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!
If you love cranberries as much as I do, wait until you try these gluten free cranberry recipes!! They just scream fall flavors and holiday traditions!!
Cranberry Shortbread Bars
Cranberries are one of those fruits that symbolize the holidays! Their sweet-tart flavor works in recipes from sweet to savory! I couldn’t wait to share this new recipe with you.
You can easily make your own cranberry sauce as I show you below, or use leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving!”
(If you love shortbread, you may also like these Gluten Free Shortbread Cookie Bars with Butterfinger)
The thing I love most about these gluten free cranberry squares is that they FREEZE well. Yup, 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.
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.
These cranberry shortbread cookies would taste amazing with vanilla ice cream served on top!
Fun Variations and Substitutions
Feel free to customize this recipe. Fresh cranberries are hard to find year-round so feel free to also substitute your favorite fruit like blueberries, blackberries, and 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!
Are you ready to see how easy these cranberry shortbread bars are to make?
Shopping List:
- Gluten free flour blend
- Butter
- Sugar
- Brown sugar
- Fresh cranberries
- Vanilla
How to make gluten free cranberry shortbread bars:
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
The first step is to make fresh cranberry sauce. Add the cranberries and other cranberry sauce ingredients to a pan and bring to a boil. You will hear some popping as the cranberries pop under the heat.
While the cranberries are cooking, let’s make the gluten free shortbread crust.
Can you use leftover cranberry sauce instead in this shortbread recipe?
Yes, this recipe is a great way to use up leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving!
How to make a gluten free shortbread crust:
If you like shortbread, you are going to 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.
Use a pastry blender to cut in the butter until your crust is crumbly. (You can also use a food processor to do this.)
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 for 10 minutes.
Add the cranberry sauce (or leftover cranberry sauce) to the partially baked shortbread. Spread it out to cover the shortbread crust.
How do you bake shortbread bars?
I bake my gluten free shortbread bars at 350 degrees. Add the sugar to the remaining shortbread crust and then drop on top of the cranberry layer. Bake. Allow cooling completely before slicing.
How can you tell if the shortbread is done?
I usually use the fruit layer as a barometer to determine if they are done. If the fruit layer is bubbling up around the top layer, they should be done.
More Gluten Free Cookie Bars to Try:
- Gluten Free Matcha Green Tea Coconut Bars
- Gluten Free Almond Joy Cookie Bars
- Gluten Free Banana Bars
- Gluten Free Strawberry Oatmeal Bars
Things You Need To Make This Recipe:
- My favorite gluten free flour blend.
- An 8×8 Baking Dish.
Gluten Free Cranberry Shortbread Bars
A delicious holiday gluten free cranberry shortbread bar recipe
Ingredients
- Crust
- 1 1/4 cups gluten free flour blend
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup cold butter
- 1/2 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
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- 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.
- Pour 3/4 of the crust into a greased 8x8 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
*Note, if your gluten free flour blend does NOT contain Xanthan Gum (or Guar Gum) please add 1 teaspoon to your mix and whisk it into the flour blend to mix in well.
Recommended Products
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 196 Total Fat: 8g Saturated Fat: 5g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 2g Cholesterol: 20mg Sodium: 106mg Carbohydrates: 30g Net Carbohydrates: 0g Fiber: 1g Sugar: 20g Sugar Alcohols: 0g Protein: 1g
Jessica
Tried this recipe out and unfortunately the crust never fully baked 🙁 most gluten free flours don’t include the Xthanam in them and if that is what is needed for the crust to set up please note at the beginning of the recipe I was so sad I spent so much time following every step. Just a friendly suggestion.
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Jessica, I am so sorry this didn’t turn out for you. There was a note about the Xanthan Gum, but I moved it to the Notes section of the recipe card so it will be more clear. I also link the two gluten free flour blends I recommended, but there are so many other brands that I have not tested. I hope you will give this recipe another try. Thank you.
Anne McBain
Hi,
The recipe calls for one package of fresh cranberries. Can you tell me how big that is or how many cups of cranberries that might be?
Thanks,
Anne
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Anne it is the larger package (usually there is one size of Ocean Spray fresh cranberries in stores.) I am at the airport flying home so I can check the exact measurement when I get in.
Penny
I buy my cranberries in bulk. How many ounces, or cups, are in your bag, please?
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Penny, the bag has just a little over 2 cups of fresh cranberries. I hope that helps :-).
Megan
If we want to substitute in a jam instead of the cranberry sauce as suggested how much jam should we use?
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Megan, I am not sure because I haven’t used jam…you want to use enough to coat the bottom crust layer. Let me know how it turns out :-).
Brenda Gilkes
Would this crust recipe work for the bottom of a cheese cake?
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Brenda, it probably would but the crust isn’t that sweet. If you are looking for a good cheesecake crust, I have several that may taste better if you would like.
Ashley
Hi, I made these yesterday and honestly are one of the most delicious things I have ever made!! Thank you so much. I used a rice gluten free flour and coconut sugar so it came out darker but amazing! I am probably going to finish the whole thing in a day! Delicious!! 😋
Sandi Gaertner
I am so glad you loved this recipe Ashley, thank you for coming back to let me know. You can make these with any fruit 🙂
Tiffany
Would this recipe work with coconut oil instead of the butter? Have you and/or any readers tried it with coconut oil?
Thank you!
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Tiffany. In theory it should work with coconut oil, but I haven’t tried it. Please come back and let us know how it turns out if you give it a try.
Karen Clement
Over the next while I have some of your wonderful recipes to try, I love love love the simple ingredients and having tried enough g/f baking at this point, well you get an idea and I cannot wait for these cranberry shortbreads for the season. Thank you so much for your time and wonderful recipes. Can’t wait to get some cranberries now.
Sandi Gaertner
Wow Karen, thank you so much. You made my day 🙂
Julie
I have a friend who would love these! Totally making her a batch for Christmas! Thanks for the recipe!
Sandi Gaertner
I hope she likes them Julie 🙂
Tessa@tessadomesticdiva.com
I am total sucker for fresh cranberries!! I can’t wait to try these in a paleo format!!
Sandi Gaertner
Paleo would be great!
olivia @ livforcake
These are so perfect the the holidays! And I LOVE that they freeze well. Certainly helps with all the holiday baking/cooking craziness!
Sandi Gaertner
My freezer is always full of some gluten free goodie 🙂
Debra C.
This recipe looks amazing, what a treat! Easy too – perfect for holiday baking!
Sandi Gaertner
Thank you so much Debra…I feel like the countdown is on for holiday baking 🙂
Msrcy
Where is the actual recipe??!!
Sandi Gaertner
Thank you for your patience. It is there now. Have a great afternoon.
Lora Johns
I would love to have this recipe. But, where it says, “(add recipe)” at the bottom of the blog entry, it is blank. No recipe transferred to my e-mail. It looks yummy and my mouth is watering. I hope you could rectify that for me. Thanks.
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Lora, You are so right and I am so sorry. I added the recipe card in. I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving.
Esther Jones
Dear Sandi!
I just showed my husband your delicious Easy Gluten Free Cranberry Shortbread Bars and he said ‘oooh – those look delicious! We have to try those! Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the recipe for them. I even scrolled through your gorgeous pictures several times because I was sure I had missed it, but it doesn’t seem to be there. Can you please add the recipe to your post? Many thanks in advance and by the way: Happy National Cake Day! 😉
Esther
Sandi Gaertner
I sent an email as well. I am so sorry this was left off. We had a family emergency over the holiday and I didn’t realize I didn’t add that in when I scheduled it to post. The recipe is there now Esther, thank you so much.