Cranberry Walnut Bars

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...The Silver Fox and I haven't yet firmed up our plans for Thanksgiving Day. As a matter of fact, we don't know where or with whom we'll celebrate the holiday. Our trip to Egypt is still on for December and I don't want to complicate the coming holiday unnecessarily. I've been working around firm plans, playing with desserts, side dishes and a simple turkey roulade in case we end up spending the holiday at home. I wanted to share some of the simpler recipes I've been testing with you. It's hard to go wrong with a dessert, so I thought I'd start with this simple streusel bar. It would be a wonderful accompaniment for ice cream following a heavy Thanksgiving meal. There is nothing not to like here and I know those of you who enjoy tart/sweet combinations will be happy with the results. Here is how the bars are made.


Cranberry Walnut Bars...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Gilt Taste

Ingredients:
Bars
2 cups flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
12 tablespoons (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cubed
2 cups canned or homemade whole berry cranberry sauce
Streusel Topping
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan.
2) Pulse together the flour, brown sugar and salt together in bowl of a food processor. Add butter and pulse until mixture just comes together in one ball.
3) Press into bottom of prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven until crust is a pale golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool. When crust is cool, reheat oven to 350 degrees.
4) Spread cranberry sauce evenly over crust.
5) To make streusel topping: In a small bowl, whisk together oats, sugar, walnuts, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Blend in butter with your fingertips, forming pea-size crumbs. Sprinkle over cranberry sauce.
6) Bake until topping is golden brown and crisp, about 20 minutes. Cool and cut into bars. Yield: 16 bars.

                    

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