burn if you walk away. Three to five minutes later most cranberries pop open (weirdly satisfying to hear), everything gets thick and jammy. Take it off the heat and ignore it while you do everything else. Frozen cranberries take longer because they’re soggier—give them an extra minute or two.
Turn oven to 350°F. Rip parchment paper and line your pan, let extra hang over the sides. Future you will be grateful when you’re yanking these out later.
Almond flour, tapioca starch, oats, cinnamon, baking powder—throw it all in a bowl and whisk until it looks mixed.
Almond butter and maple syrup go in a smaller bowl. Mix until smooth—takes some muscle if your almond butter was cold. Pour it into the dry stuff and stir until you’ve got thick dough that clumps together when you squeeze it.
Press half the dough into your pan with your hands. Really mash it down like you’re mad at it. Spread your cooled cranberry filling over that. Break the rest of the dough into chunks and scatter them over the top. Don’t make it neat—messy chunks get crispier.
Oven for 27-30 minutes. Top should look golden brown and crispy. House smells incredible around minute 20. My husband always shows up in the kitchen asking when they’re done even though he watched me put them in.
Worst part. You have to wait at least an hour, maybe more. Cut them early and they fall apart into a pile of crumbs. Leave the pan on the counter and go do literally anything else.
Grab the parchment edges, lift the whole thing out. Cut however many bars you want. Usually do 9 big ones. Sometimes cut 12 if I’m taking them somewhere and need more pieces.
Notes
- Use parchment paper or don’t make these. Greased the pan once, bars stuck, ended up scraping them out in pieces. Never again.
- Mash that bottom layer down hard. Wimpy crust means bars fall apart when you bite them.
- Natural almond butter only—just almonds, maybe salt. The kind with added oil makes everything greasy and weird.
- Keep the top messy and chunky. Those uneven bits get the best crispy texture.
- Check at 27 minutes. My oven runs hot, if I go the full 30 they burn.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American