Today’s been busy, but I managed to fit in two new cookies including these Cranberry-Oatmeal Bars from Cooking Light. I love the combination of cranberries and sour cream, so when I saw this recipe last night in the November issue, I knew right away it would be today’s cookie. After running to the store for Craisins and an orange, I was able to make these in less than 10 minutes.
So the big question, do they taste light? Well, not really. They’re awfully sweet and the ratio of cranberries to sour cream is pretty high, but hey – they’re cranberry bars so I can’t complain. In fact, I think I like them enough to serve at Teacher’s Appreciation tomorrow, but I’m going to label them “Cooking Light Oatmeal-Cranberry Bars” so people will know they’re light.
I followed the recipe as written, but used my new Smart Balance Butter Blend Sticks (excellent, btw!) and white whole wheat flour.
If you’d like a quicker recipe and aren’t worried about it being light, here’s another one.
Chef Basket
Cranberry and oatmeal seem to find their way into various recipes. This is probably because they taste so good together. These bars look like a great dessert or snack. Thank you for posting.
Sara
I made these today with only a couple changes like using some light butter and a bit of splenda to reduce the sugar. They are great! There was plenty of crust and the filling is delicious. I added a sprinkle of chocolate chips to half the pan and it’s nice but not necessary at all.
Do you think these would freeze well? Should they stored in the fridge or at room temp and how long do you think they would keep outside the freezer? Thanks for your insights!
Anna
Hi Sara,
I used an 11×7 inch rectangular glass dish. I almost always use metal dishes, but I could tell that Cooking Light had formulated this for a glass dish or casserole because they used a 325 oven temp and called for a baking “dish” as opposed to a pan.
As for the yogurt, I personally would not make that substitution. Along with the possibility of it curdling and drying out, it just might not taste very good.
You might want to try these even though you don’t really like sour cream. There are so many cranberries packed into it that the sour cream taste isn’t that strong.
Sara
Do you think you could sub yogurt for the sour cream? I have yogurt but no sour cream and I don’t really like sour cream…but these look delicious and light!
Did you have success making in an 11 by 7 or did you find that there was not enough crust?
Sarah
Oh these look so good! I’ll have to try them soon…I’m glad you tried them with white whole wheat flour. Yum!
Katrina
I bought some of that SB Butter Spread today. I have tons of dried cranberries–love them on salad. Now I’ll have to go back to the store for an orange. Oh well, I’ve got a few other things on my list for my 5th graders Halloween party that I signed up to bring treats to (they’re supposed to be “healthy”)–whatever, it’s Halloween people!
These bars look really yummy.
snookydoodle
these look yummy although they don t look so light 🙂
Cathy - wheresmydamnanswer
This looks so great I am heading to store to grab what I need to make these killer bars!!!