Cranberry lemon bars are a simple, one bowl-bake, festive for the colder months. Tart cranberries are folded into a sweet, lemony dough and then baked for less than 30 minutes for a breakfast bake that is just sweet enough without being dessert. Make this the next time you go over to someone's house for a last-minute brunch.
Line an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper and grease it with butter or cooking spray.
Melt 4 tablespoons of butter and allow the butter to slightly cool.
Add the melted butter, 1 egg, 2/3 cup brown sugar, and the zest and juice of one lemon to a bowl and whisk until well incorporated.
Fold in 2 cups flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder and ½ teaspoon salt with a spatula until just combined.
Add in 1 ½ cups of cranberries and fold until well distributed.
Press the dough into the edges of the pan.
Sprinkle the granulated sugar on top and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Allow to cool and slice into squares. Serve!
Notes
The batter for this dish is very thick, so you will want to use a large sturdy spatula when you incorporate the flour and cranberries into the batter.Try not to over mix the dough. You want the cranberries evenly distributed throughout the batter, but over mixing will result in a tougher texture. If you are using frozen cranberries, they will bleed their juices as they start to defrost, so the fewer times you mix them, the better.