Redundant words -- "little bit"

Question

He sandwiches tastier by spreading a little bit of cranberry sauce on the bread.

In the above sentence, is "little bit" redundant? Should it be either "little" or "bit"?

I checked the pair of words in books.google.com/ngrams, and the result was;

language-tool says, "Reduce redundancy by using 'little' or 'bit'.".

Answer 1

"Little" or "bit" could stand on its own, but "little bit" is OK because it's idiomatic. It's not redundant the way "ATM machine" (automated teller machine machine) is.