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Spiced Mulled Wine Fruit Bars

December 18, 2019 by Joy the Baker 26 Comments

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Friends!  Here’s one late addition to our holiday cookie table – an easy mulled wine dessert recipe!

Last week I told you about my holiday cookie swap. It’s this coming Saturday which means I’ve had my nose firmly planted in Dorie Greenspan’s cookie book for the last week straight.  Dorie has a recipe for a mulled wine jam cookie topped with a cornmeal crumble that stopped me mid page turn. The math is this:  red wine + warming spices + buttery cookie + cornmeal topping + loads of dried fruit.  It’s mulled wine meets fruit cake, in a sweet little square with crumble topping.

The joy of a bar is that it lives in this glorious space between pie and cookie.  Easier than pie because we press in the crust and easier than a cookie because the only portioning is in slicing after baking. It’s perfect for this time of year when we also have to juggle gift wrapping and every other thing in the world.

Taking inspiration from Dorie, I took the flavors of mulled wine and plump fruit into a very easy cornmeal crust and crumble.

Here’s what you need for this mulled wine dessert recipe:

This is one of those wonder recipe where the crust is also the crumble topping so it’s actually pretty simple!

• a plenty 2 sticks of butter creamed with granulated and brown sugar.

• vanilla for pastry flavor

• flour, cornmeal, and salt to bring a little bit of sweetness and texture to the crust.

• a big fruity red wine. I used a bold California red.

• cinnamon sticks, star anise, whole cloves, and orange slices to mull the wine into holiday splendor.

• a generous amount of dried red fruit: cherries, cranberries, and prunes.

• cherry jam to spread the whole mixture across the crust.

See also: Apple Pie Bars.

It all works. It really does.

We’ll start by making the crust and the crumble so the crust can bake a bit while we mull our fine wine.

Start by creaming together softened butter along with granulated and brown sugar.  Just like we’re making cookies.

This crust and crumble doesn’t have any eggs, making it more of a shortbread than anything.

Add vanilla to the creamed butter and sugar, then add the dry ingredients, starting with the cornmeal.



Add the flour, along with the cinnamon and salt.

You could absolutely make this recipe by hand. Creaming butter and sugar is just easy with a mixer.

Once adding the dry ingredients, I begin to bring it all together with a spatula because taking the mixer to  – just so it doesn’t all puff out of the bowl.



Beat until well combined.  There’s not much moisture in this recipe so the crust will be rather crumbly. That’s right! Just make sure there are no big flour patches present.

Set aside one heaping cup of the crust – that will be the crumble topping.

Place the majority of the crust mixture in an 8×8-inch square pan lined with parchment paper and lightly greased.

Use your fingers to press the crust into an even layer.

Refrigerate the crust for 15 minuets or so, then bake for 15-20 minutes – just to crisp the bottom layer of our bars.  We’re building support for all the fruit soaked wine.



Let’s mull the wine!

In a little piece of cheesecloth, wrap a few cinnamon sticks, a few star anise pods, and a few cloves.  Tie it together into a little baggie and place in a small saucepan with wine.

Add a few orange slices, rind and all. A big spoonful of honey, too!

Lemons would be nice in the absence of oranges. Heck, apple slices would be fine too! Mulled wine can go in any direction. Add whatever you’d like.



Bring the wine to a simmer over medium heat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.  The wine will reduce down by about 1/4.

Add the lot of dried fruit to the warm mulled wine and return to the stovetop. Simmer the fruit and wine, over a low flame, until the fruit plumps by absorbing wine and the wine evaporates a bit.

After about 8 minutes, the fruit will be juicy and there should only be a few tablespoons of wine left at the bottom of the pan.

Place the wine fruit in a bowl and stir in the cherry jam.

Add a real good splash of vanilla extract.

Spoon the warm fruit mixture into the prepared crust.  It’ll be a thin layer of fruit filling but the flavor is intense.  Spread it all as evenly as possible.



Sprinkle the reserved crust crumbled over the fruit mixture.

Bake until deliciously golden brown and bubbling.

Before slicing – listen, it’s going to be hard to wait – it’s best if these bars are chilled.

The refrigerator speeds the process though placing them in the freezer for 20-30 minutes really helps.

Warm bars will be fussy to cut. Chill the mulled wine dessert recipe and the filling will keep its shape.

Look at these spice wine and fruit bars.

It’s an ode to the holiday season and a nod to fruit cake all in one little bar!  We’re doing a lot of good holiday work here.

Photos of this mulled wine dessert recipe with my friend Jon Melendez. Recipe inspired by Dorie’s Cookies.

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Spiced Mulled Wine Fruit Bars

★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews
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Ingredients

Scale

For the Crust and Crumble:

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup cornmeal
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the Mulled Wine Filling:

  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 2 star anise pieces
  • 4 whole cloves
  • 1 1/4 cup fruity red wine (a California Syrah is nice)
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 2 orange or satsuma slices (rind and all)
  • 1/2 cup dried cherries
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • 8 dried prunes
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2/3 cup best-quality cherry jam

Instructions

  1. To make the crust and crumble, place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8×8-inch square pan with parchment paper so that the paper hangs over two edges of the pan about two inches. This will make the pie bars easier to remove after it’s baked. Lightly spray the pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
  2. For the crust, place the butter, sugars, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until light and fluffy.
  3. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the flour, cornmeal, cinnamon and salt and mix on low speed until just combined.
  4. Set aside one heaping cup of dough for the crumble and scatter two-thirds of the dough into clumps in the prepared pan, flour your fingers and press the dough across the bottom of the pan and up the sides of the pan about 1/2-inch.
  5. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
  6. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and set aside to cool while you prepare the topping and filling.
  7. To make the mulled wine filling we’ll first mull the wine. Tie the whole spices into a piece of cheese cloth. Place in a small saucepan and add the wine, honey and orange slices to the pot. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and allow to simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes.
  8. Add the dried fruit and cook and stir frequently over low heat until the liquid both soaks into the fruit and evaporates – about 8 minutes.
  9. Remove the pan from the heat and discard the cheesecloth spices and orange slices.
  10. Scrape the mixture into a bowl, add vanilla extract and cherry jam, and cool for 10 minutes.
  11. Spoon the filling over cooled crust. Crumble over the reserved topping. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until bubbling slightly and golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before slicing. Placing the bars in the refrigerator or freezer can speed up the cooling process.
  12. Use a knife to run along the edges of the pan and life the bars out of the pan. Slice into small squares and enjoy!
  13. To store, wrap bars in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 4 days.

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Reader Interactions

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Questions
  1. DonnaB

    February 18, 2023 at 4:43 pm

    The recipe says “2/3 best-quality cherry jam”. Assuming this is supposed to be 2/3 cup of jam? Please clarify as the measurement is missing.

    Reply
    • Abby Mallett

      February 21, 2023 at 7:57 am

      Thank you for the catch! It’s 2/3 cup all updated :)

      Reply
  2. JANE ROCHFORD

    December 13, 2021 at 9:08 am

    Why is it so hard these days to just get the concise recipe without all of the unnecessary photographs and instructions? It drives me nuts!

    Reply
    • joythebaker

      December 13, 2021 at 5:43 pm

      Jane you do know that it cost you exactly zero dollars to come here and get this recipe, right? Chill out.

      Reply
      • Jennifer

        December 8, 2022 at 7:01 pm

        I’ve never commented here before but I <3 this honesty. I had already book marked this recipe but now I am even more likely to make it.

        Reply
      • Emily De Stigter

        December 13, 2022 at 3:43 pm

        I love your blog just the way it is. Haters gonna hate! You do you, Joy.

        ★★★★★

        Reply
    • DonnaB

      February 18, 2023 at 4:41 pm

      Jane, at the top of the page under the title is a button that says “Jump to Recipe”. Click on this and it will skip past the photos and text chatter. Joy has this on every recipe page.

      Reply
  3. Lori

    December 4, 2021 at 9:27 am

    What brand vanilla are you using??

    Reply
  4. Where is Kiev

    January 4, 2020 at 12:39 pm

    Danke… Have a very Merry Christmas!!!!!!

    Reply
  5. Floranet

    January 3, 2020 at 5:13 am

    Appealing information! Sounds Good.

    Reply
  6. Adam Bagi

    December 26, 2019 at 6:46 am

    Disaster. Gritty like sand in mouth. Not sure what kind of corn meal you used but I used yellow cornmeal #120 and it never cooked properly. Chucked the whole thing!

    Reply
    • joythebaker

      January 6, 2020 at 3:26 pm

      Wow I’m so sorry about that – I use a fine cornmeal.

      Reply
  7. Lee Rosen

    December 25, 2019 at 8:05 am

    Can these be made in advance and frozen?

    Reply
    • joythebaker

      January 6, 2020 at 3:26 pm

      Yes absolutely – these freeze very well!

      Reply
  8. Sabrina

    December 19, 2019 at 9:36 pm

    love this recipe and as you write, bars are easier than pies or cookies, so appreciate that too,but really love the mulled wine here as a wonderful punch of flavor and also to cut any sweetness, bif nolf ref as you’re using sounds perfect, thank you

    Reply
    • Kathy Meyer

      December 8, 2022 at 8:21 pm

      I used ingredients I had in hand. I used raisins instead of prunes, cranberries instead of cherries and black currant jelly instead of cherry jam. I used ground oats instead of cornmeal. The wine was a blueberry Pinot noir.
      I used a blender to break the fruit into a finer mixture due to my families preference.
      The recipe is delicious!!

      Reply
  9. Mariya Zafirova

    December 19, 2019 at 6:51 am

    I’m so craving these right now!

    Mariya | https://www.brunetteondemand.com/

    Reply
  10. Kathryn

    December 18, 2019 at 3:04 pm

    So excited about this recipe! I usually make mulled wine for our holiday party and have some leftover. Any tips on substituting leftover mulled wine in the filling? Should I try just adding the jam to it or perhaps some gelatin?

    Reply
  11. Tracy

    December 18, 2019 at 1:14 pm

    I am pregnant and really missing out on mulled wine this season. Does the finish product has the taste of strong alcohol? I’m trying gage if the alcohol cooks out enough during the simmering process! These look amazing!

    Reply
    • joythebaker

      December 18, 2019 at 1:28 pm

      It doesn’t taste super strongly of alcohol. More fruit tasting than wine. It simmer for nearly 20 minutes total if that helps you gauge.

      Reply
  12. kgd2009

    December 18, 2019 at 11:35 am

    you have really outdone yourself if you ask me but they must be yummy

    Reply
  13. Paige Cassandra Flamm

    December 18, 2019 at 11:33 am

    Okay these look amazing! I need to make them today asap!

    Paige
    https://thehappyflammily.com

    Reply
  14. Robin LeFey

    December 18, 2019 at 9:46 am

    Questions about the recipe: In the list of ingredients, is that 2/3 CUP of cherry jam? And in the directions, what do you do with the cherry jam – add it after cooking the fruit? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Ellery

      December 22, 2019 at 1:35 pm

      I was wondering the same thing…

      Reply
      • Ellery

        December 22, 2019 at 1:37 pm

        Actually, Robin, I just looked in the post itself. Once you pull the wine fruit off the heat and discard the orange and spices, you mix in the cherry jam and then the vanilla.

        Reply
    • Abby

      January 5, 2020 at 2:30 pm

      Yes! Add jam to the fruit after cooking. I noticed the same missing note but it’s in the description about under the photos.

      Reply

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