These cranberry bars are all I’ve been craving lately. I love the balance of the sweet and tart flavors, the shortbread goodness, and the light crispness from the turbinado sugar up top.

Cranberry Shortbread Bars Recipe

Part 1: Shortbread crust recipe
1 cup butter
3/4 cup superfine white sugar (aka caster sugar)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2.5 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Prep a 9x9 baking pan with greased parchment paper.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Mix in the vanilla extract.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Mix until just combined to avoid overworking the dough.

Press about half to 2/3 of the dough into the pan, and reserve the remaining dough for the top layer.
Refrigerate the crust for about 15-30 minutes before baking.
Bake the crust in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, until it’s very lightly golden and is no longer shiny on top. Do *not​* bake until golden brown.

Part 2: Cranberry Jam Recipe
3 cups fresh cranberries
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar (aka caster sugar)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon agar agar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup orange juice
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, mix superfine sugar, brown sugar, ground cinnamon, agar agar and water.
Heat over medium heat, stirring until sugars dissolve. Add cranberries; cook for 10 minutes until they burst.
Stir in orange juice, simmer for 5-10 minutes continuing to stir frequently.
Remove from heat, add vanilla extract.

Part 3: Assemble and bake
Pour 2 cups of the cranberry jam over the prebaked shortbread crust.
Create flat clusters of shortbread dough at about 1/8 thickness and place on top of the jam to form a lid.
Spoon the cranberry jam a few times over the dough creating a beautiful top. Sprinkle a tablespoon of turbinado sugar on top.
Bake on 350F for about 30-35 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!!

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