I told you in a recent post how incredibly excited I was to see CRANBERRIES in the grocery store a few weeks ago! Finally! I’ve been waiting for months! Here’s one of the delicious reasons why:

Cranberry Crumb Bars [recipe courtesy of my very good friend Shannon's mother, Lillian Swartz, who also made our wedding cake, which was not only gorgeous but tasted fantastic, even after being frozen for a year! I'm usually disappointed when I taste other wedding cakes. I digress.]

Mix by hand:

• 1/2 cup wheat flour
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup + 2 TBLS. brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Add 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (this is 12 TBLS.), melted

Put a little more than half the dough into a lightly greased 9″x9″ pan, press lightly into bottom of pan. Bake until lightly gold. 375° for 12-14 minutes

Remove from oven. To remaining dough, add 1 TBLS hot water and set aside.

Spread the filling over the cooked dough in pan:

• 3/4 cup seedless raspberry preserves or jam
• 2 1/2 cup fresh cranberries (look over them to pick out stems and bad ones)

Crumble the remaining dough over the filling. Bake until top is gold and filling is bubbly. 30-45 minutes.

I hope you’ll try your hand at making them, too. Buen provecho!