Cranberry Curd Bars

These Cranberry Bars were so fun to make and satisfying- a great weekend baking project.  You make your own cranberry curd (like lemon curd) from cooking down fresh cranberries, straining the mixture, and then mixing with sugar, eggs and egg yolks, and lemon juice and cooking and stirring until thickened.  Then strain again and pour over the pre-baked shortbread crust.  Bake a little longer to just set the curd, and you're done.  I found it important to have two strainers (or sieves) on hand for this recipe. The original calls for you to wash the sieve to use again, but I think it would have been too hard by hand with all of those cranberry seeds.  I was glad I had more than one on hand.

These would be great for Thanksgiving, but we had too many desserts already.  So I made them after those desserts were gone- lol.  If making for Thanksgiving, prepare the day before, because I think it'd be too much work for the day of.

Cranberry Curd Bars
adapted from the Kitchn

For the crust:
1 cup walnut pieces
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, cut into 8 pieces and at room temperature

For the cranberry curd:
12 ounces fresh or frozen cranberries (about 3 cups- a little more/less is fine)
1/2 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 1/2 lemon)
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, cut into 8 pieces and at room temperature
Powdered sugar, for dusting

1.  Make the crust: Spray a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray, or grease with butter.  You can line with parchment, if desired, so you can lift out the whole thing to cut after, but I just prefer to cut right from the pan and store in the pan.

2.  Place the nuts in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment and pulse until coarsely ground, about 15 (1-second) pulses. Add the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt, and pulse until finely ground, about 10 (1-second) pulses. Scatter the butter over the top of the flour-nut mix and pulse until the mixture forms moist clumps, 20 to 25 (1-second) pulses. (You can do this by hand: chop the walnuts finely, mix the dry ingredients, then cut in the butter with a pastry cutter.)

3.  Transfer the mixture into the baking dish and press into the dish with your hands or the bottom of a floured drinking glass, making it as even as possible. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Twenty minutes before the crust is ready, arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 350°F.

4.  Bake the crust until beginning to brown around the edges, 10 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the cranberry curd.

5.  Make the cranberry curd: Place the cranberries and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until all the cranberries have burst open and are mushy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, fit a fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl.

6.  Pour the cranberry mixture into the strainer and press the cranberry purée through using a spatula until only pulp remains in the strainer. (This takes a few minutes; keep stirring, scraping the bottom of the strainer frequently.)  Set the purée aside to cool to room temperature, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, discard the contents of the strainer and clean the strainer and the saucepan for reuse. (It's easy enough to clean the pan, but I would just get a second, un-used strainer ready for the next step.)

7.  Add the sugar, eggs, egg yolks, lemon juice, and salt to the cranberry purée and whisk until smooth. Return the cranberry mixture to the saucepan over medium heat. Stir the curd continuously, making sure to scrape the bottom and corners of the pan, until it comes to a simmer and thickens slightly, coats the back of a spoon, and registers about 150°F on an instant-read thermometer (there's some wiggle-room, so don't fret about being exact), 5 to 11 minutes.

8.  Remove the pan from the heat, add the butter all at once, and stir until completely melted. Pour the curd through the strainer again into a clean bowl to strain out any small chunks of cooked egg. Pour the warm cranberry curd onto the crust and spread into an even layer.

9.  Bake until the curd is set but still jiggles slightly in the center, 10 to 12 minutes. Place the pan on a wire rack and cool for 1 hour. Refrigerate until chilled through, at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.

10.  When ready to serve, just cut pieces right from the pan and serve.  Or, if you used parchment: run a thin knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cranberry bar slab. Use the parchment paper as handles to lift the slab from the pan onto a cutting board. Trim off the sides to make even edges if desired. Cut into 24 pieces. Dust the tops of the bars with powdered sugar, which will melt into the cranberry curd and make a sweet glaze. 

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