Light Cranberry Bars

Brooke the Cook in WI's Note:

I created this light version to reduce the fat and sugar found in a recipe by Bonnie Young (Cranberry Bars). These taste wonderful and you would never know that they were light! These go together in a snap and are real crowd pleasers. I make them year-round using frozen cranberries. If you don't have frozen or fresh berries - I don't recommend using dried fruit. WW points = 2/serving

• Total Time: 55 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 24

• 4 egg whites (slightly beaten)
• ¼ cup butter (softened)
• ¼ cup pear baby food (prune baby food can also be used)
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup Splenda granular
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 ½ cups flour
• 1⁄3; cup nuts , chopped (I use walnuts)
• 1 ½ cups cranberries (fresh or frozen)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour a 9x13 baking pan.
2. Cream butter and sugars. Add pear baby food, then egg whites and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Add to creamed mixture and mix well.
4. Fold in cranberries and nuts. Do not unthaw frozen berries. Mixture will be thick. Spread into prepared baking pan.
5. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until edges are golden and start to pull away from the pan.

Reviews

[CaliforniaJan]

Fantastic, easy to put together and in no way taste "light." I'll share this one at my WW meeting for sure, but my non WW family loves them too.

[weekend cooker]

Boy are these addictive. I used fresh cranberries, and cut the recipe in half using an 8x8 pan, wished I hadn't. Subsituted the walnuts for pecans. Had a tough time baking these though, with it being my oven. Made for Zaar Stars.

[debbiec]

I tried these this morning and they didn't turned out as well as I had hoped. I LOVED the full fat version of Bonnie Young 's recipe and maybe thats the problem. These were much flatter, at least mine were, seem to have a different texture- more like a dense muffin and not as sweet as the full fat version. They tasted good with coffee but I think I will stick to the richer version