Crave-Worthy Cranberry Almond Cheesecake Squares – A Holiday Tradition

I think these cranberry almond cheesecake bars will make the perfect holiday dessert, don’t you? I mean, we all know that the pumpkin and peppermint desserts will be available during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. However, I sometimes grow weary of these desserts. I mean, we have them every single year! Let’s spruce thigns up a bit with a yummy cranberry dessert, shall we?

Oh, my goodness are these bars ever delicious!

 

Ingredients

FOR THE CRANBERRY SAUCE:

1 cup Fresh Ocean Spray Cranberries

6 Tablespoons Domino Dark Brown Sugar

¼ cups Water

FOR THE CRUST:

1 cup Gold Medal All-purpose Flour

¼ cups Dark Brown Sugar

¼ teaspoons Morton Salt

½ cups Melted Land O Lakes Butter

FOR THE CHEESECAKE FILLING:

2 blocks (8 Oz. Size) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Room Temperature

¾ cups Cane Sugar

2 Large Eggland’s Best Eggs, Room Temperature

¾ teaspoons McCormick Almond Extract

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

¼ cups Full-fat Daisy Sour Cream

Instructions

For the cranberry sauce:
In a small saucepan, heat cranberries, sugar and water over high heat. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium and continue to cook, uncovered, stirring often, until berries have burst and sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool down.

For the crust:
Preheat oven to 375ºF.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Add melted butter and stir until completely incorporated.

Grease and line an 8×8 in baking pan with parchment paper and lightly press the lour mixture in to the pan, making sure it is all evenly distributed. Bake for 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 325ºF.

For the filling:
Meanwhile, in the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together cream cheese and sugar then scrape the bowl down. Add eggs, almond extract and vanilla and beat until light and creamy. Add sour cream and beat until well combined, scraping the bowl as necessary.

When crust is done, pour cheesecake filling in to the pan. Dot cranberry sauce all over the top then gently swirl around with a knife.

Bake cheesecake for 40–50 minutes, or until edges are set and middle is only slightly jiggly. Allow to cool completely in the pan.

 

 

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Quick Tip: Wrap the cheesecake (in the pan) in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to completely set for a minimum of 3 hours, preferably overnight. Serve cold.

Thank you Betty Crocker for this great photo.