Cranberry Pineapple Bars
I made these cranberry pineapple bars recently in my quest to use up my embarrassing abundance of cranberries, and I thought I'd share the recipe in case some of you haven't used up your stash yet. 😉
I actually happened to have some crushed pineapple in my fridge too, so I killed two birds with one stone by making the bars. Yay!
I used to make these when I was a teenager, so they're sort of a blast from my past.
They're best the first day or two after you make them...after that, the crumb crust gets a little less crisp, although the bars still taste good. The filling is a little bit on the tart side, so if you prefer very sweet fillings, you might want to add a little more sugar.
To make the filling, combine cranberries, undrained pineapple, brown sugar and cornstarch.
Cook for 10-15 minutes over medium heat, or until the cranberries have popped (isn't it fun that cranberries pop when you cook them??) and the filling is thickened.
Remove from heat and set aside.
Combine the dry crust ingredients in a large bowl.
Cut in the butter until it's in small chunks. I use a simple, sturdy pastry blender...I think it was less than $10 in the kitchen department at Target.
Reserve 2 cups of the crumb mixture for the topping and press the rest into a greased 9x13 pan.
Spread the filling over the crust.
Sprinkle topping over filling, pressing it down slightly.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into bars.
Cranberry Pineapple Bars
Filling
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoon cornstarch
1 8-oz. can crushed pineapple in its own juice, undrained
Crust
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup chopped nuts
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup butter
Heat oven to 350 ° F. Grease 9x13 inch pan.
Combine all filling ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cover and reduce heat; cook for 10-15 minutes, or until cranberries pop and mixture thickens, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
Meanwhile, combine all crust ingredients except butter. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Set aside 2 cups crumb mixture for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture into greased pan. Spread filling over top of the crust.
Sprinkle crumb mixture over filling; press lightly.
Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.
Recipe originally from Pillsbury's Healthy Baking (but I must say, they have an odd definition of healthy. Ahem.)
laughing @ "they have an odd definition of healthy."
When I was a kid, my mom would give me Sprite instead of Coke or a PayDay bar instead of a Hershey's bar because, supposedly, these were better choices. I guess because of the absence of caffeine and chocolate? What would have been a better choice: not soda and not candy. 😀
Although, I'd venture that if you're going to eat a dessert, one that is actual food with only 10 ingredients might be considered "healthier" than most of the store-bought options.
This is true. I just can't quite get with the "healthy" label!
I have a can of cranberries to use up-- do you think they could be substituted in this dish? I have never baked with any type of cranberries before but was given a few cans near Thanksgiving.
I don't really know! I've only ever seen canned cranberry sauce, which is a gelatinous sort of thing with no cranberry chunks. I really don't think that would work, but maybe you have a different type?
I made mine with whole jellied cranberry and it turn out fine.
Mmmm, those do look good. I don't have pineapple, but have a bunch of apples and lots of frozen cranberries. I may try to do this with an apple/cranberry filling.
Elizabeth, if canned cranberry sauce is made the same way as home-cooked, then it has water in the recipe. You could try leaving out some of the juice from the pineapple, to reduce the liquid content. I don't see why you couldn't make the recipe work. And maybe reduce the sugar just a bit, as the canned sauce would already have sugar cooked into it. I'm going to try with apples. Good luck of you decide to try with the canned cranberries!
Ooh, I bet apple-cranberry would be good.
yeah, that sounds yummy!
I could definitely get behind apple/cranberry! I'm not really a pineapple person, so this sounds great!
I love cranberry. I don't think I would have ever thought to pair it with pineapple.
I'm with you. What an unusual flavor combination.
Do you ever have any of the nutritional information for your recipes that you could post? Just curious as my mom and I are really watching what we eat and trying to make better healthier choices.
Renee, there is a website called myfitnesspal.com, and it also has a free iphone and android app that will track your calories plus a whole lot more, such as nutritional information. One of the cool things about this website it that you can input your own recipes and it will give you the nutritional informational on your recipes.
I love this website, and I even have a friend who's sugar is a little hight and his doctor even told him to start tracking his food intake on myfitnesspal.com.
You should try it out not only to lose weight (if you need to) but also to track your nutritionally information which is what I use it for. I discovered that I do not get enough potassium each day and that is probably one of the reasons why I get leg cramps all the time.
These look very good....I think I will make them this weekend as a treat in my son's lunches for next week. Thanks for sharing!
Jen C
These look very good....I think I will make them this weekend as a treat in my son's lunches for next week. Thanks for sharing!
Jen C
Well...they do have fruit and oats 🙂
Thank you for posting this recipe! I think I will go out and try to find some cranberries to try to make it this weekend. I wonder how it would be to add a few blueberries for a festive 4th of July look? They sound yummy!
I also have a pastry blender and I used mine all the time. Usually not for pastry though. I find that it's wonderful for breaking up canned salmon for salmon patties, mashing cooked squash for squash casserole, mashing bananas for banana muffins, etc. I like using it instead of my potato masher when I want something mashed, but not too much.
Mmm, my mouth is watering (hungry right now and looking for a snack). These remind me of my mom's Jam Square recipe. Those types of bars are so irresistable. I might try these soon (read: November when cranberries are back on sale).
Oh, those do look good! I am all hopped up on blueberries at the moment. I baked a pie this morning and it smelled so good! What is it about baking that is so peaceful?
These look really good. Can't wait to try this at our house.
I just made these with strawberries instead of the cranberries & pineapple (didn't have either) and they turned out fabulous! Another winning recipe! Thanks!
can I use quick oatmeal instead of rolled oats for this recipe?? Looks yummy!
Yep, I did!
It was so great to find this recipe on line, my son mentioned them today and how much he liked them. I hadn't made them in years, and had thrown out the cookbook in my last move. Hurray for the Internet, my son will be very happy
These are actually vegan if you substitute vegan margarine for the butter - have you made them with margarine before? Seems like it would work out ok, but I'm curious.
I haven't, but I'm sure it would work. I'm just highly partial to the taste of butter!
Try the cranberry scones on food.com, recipe 13067. Throw in half a cup or so of white chocolate chips (or the remains of a white chocolate bunny, not like I'd know or anything) and you may wish you had more cranberries. Maybe some blueberries too, for the 4th?
What can I use in place of butter? LoL too high, but love this bar. Except for butter and trading flour for almond flour, it healthy.
Well, I think any other solid fat would work, such as a non-dairy alternatives to butter. Coconut oil might work too.