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.
i loved the story, and can totally relate, i also love that u buy store brands and aren’t shamed of it! love it love it. i will be borrowing this recipe for sure!
Thank you so much Tracy! Don’t know where I’d be without my store brands 🙂
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving
Gratefully,
Christy
Thanks Christy! Again, a heartwarming reminder of what’s important in our lives. NOT our jobs. NOT our money. NOT the government’s problems. OUR FAMILY is what we take with us throughout life and what we leave behind us. May your holidays be full of love.
Amen, thank you for your encouraging and affirming words!
Gratefully,
Christy
Christy – I want to thank you for reminding me of what is important. This Thanksgiving when my family is gathered round, I am going to think of your words and make sure our memories of this year’s holiday will be warm and loving, and not of just me in the kitchen putting on the meal. Thank you again – you have one big heart girl! I’m so glad I’ve found this site. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
Oh Joni, I’m the one who is thankful for you. Thank you for your kindness and for this comment that warmed my heart!
Gratefully,
Christy
Great blog, Christy! I’m wiping tears from eyes right now. 🙂
We don’t usually have cranberries at the holidays, but this sounds yummy, so I think I’ll have to make it this year.
Thanks for sharing!
I have come to know tears to be the sign of a heart overflowing 🙂
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Gratefully,
Christy
This will be the first Thanksgiving without my husband’s parents. They passed within a month of each other last winter. My guess was my fil just couldn’t live without her.
This looks like a very tasty recipe. I’m going to make your gramma’s vanilla wafer cake for a pre thanksgiving gathering with friends on Sunday along with my mil’s recipe for cornbread dressing. It is the best.
Amber, my heart is with you as you continue on and fill the shoes of matriarch of your family. I know they couldn’t ask for a better person to be the one to hold them all together. I wish you generations of warm tables surrounded by blessings, past and present.
Gratefully,
Christy
This will be my families first Thanksgiving with out my grandmother who went “home” in May. Her home is the one all my childhood holiday memories are from. Like you my cousins and I ran outside all day, as we live in Florida. This will be especially difficult for my grandfather after 56 Thanksgivings together. I am hosting Thanksgiving for my extended family and plan to honor my grandmother in an uplifting way. I can hardly wait to use some of Granny’s Pyrex bowls, which were always on her Thanksgiving table. God Bless your family this holiday season!
What a wonderful holiday tradition, I know she couldn’t ask for a more loving person to honor her.
Happy Thanksgiving
Gratefully,
Christy
My Granddaddy was always very special to me, too. He was bedridden in his last years – after I had married and had a young son. My mom and I were out shopping for last minute Thanksgiving meal items on that Wednesday, November 23rd – which ironically was my 21st birthday – when something jammed in my car door and I couldn’t close it. I was very near to my Uncle’s Paint and Body Shop so I held the door closed and drove there. That is where we had learned of my Granddaddy’s passing. That was all a God thing. This was certainly before Cell Phones and we would not have learned until later in the day – had my door not had a mishap…I miss all of my family much but just read a facebook post from an older friend that she was headed to the Cemetery to not say good bye to her former classmate but to See you later – that is one of the most comforting thoughts ever – that we will see those we love later! Although I sit here blubbering – they are tears of joy at what has happened in my almost 50 years here on this earth…Once again on Wednesday, I will have another Birthday – the Good Lord willing and have Oh, so much to be Thankful for! This spoke to me from your post:
Some parts of the holidays will always be bittersweet when you have loved and been loved, but living in the past should always come full circle as a reminder to live in the moment. Happy thanksgiving to all! Remember Thanksliving!
Oh Kathi thank you for sharing this. I just felt your heart in your entire comment and was there with you all along the way. We’re here for a reason, and you’re certainly proof of that. So much to be thankful for, and such an amazing example you’re setting of love, grace, remembrance, and honor!
Gratefully,
Christy