CRANBERRY CREAM CHEESE BARS — These delicious cookie bars featuring a cranberry and cream cheese filling, with a sweet oatmeal streusel topping. Great served cold, or warm with a scoop of ice cream.
So many of the comfort foods I make for my family are oatmeal recipes–oatmeal cookies, baked oatmeal, apple crisp, and my favorite granola. And these amazing Cranberry Cream Cheese Bars!
The holidays are definitely a time for sharing comfort food and favorite family recipes, and these bars, especially when you serve them warm with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce, are what holiday comfort food is all about!
These festive holiday bar cookies are so easy to put together using pantry staples that you probably already have on hand.
Everything is mixed together with a dash of cinnamon to form a slightly sweet, crumbly mixture that will serve as both the crust and topping for these delicious oat bars.
The buttery oat layer is topped off with a layer of sweetened cream cheese. It’s like having a layer of cheesecake in the middle of your dessert!
The cranberry sauce is mixed together with a bit of sugar and cornstarch and spooned over the cream cheese. I love how the ribbon of red cranberry filling adds such a festive touch to this dessert.
We love to enjoy these bars warm, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, some caramel sauce and chopped pecans. Served up that way, you could almost call it a Cranberry Cream Cheese Crisp.
The recipe makes enough for a 9 x 13 pan, but sometimes I make half and bake it up in my 10-inch cast iron skillet. This is especially fun if we’ll be topping it off with ice cream. We all grab a spoon and eat right from the pan!
The bars are also delicious on their own, served cold or at room temperature, which makes them easy to transport to holiday potlucks and gatherings–and there’s plenty to feed a crowd!
I try to keep a can of whole berry cranberry sauce handy just so I can whip this dessert up at the last minute.
It’s always good to have a few easy, go-to recipes for unexpected guests or impromptu get-togethers, especially during the holiday season, and these Cranberry Cream Cheese Bars are one of my all-time favorites.
Be sure to save this recipe for Cranberry Cream Cheese Bars to your favorite Pinterest board for later.
Here’s what you’ll need to make Cranberry Cream Cheese Bars
- Flour
- Old fashioned oats
- Brown sugar
- White sugar
- Spices: cinnamon, salt
- Butter
- Cream cheese
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Lemon juice
- Vanilla
- Cranberry sauce
- Cornstarch
Cranberry Cream Cheese Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups Quaker Old Fashioned Oats
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
- 1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 16 ounce can whole berry cranberry sauce
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
Optional toppings
- Vanilla ice cream
- Caramel sauce
- Chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking pan.
- With an electric mixer, beat flour, oats, brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar, cinnamon, salt and butter until crumbly. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of the oat mixture.
- Press the remaining mixture evenly on the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Bake 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.
- In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until fluffy.
- Add the condensed milk and stir until smooth. Stir in lemon juice and vanilla.
- Spread cream cheese mixture over baked crust.
- In a small bowl, combine cranberry sauce, cornstarch and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. Spoon over cream cheese layer, then top with reserved oat mixture.
- Bake 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.
- Serve warm with ice cream, caramel sauce and chopped nuts, or cool completely and cut into bars. Refrrigerate leftovers.
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Who Dished It Up First: This is an original recipe
3 comments
Teresa
These look and sound wonderful. Of course, everything works better with a dollop of ice cream on top! 🙂
Betty
These sound so good! I love cranberries and always keep a couple of cans of sauce in the pantry. 🙂
David @ Spiced
Cranberry is one of my favorite holiday flavors, and I absolutely love this recipe! This would be an excellent dessert to serve during the holidays…thanks for sharing! #client