This dessert recipe for Cranberry Oatmeal Bars uses leftover cranberry sauce, canned or homemade. I know that it’s not quite cranberry sauce season yet. But when it is, you need to be ready for it with this amazing recipe!
My mom is one of the most innovative cooks I know. It was one of my mom’s great instincts that led to this recipe. Basically, what she did was to take her old recipe for Matrimonial Squares and substitute canned cranberry sauce for the dates.
What Are Matrimonial Squares?
Matrimonial Squares are the name used for Date Squares in parts of Canada. The reason for the matrimonial name seems to be that the two streusel-like layers are being brought together by the dates to solidify their relationship, like a couple getting married. Isn’t that amazing?
So, here’s how this recipe came about. My mom had an extra can of cranberry sauce left after a Thanksgiving dinner. Somehow, she then had the brilliant idea to use the sauce in place of the dates in her classic Matrimonial Squares recipe. Deliciousness was born!
How These Cranberry Oatmeal Bars Were Born
This easy dessert recipe hits so many amazing flavor and texture components – sweet, tart, rich, crunchy, soft, and chewy. It’s got it all. The best thing about these cranberry oatmeal bars, besides their taste and ease, is that they’re a great use for leftover cranberry sauce. You can use sauce from a can or make Homemade Cranberry Sauce.
Once Thanksgiving rolls past and you find yourself with some of that sauce leftover in a bowl, or an extra can on hand (because you forgot to open it and put it out with the turkey, which happens to me every second year), don’t fret and wonder what to do with it. Make these oatmeal bars. You’ll love them.
If you don’t have the amount of cranberry sauce called for in the oatmeal bars recipe below, you can absolutely supplement with jam of any kind. Or open another can of cranberry sauce and combine it with your leftovers since these bars can happily accommodates more filling.
If you’re looking for more ways to use up cranberry sauce, check out my list of ideas for what to do with leftover cranberry sauce .
NOTE: There were many comments on this recipe that were wonderful, and many that found the oat mixture to not have enough butter or be difficult to work with. I figured out that I was explaining things incorrectly, and that softened butter is easier to use for this than cold butter. I have therefore edited the recipe to use the easier softened butter and to explain how to work the butter into the dry ingredients. I hope this helps everyone enjoy this recipe more. It’s one of my true all-time favorites and I hope you end up loving it as much as we do.
Have a great day! -Christine
PrintCranberry Oatmeal Bars
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 24 bars 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
This twist on the classic Matrimonial Squares (also called Date Squares) uses cranberry sauce as a filling instead of a date purée. They’re super easy to make and are a fabulous use for leftover cranberry sauce. Note that this recipe originally called for cold butter but I have retested it and it now uses softened butter, which is much easier to work into the dry ingredients. The taste of the finished bars are not affected by this change. Enjoy!
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make these bars, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Ingredients
- 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
- 2 cups all-purpose flour*
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 (14 oz.) can whole berry cranberry sauce or 1 and 1/2 cups homemade cranberry sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- In a large bowl mix together the oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add the softened butter and stir well. Once it’s fairly well mixed, use your fingers to get under everything and make sure that all of the oat mixture is moistened with butter.
- Spoon three-quarters of the oat mixture into an ungreased 13″x 9″ cake pan. Press down on it firmly everywhere to form a solid layer that evenly covers the bottom of the pan. You can press it where it’s thicker in places to help spread it more evenly as well.
- Add the cranberry sauce in dollops and spread it in a thin layer over the oat layer.
- Sprinkle with the remaining oat mixture, breaking it into small 1/4 inch bits as you let it fall. Press down lightly on the oats so that they adhere to the wet cranberry sauce a bit.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes. Note that the topping will not change color but it is still done.
- Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack. Cut into 8 strips along the length of the pan and 3 strips along the width yielding 24 bars. Use a spatula to remove the bars from the pan.
Notes
*Using half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose white flour works as well.
This post was originally published in November, 2013. It has been revised many times and is now being republished in July, 2022.
Amanda B. says
My kids would LOVE these!
Christine Pittman says
They would probably disappear pretty quickly. Enjoy, Amanda!
Paddy Bateman says
So easy to put together. Like other comment, could not wait for them to cool completely, husband and I ate 2 squares and these are delicious! Very nice flavour, love the tartness of the cranberries. Definitely a keeper and will be making this one for our next aquafit coffee hour! Thank you for sharing other comments, gives newbies confidence in attempting new recipes and ideas to change it up. I added sliced almonds into the topping, and left in oven another 8 minutes to brown the edges. Sending this one to my sister!! We love date squares, but this is an excellent change up!
Christine Pittman says
It’s great to hear that you’ll be making this again, Paddy! The addition of almonds sounds yummy too!
Char says
I’ve made these & not a cranberry person but these were very good so my question is, I’m going to Florida Thursday Mar 21st to visit my grandson & would like to make these to take down there which will be a 3hr flight.. would that be ok beings their not refiigerated? Thank you
Lynn says
Great recipe to use up the leftover cranberry sauce! Delicious!!!
Christine Pittman says
Thanks Lynn!
DAVID says
Followed the recipe for the cranberry oatmeal bars and they turned out delicious. I left it in electric oven for 30 minutes at 350.
Christine Pittman says
Thanks for letting us know, David. Glad you liked them!
Jefe says
Cranberry sauce has never been a huge thing with the family, so no one missed it when I forgot to put it out for Thanksgiving. I never thought I would search “leftover cranberry sauce ideas”…glad I did. These are spectacular. Now next year when I make the cranberry sauce, I won’t have to think, “no one ever eats this”…lol
Thanks for this keeper.
Christine Pittman says
Jefe, I’m delighted that you liked them. Thanks for letting me know!
Mary Crawford says
These are wonderful! My husband does not like cranberry sauce but he loved these bars! (said they are “addictive”). I followed the recipe except I cut the recipe in half and used a 8X8 pan. I had a cup of homemade cranberry sauce and it was just the right amount for the smaller pan. I also added 1/3 cup of chopped pecans to the topping. This little recipe has a lot of versatility so I am looking forward to trying it again with other types of fruit fillings – maybe cherry pie filling or rhubarb? Yum
Christine Pittman says
Mary, Yessss! I love the pecan idea and the other pie fillings. Pumpkin with pumpkin pie spice would also work, I bet. And probably any kind of jam that you have going uneaten on the door of your fridge. Maybe melt it a bit in the microwave first to make it more spreadable. So happy you liked the recipe!
Ellen says
These came out great! I didn’t let them set/cool because they smelled so too and I lack self control. I’m sure they would have held form better if I had let them set, however they were like a warm cobbler. Absolutely delicious! I’m saving some for my family so they will get to eat ones that have set. But really even straight from the oven they were wonderful and didn’t really have any issues other than they weren’t has firm as they would be if I had let them set.
Christine Pittman says
Ellen, So glad you liked them. They’re a true favorite around here!
jim says
The first time I made these, I didn’t have enough cran sauce, so I substituted the last 1/4 C of filling with Three Fruit Marmalade. Everyone loves them, so I’m sticking with this version!
Christine Pittman says
Jim, That sounds fantastic. I bet the tang and extra stickiness of the marmalade was really amazing. I’m going to try it too!
Pauline says
Christine… I just made these cranberry oatmeal bars this morning and they are DELICIOUS! I did add an additional 1/4 cup of butter; but it’s very moist and an awesome use of leftover cranberry sauce! I used my own home made cranberry sauce. I did bake it for an additional 10 minutes on the bottom rack and then moved it to the top rack for approximately 6-8 minutes and the top was lightly browned! Thank you very much for sharing this!! I look forward to seeing more of your recipes~! happy new year and happy baking!
Christine Pittman says
Pauline, I’m delighted that you liked it. It’s a favorite recipe around here as well. Happy New Year!
Jenny says
These were perfect! So easy, too. I made great cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, and I was feeling bad about wasting it. This used up my leftover cranberry sauce, just the right amount. I have some more jams in the fridge than I can ever use on toast or sandwiches, so I’ll try those next. Thanks!
Christine Pittman says
You’re welcome! And thanks for letting me know. So happy you liked it!
Kim says
Made these today with my leftover homemade cran sauce that had oranges in it, so doubley yummy for this recipe. Topping came out crumblier than I expected but still good. I ended up lining the pan with parchment so I could get them out of the pan easier for cutting. Definitely a keeper.
Christine Pittman says
Kim, love the oranges idea!
Ryann Laky says
I made these last night, and they turned out awesome. I used homemade cranberry sauce, just simple with sugar, water, and fresh cranberries. Then I followed this recipe to the exact measurement and instruction, and they turned out so well! They taste delicious. But I think next time I will use a bit more cranberry, and/or make some kind of frosting or glaze to gloss over the top. Just something to bring up the moisture of the dessert.
Christine Pittman says
Great idea, Ryann!
Ed says
Will quick oats affect how the butter melts?
Christine Pittman says
Ed, I don’t think I understand your question.
Kayla says
I made these with about roughly 1/4 cup extra butter and they turned out amazing! Served them at work and everyone loved them. Such a simple and yummy recipe.
Christine Pittman says
Kayla, That’s good to know. Next time I try them I’ll try with more butter. Thank you!
Rachel T says
Thanks for the tips! I’ll try it again. I may have goofed up a measurement somewhere! These bars just look so good, I hope I can get them right next time.
Rachel T says
This recipe didn’t work out for me. Despite my best efforts to “moisten” the oat mixture with butter, it was too dry so I ended up with a powdery, raw flour topping. I read over the instructions many times and did everything right but was still left with less than desirable bars that look very different from the photo. Maybe melted butter would have pulled the topping together?
Christine Pittman says
Rachel, I’m not sure what went wrong. The idea is that your rub the butter and oats between your finger. It’s called “to crumb”. Here’s a video on youtube showing how to do it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_Yxd_sMYdo Except that one just has flour, no oats. You’re essentially coating all of the dry ingredients in a bit of butter. It will look dry but everything is slightly coated. When the bars cook, the butter melts evenly over everything so that it evenly cooks the topping.
Mary says
Love them. The sweet but tart flavour of the cranberry sauce was delicious. I found the oat mixture a bit dry. I wonder if decreasing the flour would help? Will definitely make again with leftover cranberry sauce!
Christine Pittman says
Thanks Mary! So glad you liked them!
Zoe says
When I made this recipe, I did 2 cranberry sauces!!
Christine Pittman says
Zoe, You mean two cans? How did it turn out?
Paula says
Am looking for a recipe for date nut bars. They were cut into bars and rolled in powered sugar. My mother made them but I lost all my recipes.
Christine Pittman says
Paula, This cranberry recipe is actually based on a date bar recipe that my mom makes. Mom mom always called it Matrimonial Slice. It’s basically the same as the cranberry recipe except you simmer dates with sugar and water until soft and then puree them. Then you use that instead of the cranberry sauce. There’s a recipe here http://www.notquitenigella.com/2013/09/19/matrimonial-slice-aka-date-squares/ but I have never tried it so I don’t know how it is.