Muddle a Mint Sprig: Cranberry bars

Another recipe I picked up from a library class taught by Dave from Dave's Specialty Foods in Mount Prospect: cranberry bars, the perfect way to use up all those bags of cranberries you bought on the cheap after Thanksgiving!

Crust:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
3 sticks of cold butter

Filling:

2 cups cranberries
1/2 cup orange juice
3/4 cup granulated sugar

Streusel topping:

2 sticks of butter
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar

First, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. For the crust, place all crust ingredients into a food processor and pulse quickly, just enough to make a chunky, soft consistency. (I was at my friend's house and couldn't use my food processor, so I just blended it with my fingers until it was all moist and would stick together like a dough.)

Dump crust mixture into buttered or sprayed 9 x 16 inch cookie sheet and press evenly to make a nice crust. Bake 15-20 minutes until lightly browned. (I used a 9 x 13 pan and just cooked it a little longer to bake the crust through.)

Meanwhile, make streusel: Mix butter, flour, and sugars in a bowl and blend with fingers until crumbly. Set aside.

Also meanwhile, mix all filling ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook on low heat until cranberries pop, stirring occasionally. (This might take as long as 30 minutes, so you can start it before you do the crust.) When crust is done, pour over baked crust and then sprinkle 1 1/2 cups of the streusel over the cranberries. Return to oven and bake for 20 minutes until very lightly browned.

I was worried that this wasn't enough cranberry topping, so I am glad I used a 9 x 13 pan instead of the larger one. Still, the cranberries are very tangy and a little goes a long way.

Also, this makes a ridiculous amount of streusel. You can cut it in half or probably even a third if you don't want to have a bunch of extra streusel. I'm not sure how I'm going to use mine, but it will probably involve some apples or berries.