White Chocolate Cranberry Crumble Bars

These crumble bars are sharp and sweet but the flavours balance each other perfectly for a delicious tray bake!

I am quite new to including cranberries in my baking, but I am really enjoying experimenting with their flavours. Cranberries like most fruits are seasonal to the UK, only coming out in September and I find are being underrated, probably because they are a little on the sharp side. Whenever Christmas comes around, I see supermarkets full of fresh British cranberries which I feel is an excellent reason to start baking and getting used to them. Yes they are a little sharp, but they can make the perfect jam or crumble filling hence why they feature in this recipe! And it's another reason why I paired the crumble bars with a generous drizzle of white chocolate - the sweeter the chocolate to marry nicely with that bitterness of the berries and reduce some of the tartness. When I shared these with my friends they were surprised at how much they enjoyed the filling, not many had tried cranberries before and they encouraged the sour flavours. With this recipe, it really is about balancing the flavours; you don't want to make the cranberries too sweet to lose their natural aromas nor too sharp to put people off a perfectly good crumble. These crumble bars are perfect for a Christmas dessert, served fresh out of the oven with a little cream or custard, especially for those guests who aren't into chocolate yule logs or Christmas puddings, a hearty dessert like this will be perfect. 

If you love crumble bars....

Check out my other recipes for more inspiration!

• Cherry Crumble Bars
• Apple and Blackberry Crumb Cake
• Mince Pie Crumble Bars

Recipe

Prep: 20 minutes

Cook: 45 minutes

Serves: 16 

Notes:

• It is essential the butter is cold for the crumble topping otherwise it will spread too much during baking whereas you want it nice and crumbly!
• Cranberries are naturally quite a sharp fruit, feel free to add more sugar to the filling if you want it to be sweeter. However this is why white chocolate is paired to balance the sharpness. 
• I recommend serving this with some vanilla ice cream or custard.

Ingredients

Base

• 150g butter
• 220g plain flour
• 50g caster sugar
• ¼ tsp salt

Filling

• 500g cranberries
• 50g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp cornstarch 
• 120ml water

Topping

• 75g butter, cold and cubed
• 50g caster sugar
• 50g plain flour
• 40g oats
• 1g salt
• 90g white chocolate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170℃ and grease and line a 9x9 inch baking tray. 
2. Make the topping first. Rub the butter into the flour and sugar and then add the oats and salt.
3. Store in the fridge until ready to use to keep firm. 
4. Make the base. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt and sugar then add the butter. Again, use your hands to rub the butter into the dry mixture.
5. Press the mixture into the baking tray and flatten evenly. Bake for 12 minutes until golden then remove. 
6. Meanwhile make the filling. In a large saucepan, add the cranberries, sugar, lemon juice and 60ml of the water. Place onto a hob/stove top and heat gently to dissolve the sugar. Keep on the heat so that the cranberries release their juices and soften - about 3 minutes.
7. Mix the remaining water with the cornstarch until there aren't any lumps. Add this to the saucepan and mix. Cook the mixture until it coats the back of a spatula. It should be thick and glossy after 3 minutes.
8. Spoon the filling onto the baked base. Sprinkle over the crumbled topping then place back in the oven for 30 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.
9. Leave to cool for 10 minutes in the tin before removing.
10. Melt the white chocolate in short bursts in the microwave and then drizzle on top and serve. 
11. Best stored in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 5 days. Enjoy!

Christina

xx