Here's one last recipe to squeeze into your Thanksgiving line-up! Tangy-sweet cranberry curd meets buttery walnut shortbread for a twist on the classic lemon bar. A dash of cinnamon ties it all together. And don't worry - this whole recipe comes together in about an hour, making it an excellent last-minute treat for Thanksgiving or any other special dinner this fall.
I started out wanting to make this recipe with straight cranberry juice. I thought this would be an easier approach, plus then I could make the recipe at times of the year when fresh cranberries aren't available.
But do you know how hard it is to find 100% cranberry juice? Very hard. It turns out that most "100%" cranberry juices are actually a blend of cranberry, apple, and grape, which is then further diluted with water. In the end, it came down to buying a jug of organic "real" cranberry juice for $8 or making it from scratch from fresh cranberries for $1.50, and the fresh cranberries won hands down.
But the good news is that cooking fresh cranberries is far easier than you might think - or at least, it was easier than I had thought. You just combine about three cups of fresh berries with a half cup of water and let this simmer for about five minutes. The cranberries pop open and soften into a puree. (They do literally pop, so don't be startled!) Once strained of skins and seeds, this puree becomes the base for the curd in this recipe.
It's hard to keep from spooning the curd straight from the bowl. In fact, if you'd like to use it as a spread on your morning toast, just cook it a little longer until it becomes jammy and wonderful.

Cranberry Curd Bars with Walnut Shortbread Crust
Makes roughly 24 squares
For the Crust:
1 cup (4.5 ounces) walnut pieces
1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (3 ounces) confectioner sugar, tamped lightly down and leveled off
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened and cut into tablespoon pieces
For the Cranberry Curd:
12 ounces (about 3 cups) fresh or frozen cranberries (see note below)
1/2 cup water
1 cup (8 ounces) granulated sugar
4 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons lemon juice (from 1/2 of a lemon)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened and cut into tablespoon pieces
Powdered sugar for dusting
Candied citrus zest (optional - see here for a tutorial, and spiral the pieces around toothpicks as they dry to get them to curl)
Prepare the crust:
Line a 9x13 baking pan with parchment, as described in this tutorial.
Place the nuts in the bowl of a food processor and coarsely grind, about 15 one-second pulses. Add the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt, and pulse until finely ground, about 10 additional one-second pulses. Sprinkle the chunks of butter over the top of the flour-nut mix and pulse until the mixture holds together when compressed in your palm, another 20-25 one-second pulses. (See below for preparing the crust without a food processor.)
Press the crust mix into the baking dish, making it as even as possible. Freeze for 30-60 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Remove the crust from the freezer and bake for 20-25 minutes, until beginning to color around the edges.
While the crust is baking, prepare the cranberry curd:
Place the cranberries and water in a medium-sized sauce pot over medium-high heat and stir. Continue cooking and stirring occasionally until all the cranberries have popped and become mushy, about 5 minutes. Pour them into a fine-meshed strainer set over a medium-sized mixing bowl and press the cranberry puree through using a spatula. Allow the puree to cool to room temperature. Discard the cranberry skins and clean the strainer for use in the next step.
To the bowl with the cranberry puree, add the sugar, eggs and yolks, lemon juice and salt (reserving the butter for now). Stir thoroughly until the mixture is even.
Return the cranberry mixture to the saucepan and set the burner to medium. Stir the curd continuously, making sure to scrape the bottom and corners of the pan. Cook until the curd starts to thicken, coats the back of a spoon, and registers about 150° on an instant-read thermometer (there's some wiggle-room, so don't fret about being exact). This should take 10-12 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and add the butter all at once. Stir until the butter has completely melted, then pour the curd through the strainer into a clean bowl.
Pour the warm cranberry curd onto the walnut crust. Bake at 350° for 10-15 minutes, until the curd has set but still jiggles slightly in the center. Cool completely and refrigerate before cutting.
To cut the squares, lift them from the pan using the parchment paper as handles. Trim off the sides to make even edges if desired. Dust the tops of the bars with powdered sugar just before serving and use a sharp knife to cut them into squares. The powdered sugar will melt into the cranberry curd, making sweet glaze.
Keep refrigerated.
Notes:
• Substitute for Fresh Cranberries - Substitute 3/4 cup cranberry juice and 1/4 cup lemon juice for cranberry puree if fresh cranberries can't be found. Watch the bars carefully while baking, and extend the baking time as needed until the bars are set around the edges but still jiggly in the center.
• To Prepare Crust Without a Food Processor - Chop the nuts as finely as possible with a chef's knife. Combine with the dry ingredients and the cut or rub in the butter, as you would for a pie crust, until the mixture resembles coarse corn meal. Press into the pan and bake as directed.
• To Make the Cranberry Curd Less Sweet - As it is, this curd is definitely on the sweet side of tart, but still tastes distinctly "cranberry." If you really love the super tart taste of cranberries and would prefer the curd to be less sweet, try reducing the sugar in the curd recipe to as little as 1/2 cup.
• To Make Cranberry Curd By Itself - To make the cranberry curd into a spread for toast, continue cooking it in the saucepan until it reaches an internal temperature of about 170°. Mix in the butter, strain and cool. Store curd in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week.
Related: Thanksgiving Sides: 5 Alternatives to Cranberry Relish
(Images: Emma Christensen)
Peeler by Normann C...

Comments (46)
Cranberry curd? OMG. Looks amazing. And so so so pretty.
This is literally mouth-watering. Gorgeous. I'd love a square.
i ... cant ... wait! these look awesome!
This looks fantastic.
Those are beautiful. What an amazing color.
RW Knudsen makes 100% cranberry, but it's tricky to find in stores: http://www.rwknudsenfamily.com/products/just_juice/just_cranberry
It's TANGY. I would end up putting a lot of honey in it to drink it from a glass.
What a brilliant idea. And they are gorgeous! Definitely going on the holiday baking list.
I emphatically second cmcinnyc: mouthwatering!
I have a conversion question. I don't have confectioners sugar at home. Could you sub out regular sugar (maybe processed to a finer texture in the blender)?
Also, I think that 3.5oz = 1 full cup confectioners sugar?
!
I've been toying with making lemon or lime curd for far-flung family members, but...this may beat that out.
Oh, if only this could be made without eggs!
Kitsune72 - I think it would be ok to use regular granulated sugar in the shortbread. You could also make powder sugar from regular sugar by grinding it in the food processor with a little cornstarch (check out this link: http://bit.ly/g4kqqV)
I'll double check the weight measurement on the powder sugar - maybe I wrote it down incorrectly in my notes.
I double checked my weight measurement on the confectioner sugar - I think my original weight was a little high, but I also may be weighing in a little more because I tend to tamp down the sugar when I level it off. I adjusted the amounts and added a note to that affect.
what happens if you don't strain the curd? is it a question of lumpiness?
@the polish chick - You're right that straining just an insurance step against lumps or bits of egg that might have cooked.
I raised a bit of eyebrow at the cooking time. My standard lemon square recipes calls for a baking time of 30 minutes. And these are only for 15? do they really come out done enough for that duration?
Other than that, o.m.g, I need to make these NOW.
@squeakycat - this curd cooks more on the stove top, so it doesn't need as much time in the oven.
When I am cooking the fresh cranberries on the stove to get them to pop, do I pour the whole pot (including the 1/2 cup of water that was added) into the strainer and bowl? Or do I get rid of the excess water first, and then strain the cranberry mush goodness? I'm don't want to have too much liquid in the curd if it's not supposed to be there... Thanks!
I made black pepper and vanilla cupcakes filled with cranberry curd and topped with whiskey buttercream last year! I almost died.
Kimberbot- the cranberries and water will all come together and should be pretty saucy by the time you're ready to strain. Don't dump off any "extra" as there shouldn't be any!
I just made the same thing last week! I love cranberry curd. So amazing.
http://thesaltygirl.blogspot.com/2010/11/many-forms-of-cranberry-curd.html
Oooooh this is so beautiful! I just tried to veganize (and simplify) it last nite. Here are my results/recipe:
http://sabjimata.wordpress.com/2010/11/25/vegan-cranberry-shortbread-bars-recipe/
@Chicagocook
I've made lemon bars before with agar instead of eggs with great results and am going to try to adapt this recipe based on that substitution as well. I might make this recipe this weekend so I'll post back here with the results if I do.
Hmph... I made these with fresh cranberry juice (juiced at home) plus the lemon juice (also freshly squeezed), and subbed it in for the cranberry puree. They came out tasting quite nice, though the color was not nearly as cranberry pink. Also, in the 9 x 13 dish, I didn't get nearly as much curd topping as in the pictures... What happened? Was it all just a matter of juice v. puree?
I made these for my in-laws Christmas dinner... they turned out great! Since I have a nut allergy, I substituted the walnuts for oats in the crust. I would have liked to use sunflower or pumpkin seeds instead but with all the Christmas rush, I only had the oats on hand.
Thanks so much for such a terrific recipe!
I made these last night and they came out beautifully! I used frozen cranberries, and I got about the same crust-curd proportion as in the photos (using a 9 x 13 pan), and an even deeper cranberry color.
Mine look like I cut them with a hatchet, though, because I just couldn't wait until they were totally cooled to try one. :)
As for chow.baby's problem of not getting enough curd, I would respectfully submit that 1 cup of cranberry/lemon juice doesn't seem like quite enough to substitute for 12 oz. of cranberries, allowing for evaporation while cooking, and all.
I now have one more reason to stock up on cranberries during Thanksgiving! Thanks for this tasty, tasty recipe!
commenting so i remember to look at this later, because DANG are they pretty...and i somehow missed them the first time around.
Trader Joe's also has full-on natural, unsweeted cranberry juice, but I should think one would get a better texture with the pectin being released while cooking the whole berries. What a great idea of cranberry curd. I love the idea of the walnuts to offset the intensity of the cranberries, too.
I think I need to add these to my Thanksgiving dessert menu! Do you think they could be made ahead of time and frozen?
To Nurse Emily,I would think the day before might be best. it's hard to imagine a frozen curd, but who knows? These will be on my table!!! Love the colors to!
I just tested these out for Thanksgiving and they are fabulous. I used 2/3 a cup of sugar in the curd and it was the perfect amount of sweetness. The only thing I will do differently next time, is use about half the cinnamon in the crust. I'd rather have the nutty flavor of the walnuts shine through. Thanks Emma!
Made these today for friends Thanksgiving dinner...not nearly as pretty as yours, mine are a paler pink not the bright pink of yours, but the curd is delicious. The puree process was a little difficult, so I will try a new method next time around and I used pecans instead of walnuts. I am looking forward to eating them!
Any suggestions for adapting this as a tart? I want to make it for Thanksgiving but in a pie plate.
I plan on converting this recipe to a tart. I'm probably going to add a bit more flour/butter to the crust and bit more cranberry to the curd so that I can get it to fill two 9'' tart pans. Other than that, it should be tart ready.
I made this in a rectangular tart pan so I halved the recipe. The crust turned out a little strange because a lot of the butter melted out of the removable tart pan bottom! It was still delicious, just very crumbly.
I also just realized I used twice the amount of cranberries, since I didn't halve them! It still turned out perfectly, with a beautiful rich, red color. It wasn't too tart, even with half the sugar to cranberry ratio. The tartness was perfect, actually, and balanced the richness of the crust really nicely.
Made this for Thanksgiving...they got torn apart pretty quick. And so pretty! A little labor intensive if you ask me - definitely a 'make the night before' kind of thing. The extra chill time would probably be a good thing anyway. I put NO sugar in the crust because my curd came out pretty sweet. Very very good and I love the texture of the little walnut pieces in the crust. Next I'm going to try this with mangoes and pomegranate.
Made this over the weekend. ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS. Love the tangy/creamy filling and the cinnamon and nut crust.
I made these for Thanksgiving and they were DELICIOUS. I made a plain shortbread crust, instead of walnut, and it turned out great!
these were the star of the dessert table at Thanksgiving.
I made these today but I feel like the bars aren't very thick. They're delicious, but they're only about 1/2 inch thick. Used a 9x13 and real cranberries. Did I do something wrong or did they come out properly?
I just made these and they're amazing! I've been keeping them in the refrigerator and I'm wondering if there are any tricks to keeping them crisp - the shortbread is getting kind of soft in the fridge.
i followed this recipe exactly and found that it tasted nothing like cranberry! my bf agrees and we are so perplexed. it's good...kinda sweet kinda tangy, but in no way is it cranberry. what could have gone wrong? had my cranberries been in the fridge too long prior to use? they looked fine!
Definitely going to have to try this recipe! Thank you for the notes at the end suggesting substitutions may have to use one of them. Cranberries are difficult to find here. Have you tried it with any other fruits?
I am making this right this second and there is NOOOO way that there is enough crust to cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan much less fill it as thick as the crust is in this photo. This is a major typo.
I made these last night. I only have a really fine mesh strainer, so straining out the cranberry skins and the egg particles was a serious pain in the rear, but they turned out beautiful. I'm not sure if it is because I lost some to the strainer, but the curd layer isn't nearly as thick as I would like--I think I'd make 1.5 or 2x as much next time. Also, I'd cut out the cinnamon--I feel like it's sort of overwhelming in the crust. That said, I thought these came out pretty tasty.
These are heavenly! They have provided me with a new appreciation for the cranberry. I highly recommend them. I think the tart to sweet balance is just right.
I followed the recipe fairly closely, substituting pecans for walnuts, using about 3/4 cup of sugar in the filling, and omitting the 2nd straining and final powdered sugar topping, and they turned out great! Friends and family loved them and several asked for the recipe. Sweet, yet tart and tangy without being overly sweet. I didn't find the cinnamon overpowering, but perhaps mine is not as fresh as others. I had no problem in having enough of either the crust or topping for a 9x13 pan, although I used the sieve method and a couple of times toward the end, I thought I had extracted all of the cranberry puree, only to discover that it would yield more. I think a food mill would be much more efficient, and these are certainly good enough to merit a new food gadget purchase!