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Weight Watchers Recipe of the Day: Low Fat Cranberry Bars
The inspiration for these low fat cranberry bars comes from my friend, Alisa. Homemade cranberry bars are one of the highlights of her Mary Kay Holiday Open House. Instead of using her recipe, which made a large batch, I decided to try to make a version that would be smaller, lower in fat and calories but every bit as delicious.
Recipe Notes
Baking from scratch doesn’t get much simpler than this low-fat cranberry bars recipe. All you need are a few basic ingredients and a bowl. I used a whisk and lots of elbow grease to mix them, but you could always use an electric mixer (affiliate link) if you prefer.
Moist, delicious, and not too sweet, they’re a nice change from fancier cookies and bars that require a lot more work.
I think they’re even better a day or two after baking, so they’re a great choice for making ahead and sharing with friends. They’re so yummy I’ve stashed a couple bags of cranberries in the freezer so I can make them again later this winter. I was able to shave a few calories and a point by cutting back a bit on the sugar, butter and walnuts.
How Many Calories and WW Points in these Low Fat Cranberry Bars?
According to my calculations each cranberry bar has just 122 calories.
To see your WW Points for this recipe, track it in the WW App!
(You must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.)
5 SmartPoints (Green plan)
5 SmartPoints (Blue plan)
5 SmartPoints (Purple plan)
3 PointsPlus (Old plan)
You could cut the calories and Points further by substituting your favorite non-calorie or low-calorie sweetener such as Splenda or Truvia (affiliate link). And try unsweetened applesauce instead of the butter.
If you like these easy cranberry nut bars, be sure to check out some of my other Weight Watchers friendly recipes including Slow Cooker Cranberry Apple Cake, Crock Pot Cranberry Nut Bread, Cranberry White Chocolate Crock Pot Cookie Bars, Low-Fat Cranberry Walnut Rugalach and Low-Fat Mini Cranberry Nut Bread Loaves
If you’ve made these Cranberry Walnut Bars, please give the recipe a star rating below and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. And stay in touch on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.
Low Fat Cranberry Bars Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-1/4 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick spray and set it aside.
- In medium-sized bowl, beat the eggs until thick, about 5 minutes.
- Add the sugar and beat until creamy and well blended.
- Stir in the flour and butter and vanilla just until blended.
- Stir in the cranberries and walnuts.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread it out evenly.
- Bake until set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cut into 16 bars.
Notes
(Must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.) 5 SmartPoints (Green plan)
5 SmartPoints (Blue plan)
5 SmartPoints (Purple plan)
3 PointsPlus (Old plan) You could cut the calories and WW Points further by substituting your favorite non-calorie or low-calorie sweetener such as Splenda or Truvia. And try unsweetened applesauce instead of the butter.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Source: Ocean Spray
Watch how to make your own no-bake cranberry oat bars at home:
Related WW Recipes:
- Banana Cranberry Muffins
- Skinny Cranberry Apple Oatmeal Cookies
- Cranberry Ginger Oatmeal Cookies
- Low Fat Pumpkin Cranberry Scones
- Cranberry Bliss Bars
- Banana Cranberry Bread
- Lemon Cranberry Scones
- Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti
- Cranberry Orange Bundt Cake
- Cranberry Orange Cornmeal Muffins
- Best Recipes of the Year with WW SmartPoints
These bars are absolutely delicious!! Thank you for such a great recipe.
Such a simple recipe that is healthier than most!
I add 1t (or a little more!) lemon juice to recipes that use cranberries. It brings out the flavor of the berries. Also add 1/2t almond extract for even more flavor!
I made these tonight and they were really good :)… I will definitely be making them again.
I just made these with better batter gluten free flour mix in place of the one cup of all purpose flour and they turned out fantastic! Thank you so much for the recipe
How many SmartPoints is this?
Hi Laurie, They have increased from 3 PointsPlus to 5 SmartPoints. When you see sweet treat recipes with PointsPlus you can pretty much guesstimate that the SmartPoints has doubled 🙁 Hope this helps!!
Assume u cook fresh cranberries first? If so for the usual 10 minutes and drain juice??
No Cheryl, you just use them raw, like you would in a cranberry bread 🙂
Swapping out the butter for unsweetened applesauce in the WW recipe builder made no difference in the PPV. I’ll use the butter. 🙂
I’m going to try these, but will use unsweetened applesauce in place of the butter to drop the PPV. Thanks for sharing.
They are not only pretty to look at — they’re simply delicious to taste! Love the fact that the recipe was so readily shared following that magnificent open house! I tasted the original as well as these – and could not have distinguished the difference – both were wonderful, flavorful and seemed to have the same texture, etc.
A ‘keeper’!!!
Martha,
Thank you for sharing this delicious looking recipe. What type of cranberries do you recommend? Fresh or craisins?
Hi Mary, This recipe calls for fresh cranberries.
Duh….I need to read a little more thoroughly! Should I chop them up or put them in whole?
Hi Mary,
I gave them a rough chop but the original recipe didn’t specify so I think whole will work too.