The Perfect Winter Dessert Bar
When winter rolls around, a warm, delicious dessert is exactly what you may want. However, you may also be craving something fruit and tropical to help you get out of a winter rut. If this sounds like you, then this recipe is exactly what you need to make! It has great winter flavors like walnuts and nutmeg but it is enhanced with fresh cranberries and coconut to help make it reminiscent of warmer days. In addition, it makes a fantastic Valentine's day dessert thanks to that beautiful red color!
While cranberries are tart and fruit, giving these bars a summery feel, cranberries are actually a cold-weather fruit. Cranberries are native to North America and are grown primarily in the United States, Chile, and Canada. The berries grow on low shrubs and the berries start off green before turning to their brilliant, signature red color. The berries will begin to turn red in the fall and then, the cranberry fields are flooded to help with the cranberry harvest. The berries are removed from the bushes and pushed into the water where they float to the surface, making them easier to collect. The berries are scooped up off the water, cleaned, and packaged then brought to a store near you! It is such a cool process for an amazingly delicious berry.
Cranberries are considered to be a true superfood, having many antioxidants and other beneficial nutrients. Cranberries have been known to help lower the risk of urinary tract infections, prevent cancers, improve immune function, and decrease blood pressure. That little fruit packs a serious punch! Any berry that tastes that good and is good for you is one that you should definitely use in any recipe possible. Luckily these cranberry walnut bars are the perfect solution!
You may automatically associate cranberries with Thanksgiving and there is a good reason why this fruit is a staple on the Thanksgiving table. Native Americans are said to have used cranberries as a treatment for bladder and kidney disease. Early settlers used the fruit to help with upset stomachs and scurvy. Even back then, the powerful effects of cranberries were well known!
Now, we have taken this power fruit and made it into a tasty dessert bar. The cranberry filling should be made with fresh or frozen berries (not dried, which contain lots of excess carbs!). Essentially, you will be making a cranberry jam to layer inside the bar. If you love how the filling tastes, make some extra and use it on a slice of keto bread for breakfast!
The crust of the bars doubles as the crumb topping, sandwiching the cranberry filling between layers of delicious almond and coconut. A little erythritol makes the bars just a little sweeter and perfect for dessert. However, we also recommend these bars as a mid-day snack or even as a breakfast. Wouldn’t a cranberry walnut bar be the perfect start to a cold winter morning? Definitely, yes!
Give these great, low carb, keto cranberry bars a try and let us know what you think in the comments below- we know you are going to love them!
| Servings: bars |
- 3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup So Nourished granular erythritol
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- 1/3 cup protein powder whey, vanilla
- 1/4 cup So Nourished granular erythritol
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
- Line an 8x8” cake or brownie pan with a piece of parchment to cover the bottom of the pan. Spray the sides of the pan with baking spray.
- Add all the ingredients for the cranberry filling into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to simmer the mixture for 10 minutes or until slightly thickened (it will be like a thin jelly). Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place the shredded coconut in a food processor and blend until ground into a powder. Add the remaining dry ingredients, except the walnuts, to the food processor and pulse to combine.
- Add the melted butter to the processor and pulse until crumbles begin to form. Do not mix too long- you do not want a solid dough but only a crumbly mix.
- Remove ¾ cup of the crust mix and place it in a separate bowl and set aside.
- Pour the remaining crust mix into the prepared pan and press the dough down firmly into the pan, making it as flat and compact as possible.
- Pour the cooled cranberry mixture over the crust and spread evenly.
- Add the chopped walnuts to the reserved ¾ cup crust mix and mix together with your fingers. Sprinkle this crumble over the top of the cranberry bars.
- Bake the bars for 30 minutes or until the top begins to turn golden brown. Let the bars cool completely before cutting and enjoying!
NUTRITIONAL DISCLAIMER
The content on this website should not be taken as medical advice and you should ALWAYS consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. We provide nutritional data for our recipes as a courtesy to our readers. We use Total Keto Diet app software to calculate the nutrition and we remove fiber and sugar alcohols, like erythritol, from the total carbohydrate count to get to the net carb count, as they do not affect your blood glucose levels. You should independently calculate nutritional information on your own and not rely on our data. The website or content herein is not intended to cure, prevent, diagnose or treat any disease. This website shall not be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or recommendations on the Website or actions you take as a result. Any action you take is strictly at your own risk.
Dr. Rosmy Barrios, MD is an aesthetic medicine specialist whose work focuses on patients who are treated for obesity, metabolic syndrome, and other weight-related issues through nutritional analysis, keto diet programs, and supporting medications.
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