Cranberry Bars

For my last post before Christmas, I thought I'd share a cranberry recipe. Thanksgiving may be over, but lots of us serve turkey for Christmas too, so cranberries are still plentiful in the market. I love finding new cranberry recipes....a couple years ago the Cranberry Upside Down Cake turned out to be the most asked for holiday recipe from my friends. So far this year, it's the Cranberry Curd Tartlets.
Which leads me to my latest discovery: Amanda's Give Me Flour blog. Along with some great photography, she has some excellent recipes...I found these cranberry bars there, posted last Thanksgiving. They're rather tart, which is why Amanda suggests sprinkling confectioners sugar on them twice. If you have some leftover cranberries, this is a great way to use them up.

Cranberry Bars
From Give Me Flour

Ingredients:
1½ sticks unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 cups all purpose flour
½ tsp salt
1 cup plus 2 tbsp granulated sugar, divided
Zest of one lime, divided
3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (3/4lb)
1/3 cup water
Confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Method:
Preheat oven to 350.
Line a 9-inch square baking pan with 2 crisscrossed sheets of parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.
Blend butter, flour, salt, half of lime zests and ½ cup of sugar in a food processor until mixture begins to clump together. It will look sandy for a while, but does eventually come together. Press into bottom of pan. Bake until pale golden and sides begin to pull away from pan, 25 to 30 minutes.
While crust is baking, cook cranberries, remaining 2/3 cup granulated sugar, remaining lime zest and water in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until berries burst, 6 to 8 minutes.
Pour cranberries over crust and bake until edge is golden, about 25 minutes, Sift confectioner’s sugar over top and cool completely in pan over rack. Lift out of pan using parchment paper overhang and cut into 12 squares, then sift more confectioners’ sugar over top.