Vegan Cranberry Crumble Bars
These vegan cranberry crumble bars feature a delicious oat crust, sweet and tangy chia seed cranberry filling and oat crumble topping.
Ingredient Notes
- Cranberries. This recipe calls for whole, fresh or frozen cranberries. Do not use dried cranberries.
- Chia seeds. Chia seeds are needed to thicken the cranberry jam.
- Flour. I used whole wheat flour in this recipe and have not tested any other flours, however, it should work just fine with a gluten-free flour blend such as Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour.
- Sweetener. I used organic cane sugar in this recipe but any kind of dry granular sweetener, such as coconut, demera or turbinado sugar works. To reduce the sugar in the recipe, you could use monk fruit sweetener here.
- Oats. Rolled (old fashioned) oats are best here but you could use quick oats in a pinch.
How to Make these Bars
There are two parts to these bars: the cranberry chia seed jam and the oat crumble. Let’s go through how to make each and how to put them together – it’s easy peasy!
Step 1. Make the Cranberry Chia Jam
Start the chia seed jam on the stovetop. While it’s cooking you can whip up the oat crumble.
To make the jam, add the cranberries, chia seeds, lemon and maple syrup to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and cook until the cranberries start to break down and it starts to thicken.
As the cranberries start to pop, smash them up against the side of the saucepan until they’re mostly all broken down. If a few whole ones remain, that’s totally fine. This whole process should take 10-12 minutes.
Step 2. Make the Oat Crumble
To make the oat crumble, add the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl and stir to combine. Next, mix in the melted coconut oil, lemon juice and almond milk. Mix it all up until you have a crumbly dough that you can press together in your fingers.
Step 2. Layer and Bake
Once you’ve made the oat crumble dough and the cranberry jam, layer them in a loaf pan and bake!
Quick Tip: Scoop out about 2/3 cup of the crumble mixture to reserve for the top of the bars.
Start with a layer of oat crumble, pressing in it firmly into the pan. Next add the chia jam and then top with the remaining oat mixture.
Once they’ve finished baking, let them cool completely (or for at least half an hour) before slicing and carefully lifting out of the pan.
Vegan Cranberry Crumble Bars Recipe
These bars are the perfect pairing of sweet and tart thanks to the delicious layer of cranberry chia seed jam. Made with cranberries, these are perfect for the holidays but can also be made with blueberries or raspberries for a fun summertime treat.
More Dessert Recipes
Loving these cranberry bars? Here are some more delicious desserts to try:
- No-Bake Chocolate Caramel Bars
- Vegan Tahini Hemp Seed Bars
- Vegan Chocolate Coconut Bars
- No-Bake Vegan Nanaimo Bars
For another cranberry recipe, try my easy homemade cranberry sauce.
PrintVegan Cranberry Crumble Bars
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Prep Time: 5 mins
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Cook Time: 35 mins
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Total Time: 40 minutes
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Yield: 8 bars 1x
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Category: Dessert
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Method: Baking, Stovetop
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Cuisine: Vegan
Amazing cranberry crumble bars featuring an ooey, gooey layer of tart but sweet cranberry chia seed jam between an oat crust and crumble topping. These bars are perfect for the holidays!
Ingredients
For the Chia Seed Cranberry Jam
- 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsp chia seeds
For the Crust and Topping
- 1 cup (120 g) whole wheat flour
- 1 1/2 (150 g) cup rolled oats
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup (90 g) sugar (coconut, raw cane or any other granulated sugar)
- 1/3 cup (70 g) coconut oil, melted
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 3–5 tbsp unsweetened almond or cashew milk
Instructions
- To make the chia seed jam, combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle boil while stirring. Once it reaches a very gentle boil, turn the heat down. Continue stirring, while starting to mash the cranberries, for 6-10 minutes until it’s thick and has a jam-like consistency. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Mix the oats, flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until well combined.
- Add the melted coconut oil, lemon juice and nut milk (start with 3 tbsp). Mix into a crumbly dough, adding more almond milk as needed until you can press the dough together in your fingers. It should be crumbly but moist enough to start sticking together. It should not be overly wet or as moist as cookie dough or cake batter.
- Lightly grease a 7-8 inch baking pan, line with parchment paper or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- Reserve about 2/3 cup of the dough then firmly press the rest into the bottom of the pan.
- Evenly spread the cranberry jam on top of the bottom layer.
- Sprinkle the rest of the dough on top of the jam layer.
- Bake for 35 minutes.
- Let cool in the pan, then slice into 16 squares. Store in a sealed container in the fridge or freeze up to 2 months.
Notes
This recipe can also be made with fresh or frozen blueberries or raspberries.
Keywords: cranberry bars, crumble bars, easy
This recipe was originally published November 10, 2016. It was updated with new photos and text February 2020.
Do you have any recommendations on how to make this oil free?
You could possibly try almond butter but I haven’t tested it so I’m not sure it would work. I’d have to test this oil-free since it’s a substantial amount of oil to replace. Let me know if you try it.
This might be me but am i missing the oven temperature in the recipe?
It’s 350 degrees F…see the step after making the jam. Enjoy!
These are amazing! So addicting and yummy…we made them during Christmas time and everyone loved them. Easy to make too! I followed the recipe exactly…used whole frozen cranberries and coconut sugar. Thank you!
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed them!
I made these to take along to a Thanksgiving dinner at my in-laws’ house. Even my very picky mother-in-law said that they were possibly one of her favorite dessert dishes this year. Thank you for the recipe!
Well that’s just the best review ever! Haha, so glad you enjoyed them.
Deryn,
These look amazing! I have made strawberry bars before that remind me a lot of this, and they were so delicious. I will have to try this cranberry jam version! Yummy!
I’d say any flavour would be delicious!! You really can’t go wrong. 😉
well this is brilliant. I never knew chia jam could act like a “jam” in bars. PINNING!! trying! YUM!