Chocolate Cranberry Spelt Shortbread Crumble Bars
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These cranberry crumble bars are everything you didn’t know you need, all wrapped up with fresh milled spelt flour, a little bit of dark chocolate, and tart cranberries. Who can resist cranberries and dark chocolate; that’s one great dessert for me! The sweetness of the buttery shortbread layer hits your sweet tooth but the tartness of the cranberries brings a satisfying balance you will love in these perfect cranberry bars. Take this great recipe anywhere and it’s sure to be a crowd pleaser, especially this time of year if you’re in charge of bringing the sweet treat.
What is Spelt?
Spelt is an ancient grain and in some places is known by its other adorable name, dinkel wheat. Dinkel! How cute. It’s native to Europe, mainly Iran, and is pretty common there. Spelt is an extremely versatile grain and one that I really enjoy using and baking with. It is a long, oval shaped grain that reminds me quite a bit of orzo pasta. Spelt can be eaten whole cooked and used similarly to rice, or you can mill it like I do and use it as flour. As I learn cooking with freshly milled grains, spelt has quickly jumped to one of my main go-to’s especially with baked goods like cookies, bars, and muffins; it provides such a nutty and earthy flavor with a mild bitterness that melds well with the sweetness of the baking recipes.
Since spelt is a variety of wheat, it does contain gluten. It is also a heavy lifter in nutrition. I’ve found that spelt can contain around 10 grams of protein and 8 grams of fiber in 1 cup of grains. We all know how essential and important protein and fiber are in our diets. It’s amazing how much more is contained in fresh ground flour than that of dead flour you purchase in the grocery store! Spelt is also said to contain quite a bit of magnesium and potassium.
When baking with spelt, I replace all purpose flour in recipes 1:1 with fresh milled spelt flour and it usually works really well in everything except bread. In some recipes, you may need to dial back the liquid content a bit when baking with spelt as it does absorb less water than processed flours. You can always add more liquid but it’s pretty hard to take it away, so start with about 3/4 the amount of liquid, mix in the spelt, and let it rest 20 minutes before adding more liquid. This rule has served me well until I have tested and mastered recipes and know exactly what I need.
The flavor fresh milled spelt flour provides to the buttery shortbread crust in this recipe is unmatched. You absolutely have to try it! It’s a great way to get delicious flavor and also sneak some really great nutritional benefits.
Equipment You Might Want:
- Stand mixer
- 8×8 inch baking dish
- Parchment paper
- Spatula
- Wire cooling rack
Ingredients
- Butter
- Lard
- Coconut sugar
- Pure vanilla extract
- Salt
- Fresh milled spelt flour
- Dark chocolate
- Frozen or fresh cranberries
- Flaky sea salt
Let’s make some easy cranberry crumble bars!
Step 1: Prep
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line your 8×8 inch baking pan or similarly sized baking dish with parchment paper.
If using frozen cranberries, be sure they are thawed, drained, and room temperature before starting this recipe.
Measure out 1 1/3 cups spelt berries and run through your grain mill on a fine milling setting. I run them through my WonderMill grain mill set on “pastry.” Set aside flour.
Step 2: Mix Wet Ingredients
To the bowl of a stand mixer, using room temperature ingredients and the paddle attachment, cream together ½ cup butter, ½ cup lard, and 2/3 cup sugar until fluffy and well incorporated. If you do not have lard or do not want to use lard, you can use both parts butter here with success. I just like “stretching” my butter with animal fats for both nutrition and because I have tons of lard and it’s the perfect balance of fat and richness for a crumble.
Add in 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract and ½ teaspoon salt. Mix well.
Step 3: Mix Dry Ingredients
Add in 2 cups of spelt flour to the butter mixture, mixing just until incorporated.
Using a sturdy spatula, mix in ½ cup chopped dark chocolate or even white chocolate chips. Use whatever you enjoy!
Step 4: Assemble the crumble
Press about 2/3 of the shortbread dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. Press using hands into an even flat surface layer. Reserve the remaining for topping.
On top of the shortbread base layer, add 1 ½ cup of fresh or frozen and thawed cranberries, spreading into an even layer.
Using the remaining shortbread dough, using your hands, crumble mixture that was reserved over top of the cranberries into an even layer. It is perfectly fine and actually preferred to have cranberries peeking through. They look super pretty!
Step 5: Baking
Bake in a preheated oven for about 50 minutes, or until crumble topping appears golden brown and set and cranberries have burst and are bubbly.
Be sure not to overbake fresh milled goods with spelt. Fresh milled flour does not brown like store bought processed flours do.
Remove from oven to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before cutting into bars and serving for best results. Sprinkle the top with a pinch of flaky sea salt straight out of the oven if you have it. Store in an airtight container.
Notes:
If you don’t have fresh or frozen cranberries, canned work well or you could even use leftover cranberry sauce or cranberry jam as long as it isn’t too sweet! The texture will be a little different but it will still be delicious.
If you don’t have coconut sugar, you can use any raw unrefined or granulated sugar you have.
Enjoy this easy recipe and share with your friends. Baked goods are my love language and I’m always a sucker for a good Christmas cookie platter where this cranberry crumble bars recipe would fit in perfectly. During the holiday season when we’re all baking a ton, I appreciate a unique recipe with simple ingredients like this one, especially with cranberries because I can’t get ENOUGH of them in November and December. They are my favorite thing for baking AND fermenting. In my household, we even sneak and have the bars for breakfast. We figure the fresh milled spelt with the wholesome fats can’t be THAT bad, right?!
Happy Fresh Milled Baking!
Equipment
- stand mixer
- 8×8 baking dish or similar size
- parchment paper
- wire cooling rack
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup lard room temperature
- 2/3 cup coconut sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cups fresh milled spelt flour
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chopped
- 1 1/2 cups cranberries fresh or frozen (thawed)
- pinch flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Mill your spelt berries. I mill 1 1/3 cup of berries to get 2 cups of spelt flour.
- To the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter, lard, and sugar til fluffy.
- Add in vanilla extract and salt and mix to combine.
- Add in spelt flour, mixing to combine.
- Using a sturdy spatula, fold in chopped chocolate.
- Line your 8×8-inch baking dish with parchment paper. Add about 2/3 of the shortbread mixture to the bottom of the dish, pressing out into an even layer to completely cover the bottom.
- Add cranberries on top of the shortbread dough and spread out evenly.
- Using the last 1/3 of the shortbread dough, crumble small chunks over top by breaking small pieces of it off with your fingers. It is fine for some cranberries to be showing through.
- Bake for about 50 minutes, or til top is lightly golden and cranberries have burst and are bubbling. Be careful not to overbake as fresh milled spelt flour does not brown like store bought flour.
- Remove from oven to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely. Sprinkle a pinch of flaky sea salt over the top. Store in an airtight container.
