When Amber announced this month's theme, I decided I wanted to make cranberry bliss bars but in the pinterest search process, I got distracted and landed on this recipe instead. I normally gravitate toward chocolate, but these bars seemed very fitting for the holidays. They turned out well, not too sweet and not too rich, just the perfect satisfying bites with a tiny bit of tartness from the cranberries. Do note the recipe calls for 12 oz of cream cheese which is 1 1/2 blocks... I only bought one, so I ended up substituting 4 oz of mascarpone cheese. I also added extra lemon juice to the cream cheese, and a pinch of salt to the oatmeal mixture.

On a personal note, Graham finally met his Aunt Megan

and he LOVED her!

OATMEAL CRANBERRY CHEESECAKE BARS

Recipe from A Family Feast

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ¼ cups quick-cooking oatmeal
• ¾ cups packed brown sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to room temperature
• 12 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
  
  
• 1 16-ounce can whole berry cranberry sauce 
  
  
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13x9-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together the flour, oatmeal, and brown sugar. Add the softened butter to the mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Measure out 1 ½ cups of the crumb mixture and set aside in a separate bowl.

Pour the remaining crumbs into the prepared baking dish and press evenly into the bottom of the dish. Bake for 15 minutes.

While the crust is baking, in the same bowl of the stand mixer, cream the softened cream cheese and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix well.

Also while the crust is baking, in a small bowl, combine the cranberry sauce and cornstarch and mix thoroughly.

When the crust is done baking, remove from the oven and pour the cream cheese mixture evenly over the crust. Then spoon the cranberry mixture evenly over the cream cheese mixture, spreading gently with the back of a spoon so that it is evenly coated. Then sprinkle the reserved oatmeal crumbs over the top of the cranberry mixture.

Bake for 40 or until completely set and very lightly golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Cover and refrigerate the baking dish for at least 3 hours so that the bars can firm up.

Once chilled, cut into bars and serve.