Welcome to Day 5 of Jersey Bites’ 12 Days of Cookies! Today’s recipe is for Cranberry Orange Bars from Lisa Panzariello. OK, they’re not exactly cookies. But would you turn these beauties down? Neither would we.
Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour + 2 tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
Whole berry cranberry orange relish or whole berry cranberry sauce
Directions
1. Heat oven to 325ºF.
2. With mixer at medium speed, beat butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until fluffy.
3. In small bowl combine 1 3/4 cups flour and salt.
4. At low speed, beat flour mixture into butter mixture until well blended. Spread 2/3 batter into a 9×13 pan.
5. Spoon cranberry orange relish over evenly. Stir 2 tbsp. flour into remaining batter.
6. Crumble over relish. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.
7. When cool, cut into bars.
Lisa Panzariello is thrilled to be part of the Jersey Bites crew, and as a fellow Jersey foodie, she lives and breathes all things delicious. Born and raised in Essex County, she now resides with her boyfriend, James, in Union County. Her writing career has stemmed over 14 years, starting with Metal Edge Magazine, then later as an editor for Penthouse, where tasting many an ethnic cuisine in the City made her realize her true passion: Mixing food with writing. Now focusing solely on freelance writing, her flexibility is giving her more freedom to cook and bake, sometimes for 24 hours straight. Given her Irish and Italian heritage, Lisa travels for an impressive beer list and loves anything relating to her Celtic roots; and just like her Nona before her, she wants everyone to feel the love and warmth in her cooking—while splitting it with those around her—especially her two dogs.
