Yummy chewy cranberry bars

[skyllo]

I made some sour cream/craisin bars this weekend, and they turned out really tasty, thought I'd share the recipe. I originally used a 'taste of home' recipe but I cut it in half and made some lower fat substitutions and a couple other changes and this is what I came up with:

Sour Cream Cranberry Bars

*1/2 cup low-fat butter spread or butter(I used "I can't believe it's not butter")
*1/2 cup brown sugar
*1 cup oats
*3/4 cup flour + 1 Tablespoon
*1 C. craisins
*1/2 C. Sour Cream (I used fat free)
*2 Tablespoons Rasberry jam
*1/3 C. sugar
*1 egg white
*1 T. Vanilla

--Preheat oven to 350 degrees
--Cream butter and brown sugar in bowl, add 3/4 cup flour and oats until blended. Set aside 1/2 cup for topping. Place dough in 9x9 baking pan and bake for 10 min. or until lightly browned.
--meanwhile, combine craisins, sour cream, sugar, egg white, vanilla, jam and 1 T. flour in bowl. Spread over baked crust. Drop the remaining dough in small teaspoons over filling and bake 20-25 minutes.


If anyone tries these, let me know what ya think :-)

Sarah

[valchemist]

sarah, thanks for sharing! I love when people come up with their own versions of recipes -- and it is nice that you lightened it! I am not sure when I will get around to making them, but I will at some point. I never have the butter substitute around, so I will use butter. and instead of fat free sour cream, I will use lowfat. even with those higher fat subs, the nutritional facts still indicate that it is relatively lowfat.


* Exported from MasterCook *

Sour Cream Cranberry Bars

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 9 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/2 c butter
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1 c oats
3/4 cup flour -- plus 1 tablespoon
1 c craisins
1/2 c lowfat sour cream
2 tbsp raspberry jam
1/3 c sugar
1 egg white
1 tbsp vanilla

--Preheat oven to 350 degrees
--Cream butter and brown sugar in bowl, add 3/4 cup flour and oats until blended. Set aside 1/2 cup for topping. Place dough in 9x9 baking pan and bake for 10 min. or until lightly browned.
--meanwhile, combine craisins, sour cream, sugar, egg white, vanilla, jam and 1 T. flour in bowl. Spread over baked crust. Drop the remaining dough in small teaspoons over filling and bake 20-25 minutes.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 347 Calories; 12g Fat (31.3% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 55g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 30mg Cholesterol; 133mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1/2 Fruit; 2 1/2 Fat; 1 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.


Nutr. Assoc. : 222 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

[Sue1]

These sound great. Always looking for new cranberry bar cookie recipe. Here's another version that my daughter and I always add to our Christmas cookie baking list:

Cranberry Date Bars

12 oz 1 bag cranberries
1 pk 8 oz. chopped dates
2 tb Water
1 ts Vanilla extract
2 c All purpose flour
2 c Old fashioned oats
1 1/2 c Packed brown sugar
1/2 ts Baking soda
1/2 ts Salt
1 c Butter or margarine melted

GLAZE
2 c Confectioners sugar
2 tb Up to 3 tbs. orange juice
1/2 ts Vanilla extract

In a covered saucepan over low heat, simmer cranberries, dates and waterter
for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the cranberries have popped.
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla; set aside. In a large bowl, combine
the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir in butter until
well blended. Pat half into an ungreased 13x9 in baking pan. Bake at 350F
for 8 minutes. Spoon cranberry mixture over crust. Sprinkle with the
remaining oat mixture. Pan gently. Bake ar 350F for 25-30 minutes or until
browned. Cool. Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over bars.

[Sheila in MD]

Sour Cream Cranberry Bars

These sound tasty! A question-I notice that it says to make a dough but was wondering if instead, the crust ingredients could be formed into a crumb kind of thing (you know-cut the butter into the dry ingredients)-and pressed in the pan for the bottom and then just sprinkled on top? I like those kind of crusts:-). What do you think? Thanks in advance-will post if I try it.

Sheila in MD

[Peggy]

Thanks for the recipe, Sarah! I think I will try your lower fat version.

Peggy

[skyllo]

Hi all, Sue, your recipe sounds good, I will have to try that next time I buy some frozen cranberries.
Shelia, I was curious about the dough/crumb question too, in the recipe I used it said to reserve the 1/2 cup after it was mixed, which confused me a bit since it was no longer crumbly and had to be dropped, maybe it was a mistake and it should be oats/flour set aside before mixing. You could certainly do it that way! It ended up working with the dough plopped on top sort of like a cobbler but doesn't make a consistent top crust, but tasty either way!

Sarah

[valchemist]

Sarah,

I made these today and they are delightful. :)

they are just delicious. the crumb crust and topping is a perfect match for the sweet creamy yet firm filling. I love the taste of the raspberry jam with the cranberries (was wondering how that would be!). and the tartness of the cranberries offsets the sweetness of the filling nicely. they do not taste at all low in fat. the squares are just rich enough where you could even get 16 out of the pan. originally I had thought only 9 servings.

I modified the ingredients to my taste and the directions to make the preparation a bit easier. oh, and I did the streusel-y topping rather than creaming the butter and glopping on the dough. overall, though, this recipe is of course basically the same as sarah's original and I thank you for coming up with it!

here are a couple pictures and the revised recipe along with the modified nutritional stats.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid194/pd77820d419f09518fc4b9a23ea5d5172/f16f33be.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid194/paa14e43c7ccf85649aac7e72e058c6b4/f16f33ac.jpg


* Exported from MasterCook *

Sour Cream Cranberry Bars

Recipe By : skyllo on CLBB
Serving Size : 16 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/2 c butter -- softened
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1 c quick cooking oats
3/4 cup flour -- plus 1 tablespoon
3/4 c craisins -- (original recipe had 1 c but that was too many for my tastes)
1/2 c lowfat sour cream
2 tbsp raspberry jam
1/3 c sugar
1 egg white
1 tbsp vanilla

--Preheat oven to 350 degrees
--Blend butter, brown sugar, oats, and flour until crumbly using a pastry blender. Set aside 1/2 cup for topping. Press remaining dough in 9x9 baking pan (I used an 8x8 pan) and bake for 10 min. or until lightly browned (mine took about 12 minutes).
--Meanwhile, combine sour cream, sugar, egg white, vanilla, jam and 1 T. flour with a whisk in same bowl used to make the crust. Stir in craisins. Spread over baked crust. Sprinkle reserved dough over filling and bake 20-25 minutes or until just set and slightly brown on the edges.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 170 Calories; 6g Fat (34.0% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 26g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 17mg Cholesterol; 75mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1/2 Fruit; 1 1/2 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates.

NOTES : delicious. the crumb crust and topping is a perfect match for the sweet creamy yet firm filling. I love the taste of the raspberry jam with the cranberries (was wondering how that would be!). and the tartness of the cranberries offsets the sweetness of the filling nicely. does not taste at all low in fat. the squares are just rich enough where you could even get 16 out of the pan. originally I had thought only 9 servings.
Nutr. Assoc. : 222 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

[LLR]

Sour Cream Cranberry Bars

These look great, did you do anything special to your pan to get them to come out so nicely for cutting?

[valchemist]

I just lined it with Reynolds Release Foil. I love that stuff. absolutely no greasing required. ever. and nothing ever sticks.


oh, I have to add one thing. these don't need to be refrigerated. there is a myth out there that baked goods with cream cheese or sour cream must be refrigerated, so I wanted to clear up that myth. they are not going to spoil if you leave them out. in fact, it will probably taste better that way. but in the interest of science, I will refrigerate some and compare how the room temperature and cold ones taste.

[skyllo]

Glad to hear you liked them!! The pictures are beautiful, the crumb topping makes it look much neater than the blobs I had...
I put mine in the refridgerator but I tend to like cold desserts better anyway, frozen cookies are my favorite.


Sarah

[valchemist]

I agree. I tried my refrigerated ones and they are actually really good cold. well, they are good warm, at room temp, and cold. I tried them all 3 ways. it just depends on your tastes!