Cranberry Cream Cheese Streusel Bars
On the third day of cookies….it’s hard to believe I had any leftover cranberry sauce. I love it, it’s my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner. I even like the canned stuff….which would work well here too. But since I know EVERYONE ran right out and bought fresh cranberries to make my Easy Cranberry Sauce recipe I thought I would morph it into something even more delicious. Hard to believe. Right?
If you didn’t make my Cranberry Sauce you can easily (and pretty quickly) whip up a batch for this recipe. You can freeze whatever you have leftover and serve it with pork chops or ham or top a waffle with it. Versatility at it’s finest.
These Cranberry Cream Cheese Streusel Bars are creamy and tart…sweet and crunchy…and buttery. You can try to eat just one. And then you can let me know how that goes. I ate three during the photo shoot and two more when I was done. I’m making dinner now and the rest of the pan is waiting in the kitchen for me as I type. They are not making it into the cookie gift tins. Not a chance. And I don’t have any leftover cranberry sauce so I apologize to those of you who read this…receive a cookie tin and the Cranberry Cream Cheese Streusel Bars are missing. I just couldn’t help myself. They’re so good I ended up making THESE bars with apple butter…equally amazing!
And now I will start the P90X series. I, seriously, have no self-control.
Adapted from Magnolia Bakery’s Apricot Cream Cheese Streusel Bars
Get the Recipe: Cranberry Cream Cheese Streusel Bars
Ingredients
- For the crust:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, I used King Arthur Flour
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- Cream Cheese Filling:
- 1 8- ounce package cream cheese
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- For the streusel topping:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup cranberry sauce, You can use whatever variety you'd like, I used my Easy Cranberry Sauce.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and flour until crumbly and combined thoroughly. Transfer the mixture to an ungreased 13x9 inch baking dish and pat the crust firmly and evenly into the dish using your hands. Bake for 15 minutes, remove and allow to cool completely.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth on medium speed. Add the egg and vanilla and continue beating until combined. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, using a pastry blender, combine the flour, confectioners' sugar, butter and salt until the mixture comes together and forms coarse crumbs. Using your hands or a fork, toss until the ingredients are combined and set aside.
- Once the crust has cooled, spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the top of the crust leaving a 1/4 inch edge all the way around. Spread a thin layer of cranberry sauce over the cream cheese and then sprinkle the streusel topping over the entire top. Bake for 40 minutes, remove and cool completely. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let it set overnight before cutting into squares.
- Store in an airtight container.
5 Comments on “Cranberry Cream Cheese Streusel Bars”
Should the strusel be browned a bit?
Yes, it just doesn’t look browned in the photo because I wasn’t very good at photography back then. 🙂
What could be substituted for the cranberry sauce as it is not popular with my kids.
You could use any jam or jelly, sometimes we just sub the cranberry for strawberry jam.
they sound amazing!