Cranberry Crunch
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These cranberry crunch bars include sweet and tart cranberries with a buttery streusel-like crumble topping and base that make them the perfect addition to your Thanksgiving table this year.
Some recipes just get you talking about the old days, which is why we love them so much. Cranberry crunch is one of those recipes that gets my mother talking about her childhood. The school lunch ladies often made this around the holidays and she loved it so much that one of them gave her the recipe for it, which has led us to enjoy it for the past couple of generations. Nothing like an heirloom recipe to bring memories back to life, especially around the holidays.
You only need 5 ingredients to make this old-fashioned cranberry crunch recipe: cranberry sauce, flour, oats, butter, and brown sugar. All we’re going to do is combine our dry ingredients (flour, oats, and sugar) in a mixing bowl and then cut in the butter to make it deliciously crumbly. Then we press half of this into the bottom of our baking dish before adding all the cranberry sauce and then the remaining crumble topping.
Then you have to patiently wait for it to bake before grabbing a bowl and serving your cranberry crunch bar with a big dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. I’ve also been known to enjoy one for breakfast, too. If you’re a fan of the humble crumble, you will love cranberry crunch. The combination of tart yet sweet cranberries with the buttery streusel-like crumble topping will be the perfect addition to your holiday table this year.
Recipe Ingredients
- Whole berry cranberry sauce
- Old-fashioned oats
- Flour
- Dark or light brown sugar
- Butter
How To Make Cranberry Crunch
Place your flour, oats, and brown sugar in a large bowl.
Stir them up.
Add your butter and cut that in with a long-tined fork or pastry cutter.
It will look like this.
Now spray a pie plate or 8×8 baking dish with cooking spray.
You can see some of these pretty dishes by fellow food blogger, Ree Drummond here.
Press half of your crumble mixture into the bottom of the pie plate to form the crust for the cranberry crunch.
Top that with the entire can of cranberry sauce.
Then take that same spoon and spread it around a bit.
Sprinkle the remaining topping over the cranberry sauce.
Bake cranberry crunch at 350, uncovered, for 45 minutes to one hour, or until bubbly and golden brown.
Cranberry crunch is excellent served with whipped cream or ice cream but you can also serve it as a side dish. Enjoy!
Storage
- Store leftover cranberry crunch in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to 7 days. You can serve it at room temperature, cold, or reheated either in the oven or the microwave. This is a great recipe to make ahead of time this Thanksgiving.
- You can also freeze leftovers for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before serving.
Recipe Notes
- I use old-fashioned rolled oats but quick oats will work just as well if that is what you have on hand.
- As for brown sugar, I’m using dark because it is my very favorite, but if you have light or prefer light, knock yourself out!
- I don’t recommend using frozen or fresh cranberries for this particular cranberry crunch recipe, as the cranberry sauce has added sweetness, which is exactly what we want.
- If you like, you can add 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts or chopped pecans to the crumble mix for added flavor and texture.
- Another option is to make cranberry apple crunch. Spread a cup or so of chopped apples over the cranberry sauce before adding the topping.
- Another way to add flavor is to add some spices to the topping. I’d recommend 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg.
Check out these other tasty cranberry treats:
Pumpkin Cranberry Bread With Caramel Glaze
Chewy Oatmeal Cranberry Cookie Recipe
Upside Down Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 16-ounce can whole berry cranberry sauce
- 1 cup light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup butter or margarine
Instructions
- Mix the oats, flour, and brown sugar together in a large bowl. Cut in the butter using a long-tined fork or pastry cutter.1 cup old-fashioned oats, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup light or dark brown sugar, 1/2 cup butter or margarine
- Press 1/2 of the crumble mixture into the bottom of a greased 8x8 baking dish.
- Spread cranberry sauce over the crust before topping it with the remaining crumbs.1 16-ounce can whole berry cranberry sauce
- Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until lightly brown. Excellent served with whipped cream or ice cream.
Nutrition
Don’t set yourself so firmly on remembering Thanksgiving’s past that you forget to put your heart into this one.
What a beautiful reminder Christy. I will be pondering your thoughts as I bake for our family gathering at my aunts farm. The stages of life all bring such great joy! Today, I am the Grandmother!! (I know I’m not THAT old) As we cherish the memories of the past times we also are cherishing our new times and celebrating each new life coming into our family. Two precious little ones this year are enlarging our circle as it continues rolling on. Family- what a wonderful idea!!! Thank you again for reminding us to stay present in the present!!! Have a Blessed Thanksgiving celebrating with your family!!
Amen!
Oh mercy a tear in my eye. Thank you for the story and can certainly relate to it. I do remember Thanksgivings of the past. I am the oldest of 9, I can remember when there were just the 3 then the 4 oldest, and then adding a sibling…. And then came the first yr without mama. Everyone was mostly grown and married, but that yr. we met at Daddy’s house, and even with the tears and sadness we had the best time remembering mama and how we had “tried” to make her Thanksgiving Dinner. 10 yrs later we did the same when daddy died, we buried him the day before Thanksgiving 3 yrs ago. The kindness of friends who brought us dinner, because we hadn’t even thought of the holiday, with things we had never heard of before like fried chicken instead of turkey, we laughed about that!
I will also be trying the recipe, because now every year I try to put something new on the table. And I like to hear my kids say…Mommmmmmm… hehehe
Linda, you sound as if you could be in my family 🙂 Laughter through tears is one of our favorite emotions. Being the oldest is especially hard, I think. My heart is with you as you celebrate all of the wonderful blessings that remain this Thanksgiving. I know my heart will also be with you as we look back.
Gratefully,
Christy
This looks SO good I will be adding this to my list of what to make. I just bought two bags of Cranberries since they were BOGO at Publix 🙂
My grandmother who I was named after and subsequently I named my daughter after also died before I was born. I have heard many stories of how she use to be such a good cook when she was younger and healthy. A few years ago I got her recipe for cranberry sauce (along with some others) so I have always made that for Thanksgiving. It is my little connection to her and to know that it made my dad happy to see how much we all LOVE the cranberry sauce makes me happy. So looks like I will be making a double batch of sauce this year and using half of it for this 🙂
Hey Joy! Your grandmother sounds like my Mama Reed. Mama talks so lovingly about her that I know I missed out on knowing one special lady. I make her recipes often though, and it just makes me feel that connection, you know?
I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving and know that you are one of the reasons your family counts themselves as blessed.
Gratefully,
Christy
Joy, would you consider sharing that cranberry sauce recipe from your grandmother?
Sure I would be happy to share it, Christy if you don’t want me to share feel free to remove my post I understand.
I don’t know if this is extraordinarily different from how others make it (this is the only way I know how to make it), but this is how she made it.
1 bag fresh Cranberries
1/2 c sugar
2T orange zest
Juice from one orange (sometimes I add a bit of real OJ if the orange wasn’t particularly juicy)
1/2 c water
1t cinnamon
1T cornstarch
Combine all ingredients (except for the cornstarch) in a pan & bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer until all the cranberries have popped, about 5 min. stir well to make sure they are all mashed up. In a small cup mix 1T water with the cornstarch and whisk into the sauce. cook until it thickens. If it is to sour for you, you can add more sugar.
Thank you so very much for sharing! Glad you did!!
Joy, would you consider sharing that cranberry sauce recipe of your grandmother’s?
Oh Nancy that is a beautiful story – son’s are a wonder, especially when they are in those “don’t disclose anything especially feelings” stage but it is always wonderful when we find out how they really feel – even if it is years later.
This sounds like a great recipe to go with ice cream or frozen yogurt ….. Now I have to find whole berry cranberry sauce (I only have plain ole jellied) Hopefully since its still early in the Thanksgiving season, they won’t be all sold out. Everything else I have
Hey Kat! you can use plain if that is what you have, it’ll work just fine. I went to get my Thanksgiving groceries yesterday and fortunately everything is still in great supply but I know what you mean! Those shelves will be bare any day now!
My biggest problem is making sure I get black eyed peas in plenty of time before New Years day!
Gratefully,
Christy
Thanks for the info/update Christy. I always always have the plain jelly kind (half the time I forget to put it out when I have turkey or roasted chicken)! Being from up North we don’t do black eyed peas for New Years Day … but I may have to try it this year – I hear its suppose to be “lucky” 🙂
~giggles~ Yup, you’re supposed to be given the amount of luck in proportion to how many black eyed peas you eat, and the same goes for money and greens 🙂 I don’t believe in luck and I’ve already been blessed beyond measure, but it’s a fun excuse to eat some awfully good food!!!
Perfect! I organized my pantry and I am embarassed to say I have 4 containers of Oats and 3 cans of cranberry sauce. Will be making this for certain. Your memory was so sweet. We go around the table each year and say what/who (or both) we are thankful for. One year my son (now 22) said he was thankful for me always loving him during his “tween” years. He never expressed that before. Wasn’t a dry eye!
Oh my goodness Nancy, what your son said just stopped my heart right in it’s tracks. My son is in those tween years right now and when I read your quote last night I went into his room and had a little talk with him – just to make sure he knows 🙂
Thank you!
Gratefully,
Christy
Looks yummy! And that’s coming from someone who isn’t a big cranberry fan. Also, love your quote at the end. 🙂
Thank you so much Rach. I always love seeing your profile pic come up on comments. Your pic just makes me happy!!!!
I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving
Gratefully,
Christy
ooh this sounds awesome for serving with ice cream and so simple. I remember the school recipes from when I was a kid. There was this dish that we called fiesta salad that I can never forget, it was so good! I need to try to recreate it some time. yumm…. I also remember the thanksgiving lunch they would give us with dressing and turkey tetrazini or turkey breast. I loved school lunch 🙂
Wasn’t it wonderful back then? I wish they’d let lunch ladies plan it nowadays, kids would be eating like kings! lol
Gratefully,
Christy