Cranberry Bars

Home Cooking November 1994, p. 12

1 ½ cups flour

1 ½ cups quick-cooking rolled oats

¾ cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¾ cup margarine or butter, melted

1 (16-ounce) can whole cranberry sauce

¼ cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

Shopping at Whole Foods once again made me change up a recipe. They didn't have canned cranberry sauce, so I went with this bag of frozen cranberries instead. To their credit, the frozen cranberries were quite good.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large mixing bowl stir together the flour, oats, brown sugar, lemon peel and baking soda. 

Odd?

Stir in margarine and mix thoroughly. 

Better.

Reserve 1 cup of the flour-oat mixture for the topping. Pat the remaining oat mixture into an ungreased 12 x 7-inch baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

Carefully spread cranberry sauce atop baked crust. Stir nuts into reserved oat mixture. 

I used almonds and they were delicious.

Sprinkle atop cranberry sauce. Lightly pat oat mixture into sauce. Bake for 25-30 minutes more, or until top is golden. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. 

All done! They got a little crumbly when they were cut up, but basically they were little mini versions of what you see here.

My Rating: 4/5 "So sweet and mellow but so tangy. They look really festive, too! A great treat for a Thanksgiving or Christmas gathering."