Cranberry Shortbread Bars

I've had a bag of fresh cranberries sitting in my fridge since before Thanksgiving, causing me great anxiety (luckily, they have a long shelf life); so I whipped up some cranberry shortbread bars for a Christmas party I was attending last night.

This recipe comes from, you guessed it, The Joy of Baking. The base of the bar - and the topping - is a basic shortbread recipe, with the slight variation of adding cornstarch and using brown sugar in place of white. (I also substituted whole wheat flour for all-purpose flour - more out of necessity than a deliberate choice - which produced a more crumbly, rustic-looking crust.)

The dough is pressed in the bottom of the baking pan and part of it is reserved to sprinkle over top. The middle layer of the bar is basically a thick cranberry sauce - made very simply by boiling cranberries with white sugar and a little water. (Note: The cranberry filling isn't too sweet - which I personally like - but you might want to add sugar to taste)

These bars smelled delicious baking in the oven; and they stayed relatively intact during my trek to Brooklyn, which says a lot considering I got lost and ended up taking four different trains to get there. They're a great seasonal dessert and the perfect accompaniment to a mug of coffee. Recipe is below.

Cranberry Shortbread Bars

Makes: About 16 bars

- Ingredients -

Cranberry Filling:
2 1/4 cups fresh cranberries
2/3 cup granulated white sugar
3 TBSP water

Shortbread Bars:
2 TBSP cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla

- Instructions -

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and place the wire oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter (or spray with a non stick cooking spray) a 9 x 9 inch pan.
2. For the cranberry filling: In a medium sized saucepan, place all the ingredients. Cook over medium-high heat until boiling. Continue to boil the filling until it becomes thick and syrupy, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool while you make the shortbread.
2. For the shortbread: In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, cornstarch, and salt.
3. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter until smooth (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract.
4. Evenly press two-thirds of the shortbread into the bottom of the prepared pan. Then evenly spread the cranberry filling over the shortbread base. Crumble the remaining shortbread dough with your fingers over the top of the cranberry. Lightly press the dough into the filling.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
6. Remove from oven, place on a wire rack, and while still hot, cut into 16 squares. Allow to cool completely in pan.