Cranberry-Orange Struesel Bars

I love to try out new recipes no matter if they are ones I created in my head, ones I found on-line or in a  cookbook. Over the years, I have tried recipes from a lot of chefs, one who seems to match my cooking style is Rachael Ray. As a mother, you've got to appreciate the concept of a 30 Minute Meal! Rachael Ray often says that her recipes are just methods. She encourages her viewers to take her recipes and make them their own. I "Lori-ize" almost everything I cook, tailoring the recipe to my families taste. I decided to combine these two ideas and what you see here is the result. Each week I'll create a meal based on a recipe and let you know what we thought. I will give you the original recipe and let you know how I "Lori-ized" it.  Hope you enjoy Tasty Tuesday!



I am bringing desert to my in-laws for Thanksgiving and came across a recipe for Cranberry-Orange Streusel Bars by Bobby Flay in Good Housekeeping Magazine. I decided to give it a try since well... cranberry screams turkey day to me. 



I followed this recipe exactly.  I actually made two batches since fresh cranberries were on sale buy one get one free.  And I had a bit of help to do the prep work.













These came our really good.  We cut into the batch that Richard took to work today and each tried a piece.  There wasn't a strong orange taste, but it did cut the tart of the cranberry.  You certainly got that fresh cranberry taste.  I also liked the butter-ness of the crust and the way it mixed with the taste of the cranberry.



I think that if I make this again I would use orange juice instead of fresh squeezed juice to give it more or an orange punch or maybe use the juice and zest of 2 oranges?


Hope you have a great Turkey day!