Pumpkin Cranberry Bars

by Sabrina Snyder

Published on

11 Comments

5 from 4 votes
16 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
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Easy Pumpkin Cranberry Bars are rich and chewy dessert bars made with pumpkin puree and dried cranberries. Sweet, moist pumpkin dessert perfect for fall!

Delicious and easy Pumpkin Bread is a go-to fall breakfast! These Brownie Bars are packed with holiday flavor that you can enjoy any time of day!

Pumpkin Cranberry Bars in stack

PUMPKIN CRANBERRY BARS

Pumpkin Cranberry Bars are one of the easiest fall desserts you can make. With a handful of pantry ingredients, these bars come together in just a few minutes with no mixer needed. This recipe for Pumpkin Cranberry Bars is sure to be a new favorite holiday treat for breakfast, snacks, or after dinner!

This Pumpkin Cranberry Bars recipe can be made all year long with canned pumpkin puree. During pumpkin season, make a homemade Pumpkin Puree for the best, freshest pumpkiny flavor. When using canned pumpkin puree, make sure it’s puree with no sugar or spices added and not pumpkin pie filling. 

These tasty Pumpkin Cranberry Bars are the perfect fall dessert recipe that can double as a breakfast bar. Serve them with a little powdered sugar or go all out with Salted Caramel Sauce and Vanilla Ice Cream. For a cake-like dessert, make Pumpkin Cranberry Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting topped with cranberries and chopped nuts.

MORE CLASSIC PUMPKIN RECIPES

Tips For Pumpkin Cranberry Bars

  • You can use fresh or frozen cranberries for bursts of berry flavor! Thaw frozen berries and pat dry before adding. Toss fresh or frozen cranberries in a couple tablespoons of flour to keep them from sinking.
  • Don’t stir your pumpkin bar batter too much or the bars will be dense and not light and fluffy. Sift dry ingredients before adding the pumpkin mixture and mix until just combined.
  • Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature. Not only is it easier to mix wet ingredients at room temperature, but when all the ingredients are the same temperature they cook evenly.
  • Use Pumpkin Pie Spice instead of just cinnamon to make these Pumpkin Cranberry Bars taste packed with warm holiday flavor!

Pumpkin Cranberry Bars in baking dish

VARIATIONS ON PUMPKIN CRANBERRY BARS

  • White Chocolate: Fold a ¼ cup white chocolate chips into pumpkin bar batter and sprinkle another ¼ cup white chocolate chips with the cranberries before baking. You could also use semi-sweet chocolate or dark chocolate chips.
  • Brownies: Make Pumpkin Cranberry Brownie Bars by substituting ¼ cup all-purpose flour with ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder. For chewier brownie bars, use ½ cup brown sugar and ½ cup white sugar.
  • Dried Fruit: Instead of cranberries, try dried pineapple, dried strawberries, golden raisins, or dried apple pieces. You can do a fruit medley, using up to ½ cup dried berries or fruit.
  • Nuts: Add chopped nuts to give your Pumpkin Cranberry Bars some extra crunch and fall flavor. Fold in ½ cup chopped walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts to the batter.
  • Healthy: To make Healthy Pumpkin Cranberry Bars use applesauce for the butter and replace the vegetable oil with coconut oil, or use ½ cup mashed banana. Fold in ½ cup rolled oats for heartier bars, or replace the flour with ground almond flour for gluten-free Pumpkin Cranberry Bars.
  • Muffins: Turn these into Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins by baking in a muffin tin for 18-22 minutes. This recipe should make 18 muffins if you fill the cups 2/3 full.

EVEN MORE PUMPKIN RECIPES

HOW TO STORE PUMPKIN CRANBERRY BARS

  • Serve: You can keep Pumpkin Cranberry Bars at room temperature for up to 4 days. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. Line container with a paper towel to absorb moisture.
  • Store: Cool Pumpkin Cranberry Bars before storing (to avoid moisture collection) and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Use parchment paper between layers so the bars don’t stick together.
  • Freeze: Freeze cut Pumpkin Cranberry Bars on a baking sheet for an hour before transferring to a sealed container or freezer safe bag. Freeze Pumpkin Bars for up to 6 months.

top-down view of Pumpkin Cranberry Bars in stack

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Dinner, then Dessert

Pumpkin Cranberry Bars

Easy Pumpkin Cranberry Bars are rich and chewy dessert bars made with pumpkin puree and dried cranberries. Sweet, moist pumpkin dessert perfect for fall!
Yield 16 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Pumpkin Cranberry Bars in stack
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries , chopped, divided

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8x8 baking pan with baking spray.
  • In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, oil, pumpkin and ⅓ cup of cranberries until well combined.
  • In another bowl sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  • Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and whisk until just combined.
  • Pour mixture into baking dish and spread evenly.
  • Top with remaining cranberries.
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes.
  • Cool completely before cutting and serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 168kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 80mg | Potassium: 75mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 2413IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 21mg | Iron: 1mg
Keyword: Pumpkin Cranberry Bars

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About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. I made the brownies with the cocoa and walnuts and it was fantastic! Hubby absolutely loved them! Just sad I had made with the last of this years pumpkin, will have to wait until next year. LOL, Hubby is already planning on planting more pumpkins next year just for the brownies especially since they froze extremely well. He is planning on enough pumpkins next year so I can make enough brownies to freeze for the whole following year. Thank you!! lol

    Reply

  2. These bars are really amazing!! The combination of flavors is perfect! My kids loved it! Will definitely make it again!

    Reply

  3. I need to add cranberries to pumpkin desserts more often!! They taste so good together! These bars are so creamy!!

    Reply

  5. Hi Sabrina: These bars sound super tasty & easy, but what to do with the leftover pumpkin purée? I was thinking of doubling the recipe, BUT 1 can NOW only has 15 oz., so that won’t work, either. (I’m SO tired of all these companies downsizing their products to a smaller amount, AND raising the price, to boot! What ever happened to 1 QT., 1 Lb., etc.? The downsized amounts don’t work in most of the recipes which were handed down to us by our mothers & grandmothers, especially with cake mixes & canned soups, when they need to be a specific amount, & added into a recipe. 🙁

    Reply

    1. I know, it is frustrating. I usually add it to smoothies or to oatmeal with a dash of cinnamon and maple syrup.

      Reply

  6. Just made this recipe and it was very good. I did add 1/2 cup of walnuts and 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips as suggested in the variation ideas section of the recipe. I needed to bake an additional few minutes than stated in the recipe, but this may have been due to the size of the pan (round) that I used. Would definitely make again!

    Reply