Cranberry Shortbread Bars make a delicious treat for the holidays and are the perfect way to use up any leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving!

The holidays are here! Can you believe it! With all the holiday dinners, cranberry sauce is sure to make an appearance at the dinner table. I love the pop of color it adds plus it helps to offset the richness from the other dishes.
Do you always find that you have cranberry sauce leftover though? If you’re looking for another way to use up any of the leftover sauce, these Cranberry Shortbread Bars make a delightful treat and go perfectly with a nice cup of tea.
HOW TO MAKE CRANBERRY SHORTBREAD BARS
They start off with an easy shortbread cookie base that you bake for around 15 minutes.
Once the dough has cooled slightly, spread a layer of cranberry sauce over and pop it back in the oven for another 7 minutes.
Allow them to cool slightly then slice them up into bars. As much as I love making cookies around the holidays, bars are SO much easier to make and transport.
These fresh cranberry sauce adds a bit of sweetness as well as some tartness to balance out the rich, buttery crust.

These Cranberry Shortbread bars would make a festive treat and perfect for any holiday dessert table.

Cranberry Shortbread Bars make a delicious treat for the holidays and are the perfect way to use up any leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving!
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups apple cranberry sauce
- Preheat oven to 350 F Degrees.
- Line an 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper and set aside
- In a medium bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and creamy.
- Add vanilla extract, and slowly mix flour until just combined.
- Press shortbread dough in prepared pan and bake for 15-18 minutes or until edges are golden brown.
- Let cool slightly before adding topping.
Spread cranberry topping (see notes for a link to recipe) smoothly over shortbread with a spatula.
- Return to oven and bake for another 7-8 minutes.
- Cool completely in pan prior to cutting into bar or placed in fridge to speed up the cooling process. Lift out of the pan using parchment paper. Cut into squares before serving.
- Stored in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Shortbread Bars adapted from Taste of Home
You can find the apple cranberry sauce recipe here

You might also like:
Easy No-Bake Pumpkin Icebox Cake





Graham @ Glazed & Confused -
Cranberry bars = heaven! Even though I’ve been abusing the cranberries, my mouth is watering for this!
Cindy @ Pick Fresh Foods -
Wow, the color of the cranberries is beautiful! These bars looks delicious! Just gotta Pin these 😀
Lokness @ The Missing Lokness -
Love shortbread! Sounds delicious!
Consuelo @ Honey & Figs -
I’m a big fan of citrusy dessert and I’m sure that cranberries make such a lovely addition! These bars look spectacular, thanks for sharing!
Karen (Back Road Journal) -
What a pretty little dessert…so colorful and I’m sure delicious.