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
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Cranberry 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.
Cheryl says
Thank you, Christine, for your prompt response. I kind of thought that “no steel-oats” might be the case!
Cheryl says
I haven’t made these yet. They look delicious. Can you use steel-cut oatmeal vs. old fashioned rolled oats? Thank you!
Christine Pittman says
Cheryl, you can’t use steel-cut oats here. They’d be really hard and wouldn’t soften. It has to be rolled oats for this one.
Lisa says
My sister and I are both seasoned bakers. We tried this recipe and like Rachel T’s experience, it was a colossal fail: too much flour made it extremely dry and inedible. The ingredient ratios for butter, flour, oatmeal and cranberry were completely wrong. It was a complete waste of time and ingredients!
Christine Pittman says
So sorry to hear that, Lisa. We get so much positive feedback on this recipe, I’m not sure what went wrong for you!
Caroline says
Should the pan be greased….or can the bars be easily taken from the pan?
Christine Pittman says
The cranberry bar pan does not need to be greased because there’s a lot of butter in the crumb mixture that goes in the bottom. The bars come out easily. Enjoy, Caroline!
Ginger says
Excellent recipe! I halved it and used a square baking dish. I had some leftover homemade cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving that was in my freezer. I am so glad I found this recipe!
Christine Pittman says
That’s fantastic, Ginger! Thanks so much for your feedback.
Paula B. says
Will definitely save this recipe.
Christine Pittman says
Thanks, Paula!
Cheryl says
These look like a perfectly sweet treat.
Christine Pittman says
Thanks, Cheryl! They are tasty!
Sarah L says
What a great use for leftover cranberry sauce. I’d just buy some on sale and get extra to use for this.
Christine Pittman says
That works too, Sarah! It’s worth it.
Rebekah Kalinowski says
These sound absolutely delicious! Cranberry sauce is the most underrated part of Thanksgiving dinner!
Christine Pittman says
I’m a big fan of cranberry sauce too, Rebekah!
Jennifer Phillips says
These are great for the holidays, making them for all the volunteers at Project help!!
Christine Pittman says
That’s so sweet, Jennifer! I’m sure it’ll be much appreciated.
Angelica says
I worked at a coffee shop that sold these like 15 years ago, I kind of forgot cranberry bars existed since then, I used to love getting them as a little treat in the morning! The nostalgia will run high when I make these for Christmas!
Christine Pittman says
Fun! Enjoy, Angelica!
karen says
Need a quick recipe to make some goodies for a meeting. This should work prefect.
Christine Pittman says
Excellent, Karen!
Calvin says
Could be a good snack, wholesome kick of energy when you need a quick bite.
Christine Pittman says
So delicious, Calvin!
Debbie Yoder says
These sound so good! My Mom used to make a date oatmeal bar that was one of my favorites!
Christine Pittman says
How nice, Debbie!
Tina Woo says
These look delicious! I will make extra cranberry sauce at Christmas to try with this, but in the meantime I have some pear-fig jam I’m going to use.
Christine Pittman says
That sounds lovely, Tina!
Deborah Waddell says
Perfect to take to our Christmas potluck party.
Christine Pittman says
Great plan, Deborah! They tend to disappear quickly!
Judy B Hill says
Delicious! I used my cranberry sauce from Whole Foods which is very tart and it was the best. Thanks for the recipe and I will try my Apricot jam next. So easy and everyone loved it. I put mine in a round cake pan and halved the recipe. They looked great in triangles when I plated them. Mmmm!
Christine Pittman says
That sounds wonderful, Judy! Thanks so much for your feedback and let us know how it turns out with apricot. Yum!
Cindy Cotter says
I’m gonna try this recipe today. I have exactly the right amount of leftover cranberry sauce. Also loved the suggestions for fruity alternatives to the sauce. I have some jars of homemade green tomato marmalade languishing in my freezer that I can try another day. Thanks!
Christine Pittman says
That’s wonderful, Cindy! I hope you enjoy!
Elaine says
Can you freeze the cranberry squares?
Christine Pittman says
Yes Elaine, you can freeze them. Wrap square individually, or a few in a single layer together, in aluminum foil. Then put them in an airtight freezer-safe container or ziptop bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
Susan Smith says
These look delicious! This is a great recipe to use leftover cranberry sauce and we usually have some left over.
Christine Pittman says
Don’t let it go to waste, Susan! We’ve got lots of ideas for that leftover – https://cookthestory.com/uses-leftover-cranberry-sauce/