Cranberry Oatmeal Bars
These Cranberry Oatmeal Bars are a must have dessert for Thanksgiving and the holiday season. They’re soft with some texture and a gooey filling. Made with rolled oats, almond flour, maple syrup, and the best sweet and tangy cranberry filling.
Ingredients
Cranberry Filling
- 2 cups fresh cranberries
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup water (optional)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 1/4 tsp pink sea salt
- 1 tsp arrowroot flour
Oatmeal Crust
- 2 cups gluten-free rolled oats
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1 cup coconut oil (should be hard)
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp pink sea salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
Oatmeal Crumble
- 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/4 tsp pink sea salt
- 1/4 cup coconut oil (should be hard)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
Instructions
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Line a 10x15 baking sheet pan with parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients for the oatmeal crust; oatmeal, almond flour, coconut oil, maple syrup, baking powder and pink sea salt. Use your hands to work everything together making sure all the ingredients are well combined. Add crust to lined baking sheet pan and evenly spread crust throughout it forming a thick layer. Cover with saran wrap and place in fridge for 1 hour to chill.
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While crust is chilling, in a medium sauce pan combine all of the ingredients for the cranberry filling with the exception of the arrowroot flour; fresh cranberries, fresh orange juice, maple syrup, water, orange zest, vanilla extract, and pink sea salt. Place on stovetop and turn heat to medium-high. Bring to a boil, stirring regularly. Keep boiling until cranberries reduce and sauce starts to thicken. About 10 minutes. Turn heat off and add arrowroot flour to help thicken the sauce a bit more. Stir making sure the flour is well combined into the sauce. Set to the side.
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Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.
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Remove crust from the fridge. Using a spatula, pour cranberry filling over the crust and spread evenly. Make sure you get those corners! Set to the side.
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In a large mixing bowl combine all the ingredients for the oatmeal crumble; oats, almond flour, coconut oil, maple syrup and pink sea salt. Use your hands to thoroughly combine all ingredients together. Crumble evenly over the prepped crust and cranberry filling.
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Place bars in the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
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Remove from the oven and allow the bars to completely cool-off. I like to give it at least an hour.
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Once they're completely cooled off, place in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight. The longer they stay in the fridge, the more firm they will get. (see note)*
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Remove from the fridge. Lift parchment paper to remove bars from the sheet pan. Slice into four parts horizontally and three parts vertically. Making 15 even squares. You can slice them smaller or larger if you wish.
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Serve as is or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream if you wish! Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Tips for making Cranberry Oatmeal Bars:
- Use a 10x15 baking sheet pan- Or as close to this size as possible. It's the best size sheet pan that will fit all of the ingredients evenly for best results.
- Line baking sheet pan with parchment paper- It will prevent the bars from sticking to the pan and will make clean up after much easier.
- Evenly spread crust throughout sheet pan forming a thick layer- Even layer will result in the crust baking evenly.
- Chill the bars after they are done baking and have cooled-off- They will firm up better this way and these are better served chilled.
- If you don't want to wait to chill the bars once they are baked you can skip this step- They just won't be as firm and will be more of a crumble rather than bars. Still just as delicious though!
- You can slice bars smaller or larger if you wish- This will result in more or less than 15 bars but you can custom the sizes to your liking.
Substitutes for making Cranberry Oatmeal Bars:
- Arrowroot flour- Substitute for tapioca flour or cornstarch.
- Maple Syrup- Use honey.
- Coconut oil- Use unsalted butter if you don't need these to be dairy-free
- No time to make the filling?- You can always use leftover Cranberry Sauce. Use about 2 cups of cranberry sauce.