Cranberry Black Pepper Crumble Bars

Perfect for the holidays

The other night I was at my friend's house for dinner and she served the most amazing take on New York Times' famous plum torte, substituting the plums for blackberries and adding in a little almond flour. I'm a recent convert to adding almond flour to cakes because I love the added richness and slightly denser texture. I was thinking about what else I could inject almond flour into and was also craving fruit crumble, so I decided to try it out. I had a bag of cranberries in my freezer, and I swear by a pinch of black pepper in berry jams to play off the tartness, so the cranberry black pepper crumble bars were born.

For the third test batch, to get that nuttiness and texture in a more seasonal ingredient, I substituted the almonds for chestnuts and LOVED IT (but I should have known I would love it – Claire Saffitz's chestnut pear cake from Dessert Person was one of my favourite things I baked in 2021). However, there were 2 problems: 1) it tasted incredibly similar to my first two batches that used pre-ground almond meal, and 2) it was kind of a pain (and not to mention more clean-up) to roast, let cool, and grind the chestnuts up in the food processor. I ultimately decided to go with the almond version because the last thing you need around the holidays is more dishes to clean, and I also didn't want to make the recipe more complicated just to force in a seasonal ingredient and give it a more alliterative title (although I did love the triple Cs in "Chestnut Cranberry Crumble Bars").

Because I hate buying ingredients just for a baking project and ending up with a little bit leftover from each, this recipe uses the full amount in a standard-size bag of cranberries. I wanted to get these out in time for American Thanksgiving, and so I've been eating these crumble bars every day for over a week as I test batch after batch and I'm still not sick of them, which really says something.

Recipe
Makes 1 (8x8 inch) tray or 9 squares.

Cranberry Black Pepper Jam

• 340 g (just over 3 cups) fresh cranberries

• 100 g (1/2 cup) white sugar

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp water

• 1/4 tsp salt

• ~1/8 tsp freshly cracked black pepper (about 4-5 turns from a pepper mill)

Almond Oat Crumble

• 50 g (~1/2 cup) almond meal/ground almonds

• 125 g (1 cup) rolled oats

• 64 g (1/2 cup) flour

• 65 g (1/3 cup packed) brown sugar

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp ginger

• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

• 1/4 tsp salt (if using unsalted butter; omit if using salted butter)

• 75 g (1/3 cup) melted butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, then grease and line an 8x8 baking dish or tray.

2. Mix together all the jam ingredients in a pot and set to simmer over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 20 minutes the jam should be thick and the majority of the cranberries should have burst (it's okay if a few are still in-tact, it adds texture!).

3. Mix together all the crumble ingredients. The mixture should clump together when you squeeze it, but it shouldn't be wet; some dry patches are okay.

4. Spread 2/3rds of the crumble mixture into the bottom of the baking dish/tray, making sure it's evenly packed down and pressed into the sides.

5. Spread all of the jam over the base, then sprinkle with remaining crumble mixture.

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the crumble has darkened in colour and the jam is bubbling.

7. Let cool before serving so that the jam has time to set. A scoop of vanilla bean ice cream is optional but highly suggested.