Merry Christmas Cranberry LIme Bars!

This post contains affiliate links. We will be compensated for purchases you make at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!

    We are celebrating Christmas by doing "blog-mas" this month, and that means sharing something awesome with you everyday this month, (except for 1 weekend).  Be sure to stop by daily to find out what Christmasy thing we are sharing each day! 

    I am so excited to share today's recipe with you because I was inspired by some limes that I needed to use up and I wanted to make them into a holiday treat.  I decided that cranberries definitely say holiday and would go great with lime.  Plus, red and green are Christmas colors, so this idea for Cranberry Lime Bar Cookies had to be good!  I love it when I am right!  

    Because cranberries have such a strong, tart flavor, I worried that the limes, which are also tart of course, would be over shadowed and that the cookies would be just TOO tart.  But, when I bit into these delicious and beautiful bars, my fears went away!  The sugar and the buttery crust did their job and these little bars are both completely delicious and beautifully elegant enough for a fancy holiday dinner. 

    I used fresh cranberries in my recipe.  You just put them in water and let them simmer for a few minutes to soften them up. I loved hearing the skins popping as they simmered. Then, I crushed them in the food processor!  The filling mixed up so easily in that thing! 

    These bars go together in a similar way as lemon bars, with the crust at the bottom.  To ramp up the lime flavor in the bar, I put half of the lime's zest into the crust. (about a tsp.)

    When the Cranberry Lime Bars come out of the oven, they will be nicely set and just getting a hint of brown on them.  I love the pretty red color and the bits of cranberry that you can see! 
    Next, after they cool for a few minutes, you sprinkle powdered sugar on them like you mean it! 

    These bars taste great warm or cool!  I cut mine into 15 largish squares.  I like to eat mine with a fork so as not to get the powdered sugar all over the place.  Plus, they seem more fancy that way! 

    I love how the cranberry lime filling turns into a clear, beautiful jelly!  They are so wonderful! Trust me, your people will devour them.  My husband adored them.  Here is the recipe! 
​

If you enjoy these bars, here are some other recipes you might enjoy: 

• Blackberry Lemon Bars
• The Best Brownies Ever and They're Gluten Free! 
• Renny's Light The World with Cookies