You are going to love how easy these Gluten Free Cranberry Shortbread Bars are to make! Sweet and tart at the same time, these bars are just bursting with holiday flavors!
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Cranberries are one of those treasured holiday ingredients we love. Their sweet-tart flavor works in recipes from sweet to savory! I couldn’t wait to share this new recipe with you.
The thing I love most about these gluten free cranberry squares is that they FREEZE well. I am on sweets overload here, and I had to freeze several to hide them from myself. I have been recipe testing, tasting, and eating a lot lately, and I needed to make some of the sweets disappear.
If you love cranberries as much as I do, wait until you try these gluten free cranberry bread!!
Allergen Information:
These homemade cranberry bars are gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free, egg-free, and oat-free. You can easily make them dairy-free using a plant-based butter.
These cranberry shortbread cookies would taste amazing with vanilla ice cream served on top! If you love cranberry sauce, you will also want to try my Gluten Free Cranberry Hand Pies.
Are you ready to see how easy these cranberry shortbread bars are to make?
Flour Blends Tested:
- King Arthur Measure for Measure—This blend works really well in my recipes. I don’t have to let the flour blend rest in the batter.
- Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Blend—This blend also works well, but this flour blend does benefit from resting the batter for 15 minutes before baking. The rest allows the rice flour in this blend to soften, so you don’t have gritty baked goods.
Ingredient Notes:
- Gluten Free Flour Blend – I tested this recipe using the two blends listed above. That doesn’t mean others will not work; I just have not tested other flours, and I can not guarantee the recipe will work if you use other mixes.
- Xanthan Gum – If your gluten free flour blend doesn’t contain xanthan gum or guar gum, please add 1 teaspoon.
- Butter – For dairy-free, use vegan butter.
- Fresh Cranberries – Be sure to look over the cranberries and pick out any that are mushy.
- Vanilla – Please use pure vanilla extract; imitation doesn’t give the same flavor.
Step-By-Step Photos and Directions:
1. The first step is to make fresh cranberry sauce. Add the cranberries and other cranberry sauce ingredients to a pan and boil. You will hear some popping as the cranberries pop under the heat.
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2. If you like shortbread, you will love how easy this gluten free shortbread crust recipe is to make. First, add your dry ingredients to a bowl. Add the cold butter in chunks to the bowl.
3. Use a pastry blender to cut in the butter until your crust is crumbly. (You can also use a food processor to do this.)
4. Add 3/4 of the crust dough to a greased 8×8 baking dish. (Save the other 1/4 to be used in the topping.) Press the dough down into the baking dish. Bake the crust at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes.
5. Add the cranberry sauce you just made or leftover cranberry sauce to the partially baked shortbread. Spread it out to cover the shortbread crust.
6. I bake my gluten free shortbread bars at 350 degrees F. Add the sugar to the remaining shortbread crust and then drop on the cranberry layer.
7. Bake. Allow to cool completely before slicing.
My daughter pulled these cranberry bars out of the freezer the other day for some friends, and they DEVOURED these bars in record time. She heated them up for 30 seconds in the microwave. This easy gluten free banana bread with cranberries also freezes well if you want to make two recipes :-).
Flavor Variations:
Feel free to customize this recipe. Fresh cranberries are hard to find year-round, so feel free to substitute your favorite fruit, such as blue, black, or strawberries!
- Try using blueberry jam (or your favorite jam) instead of cranberry sauce. You will love shortbread bars with jam!
- Add slivered almonds on top!
- Add chopped pecans to the bottom shortbread layer
- Top with fresh whipped cream
- Add white chocolate chips!
Frequently Asked Questions:
This recipe is a great way to use leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving!
I usually use the fruit layer as a barometer to determine whether they are done. They should be done if the fruit layer bubbles up around the top layer.
These cranberry bars can be kept for up to 4 days in an air-tight container in the refrigerator or up to 4 months in the freezer.
More Gluten Free Cookie Recipes:
- Gluten Free Matcha Green Tea Coconut Bars
- Gluten Free Almond Joy Cookie Bars
- Gluten Free Banana Bars
- Gluten Free Strawberry Oatmeal Bars
Love This Recipe?
If you made and enjoyed this recipe, I would be incredibly grateful if you could leave a comment below. Please include which flour blend you used. This will help others know this recipe is delicious. Thank you!
Gluten Free Cranberry Shortbread Bars
Ingredients
- Crust
- 1 ¼ cups gluten free flour blend
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup cold butter
- ½ cup sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons water crust (Add one then if you need more add accordingly)
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar topping
- Berry layer
- 1 package fresh cranberries
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
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Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º F.
- Make the crust first. Add all of the dry crust ingredients to a bowl.
- Add the cold butter. Cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender.
- Add the water to make a dough. Pour 3/4 of the crust into a greased 8×8 pan.
- Press the dough down into the pan so that it is flat.
- Bake only the crust for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven.
- In a small pot, add the cranberries, sugar, and vanilla.
- Cook for 15 minutes on low heat until the cranberries all pop open. You can press a spoon against the berries to pop them.
- Let the cranberry mixture cool 5 minutes.
- Pour the cranberry mixture on top of the crust.
- Take the remaining 1/4 crust mixture and add the brown sugar. Toss to mix.
- Sprinkle the remaining crust mixture on top of the cranberry layer.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until the cranberry is bubbling.
Notes
- I have tested this recipe with King Arthur Measure for Measure GF, Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 GF blend, and Authentic Foods Multi Blend. That doesn’t mean others will not work, I just have not tested other flours.
- If your gluten free flour blend doesn’t contain Xanthan Gum or Guar Gum, please add 1 teaspoon.
- To make this recipe dairy-free, substitute the butter for vegan butter.
- These bars will keep up to 4 days in an air-tight container, or up to 4 months in the freezer.
SPECIAL NOTE
Please know that every gluten free flour blend has a different starch to grain ratio. If you use a blend I didn’t test, you may need to adjust your moisture levels in your baked goods.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
I’d love to try these and wondering how to make them refined sugar free?
Hi Sara, I know people use swerve in my recipes, but I haven’t tried it personally.
How much is a package of cranberries. I would like a better measurement
Hi Claire, the bags can vary quite a bit. The one I used was 16 ounces.
We absolutely love this recipe at the holidays! This weekend I tried it with a strawberry & rhubarb filling. Family loved it! Doubled the crust to fit a 9×13 pan. Cooked shortbread for 20 min ( larger pan). Filling was 4.5 cups chopped rhubarb, 1 lb fresh strawberries, 1 cup sugar, 2 tsp vanilla. Simmered for 10 minutes.
Final bake was 40-45 min (again due to larger pan).
Make sure not to simmer the filling too long or it all becomes a yummy soup in the final bake.
I’m excited to see what other flavors may work as the shortbread and crumb are delicious!
Wow, what a delicious filling idea. Thank you so much for sharing your strawberry rhubarb version. I can’t wait to try it.
I will hopefully be making these today. I would like to add a layer of creamcheese on the shortbread then add the cranberry sauce. Have you tried doing this? Would I have to add anything to the creamcheese?
Thanks
Darleen
That sounds delicious! I do this with my strawberry cream cheese bars (recipe is also on my blog), but I drop dollops of cream cheese on.
Sandi these bars were delightful. I made them for the Bazaar at the church and as it passed through the baking room I had a complement on them right away. my husband liked the look of them so much he bought some. I also think they are delicious.
I am so glad everyone at your church loved them!! Yay to your hubby, he knew that would be the only way to get some 🙂