Cranberries And Cream Cookie Bars #Recipe

I found a recipe online that combined a cream filling with an oatmeal crust and I fiddled with the recipe a bit. I added extra vanilla and cranberries to the cream filling. And I decreased the salt and swapped out the white sugar for brown sugar in the crust. The result is a cookie bar that is wonderful served warm (with a scoop of vanilla ice cream???) or cold (with a cup of hot tea!). I hope you enjoy!

Cranberries and Cream Bars


Ingredients:

CREAM FILLING:

3 large egg yolks

1 1/2 cups sour cream

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup dried cranberries

CRUST:

1 cup butter, very soft

1 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/3 cups old fashioned oats

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly spray a 13-inch x 9-inch baking pan with non-stick spray. Set pan aside.

2. Prepare cream filling. In the top of a double boiler, whisk together the egg yolks, sour cream, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, and salt until well combined; stir in the cranberries. Cook and stir over simmering water until mixture is thickened, 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Prepare the crust. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour, oats, salt, baking soda, and coconut. Stir until all ingredients are well incorporated. Press HALF of the dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Bake the bottom crust until set, about 10 minutes. (The remaining dough will become the topping.)

4. Remove the bottom crust from the oven. Spread cranberry cream mixture over crust and crumble reserved dough evenly over the top of the cream. Bake until filling is set and top is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Cool and cut into bars.