Cranberry Butterscotch Squares

Submitted by Chef Dee

"Such a pretty square for your Christmas tray. Traditional cranberries in an unbaked square, topped with pretty pink icing, garnished with dried cranberries. This makes a large amount, but go ahead, put the extras on a pretty pink or red plate and give as a gift."

 

• Ready In: 3mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Yields: 96 squares

ingredients

• 28 whole graham crackers
• 2 1⁄4 cups margarine
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 1⁄2 cups milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3⁄4 cup dried cranberries

• FROSTING

• 1⁄2 cup margarine
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1 -2 drop red food coloring
• 4 cups icing sugar
• 1 cup dried cranberries

directions

1. Spray a 12 x 18 cookie sheet (with raised edges) with Pam, then line the graham crackers, you can break them by hand to fit, covering entire pan.
2. In a large pot, melt margarine ove med. high heat.
3. Add brown sugar and milk, boil for 3 min's.
4. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, graham crumbs and dried cranberries.
5. Spoon over the graham crackers, chill until firm.

6. FROSTING:

7. Beat softend margarine with milk and almond extract.
8. Add the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
9. You may add more milk or icing sugar, mixture should be firm, but soft enough to spread.
10. Beat in 1 - 2 drops of red food colouring, the frosting should be a pretty pink.
11. Frost the squares, dot with dried cranberries.
12. Chill, then cut 8 down and 12 across.

Reviews

[sleepycat]

I made these for a cookie exchange last Christmas, and I thought they tasted wonderful and were a unique treat. My family happily devoured the leftovers. I did notice some hesitancy from some of the guests. I think it was b/c of the pinkness of the icing which I thought was pretty, but next time I would not use the dye. Thanks!

 

[JulieCHopp]

Very sweet!!! They look great on the plate but you better brush after eating these.

 

[dolphyn722]

these are delicious!!! i can't buy graham crackers so i used a whole wheat butter cookie, also used reduced fat butter. for the filling, i used 1/2 of the whole wheat cookies and 1/2 ritz type cracker, just crushed by hand, so some pieces were still quite chunky. my pan is smaller, so i ended up with 88 small, thick bars. i also decided on the green frosting, but from the picture from dee, i think the pink is prettier & use red food coloring the next time. thank you for this wonderful recipe!!!

 

[Cilantro in Canada]

These are a very good easy bar to make. I made them exactly as written and loved them. Thanks for the recipe.

 

[Happy Harry 2]

These are just wonderful. It was a pleasure to be able to make something SOOO easy and have it taste like it was purchased at a high end bakery. I made two minor changes that did nothing to affect the taste: 1. After I placed my crackers down, I still had some small spaces, so I pressed some of the crumbs into them. 2. I decide to use green food coloring because I felt that the cranberries would stand out more. Well, they are a treat to the eyes as well as the mouth. Thank you Dee for posting recipes that even non-bakers like me can succeed at.