Cranberry Walnut Shortbread Bars are an unbeatable combination of buttery walnut shortbread and tart homemade cranberry curd. These cranberry bars are the first thing I make when I spot cranberries in the supermarket!
Cranberry walnut shortbread bars are amazing!!
I don’t know what I’m more excited about today, these Cranberry Walnut Shortbread Bars themselves, or the tangy homemade cranberry curd tucked inside. They’re homey and comforting but just different enough to be extra special, I’m really happy with the recipe. The curd filling is bright and tart, the walnut shortbread crust is buttery and soft, and the topping is, well, nutty. It’s so good, this is a must try recipe.
Homemade cranberry curd is easy to make in the microwave!
The cranberry curd is made with my favorite easy microwave method and it turns out gorgeously thick and glossy. If you love lemon curd and lemon bars, you will love these. Cranberries bring a similar tartness along with their distinctive berry flavor, and nothing can touch that color.
Fill your freezer with fresh cranberries while you can!
This is just one of the many reasons to stockpile lots of bags of cranberries now for use through the winter. Trust me on this, I’m going to be tempting you with cranberry goodies in February, and you’ll be upset if you can’t join in…
Most curds are made with juice, but I use a puree of fresh cranberries
Add a little sugar and some eggs, then about 3 minutes of microwaving, and, voila! You can also do it on the stove top if you like. One standard bag of cranberries will make two batches of this curd, so you can use one for the bars, and save the other for your morning toast and scones.
You are going to LICK the bowl clean.
The walnut shortbread dough is used for the crust and crumble topping
The fact that the bottom crust and crumble topping are the same dough makes this recipe so easy. I load it with nuts for an extra ‘walnutty’ flavor. Then I shower the whole thing with a layer of more nuts just before baking, which gives every bite a little crunch.
Bring the whole batch to a party, or a neighbor…or wrap one or two squares in waxed paper for a long day of work or travel. They’re mainstream enough to please everybody, but just different enough to elicit wows. They are going on my personal list of favorite recipes, I adore them.
More recipes that feature fresh cranberries ~
Cranberry Gingersnap Pie
Baked Brie with Maple Roasted Cranberries
Cranberry Walnut Wild Rice Porridge
What to Eat Now: Fresh Cranberries
Cranberry Walnut Shortbread Bars
Ingredients
- 1 heaping cup walnuts, plus a few extra for topping
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour, play around with whole wheat if you like
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 good cup cranberry curd, recipe here
Instructions
- Set oven to 375F
- lightly grease and line a 9×9 square baking pan with a parchment ‘sling’ so you will be able to life the bars out after baking to cut them cleanly.
- Put the walnuts in a food processor and pulse several times until they are finely chopped. Divide the ground nuts in half, and set aside.
- Put the flour and sugars in the processor and pulse to combine. Add in the soft butter, in pieces, as well as as HALF of the nuts. Process briefly to bring the dough together, until there is no more dry flour left. The mixture will have a coarse crumble texture.
- Measure out 1/2 cup of the dough and set it aside for the topping. Pat the rest of the dough into the bottom of the pan. Use your fingers to distribute the dough evenly. Cover the entire surface of the bottom…if you need a little extra take it from the reserved dough.
- Bake the crust for 15 minutes.
- Mix the reserved dough with the nuts, using your fingers to make a coarse crumble.
- Spread the cranberry curd out over the warm crust. Be careful, the dough will be soft.
- Sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the top. If you like you can sprinkle a few more finely chopped walnuts over that.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Let cool before cutting.
Notes
- The walnut shortbread crumble dough is particularly wonderful, so if you don’t have time to make the cranberry curd, you could certainly fill this with something else like store bought lemon curd, or jam, etc.
- I like to store these at room temperature, under loose foil. Plastic tends to make them soggy. Bars like this are at their very best the same day.
Sue, thanks for another excellent recipe. These are outstanding. I substituted pecans for the walnuts and it turned out perfect.
Looks great & fortunately I live in “Cranberry Country”!! Excited to make HOWEVER could I bake this in a fluted tart pan 9” with removable bottom??
Yes, that will work nicely. I’ve got a pretty cranberry tart baked like that coming up soon, so stay tuned!
Sue, I can’t eat walnuts but I’m sure pecans should be good in this recipe as well.
Right now though, I have plenty of macadamia nuts; do you think they would work?
Yes, for sure, I even have a lemon macadamia version of these bars way back in the archives!
I love anything with shortbread – these will be delicious with the cranberry curd. I’d never have thought to make cranberry curd and am excited to have 2 bags of cranberries in the freezer – guess what I’m making tomorrow! Thank you for sharing.
Hello Sue.
I love your blog, always feel they are manageable, exciting and worth trying.
Now, these cranberry squares, can they be made gluten-free?, and of so, what flour would you use?
Yes, you can substitute a good gf baking mix (like Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur) for the flour and it should be fine.
Thank you so much, will sure try that
Sue, what is the shortbread recipe you use over and over again
It’s a basic recipe I use in my crumble bars, but each time it’s tweaked a little bit. I’ve done so many I’m not sure which one started it all. If you search ‘crumble bars’ you’ll find a lot of examples!
I can’t get the cranberry curd recipe!!
Oh strange, the link got stripped out, I just fixed it in the post, here it is: https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/microwave-cranberry-curd/
The recipe looks delicious and I cannot wait to try. Do you think these would freeze well or will bottom crust become too moist? Thank you!
I think they’d freeze fine, after baking.