Cranberry Chews

From "The Joy Of Cookies" by Sharon Tyler Herbst. This recipe uses cranberry sauce instead of fresh, frozen, or dried cranberries, which I happen to think is pretty nice. And it even has orange marmalade, too. I'd really like to try this around Thanksgiving. Passive time includes the cooling period for the base. Prep time is a guess. ***Due to suggestions from 2 reviewers, I have changed the recipe to reserve only 1 c of crumb mixture for the topping (it previously asked for 1 1/2 c crumb mixture).***

• Ready In: 1 hr 15 mins
• Serves: 64
• Yields: 64 bars

Ingredients

• 2 1⁄3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 1  cup  packed brown sugar
• 1  teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1  cup  cold butter, cut into 16 pieces
• 1 1⁄2 cups rolled oats
• 1 (16 ounce) can whole berry cranberry sauce
• 1⁄2 cup  thick orange marmalade
• 1  teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1  cup  chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit. Grease a 10x 15-inch jelly-roll pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine 2 c flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Use a pastry blender or 2 knives to cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs (or you can do this in a food processor using pulses).
3. Stir in oats. Reserve 1 c mixture. Firmly press remainder over bottom of prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before filling.
4. In a medium bowl, stir together cranberry sauce, marmalade and vanilla. Sift remaining 1/3 c flour over cranberry mixture 1 tablespoon at a time, blending well after each addition. Spread evenly over baked and cooled crust. Add nuts to reserved oat mixture; sprinkle over top of cranberry filling.
5. Bake about 30 minutes, or until lightly brown. Cool in pan on rack. Cut into 64 (about 1 1/2 x 2-inch) bars, cutting 8 strips both ways. Store in airtight container at room temperature for 1 week or freeze for longer storage.