Easy Cranberry-Oatmeal Cheesecake Bars

It is totally cranberry season!!! I love cranberries, whether it is cranberry sauce, cranberry stuffing or cranberries paired with oatmeal and cream cheese in these little buttery bites...I love cranberries! Making only a few changes, I decided to give this dessert recipe from Borden a whirl.

Ingredients:

2 cups  flour

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup (2 sticks, but I used 3 sticks) butter, softened 

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

1/4 cup lemon juice ( I substituted orange juice)

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 (16 oz.) can whole berry cranberry sauce

Heat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 13X9 inch baking pan with cooking spray, Next combine the flour, oats, brown sugar and butter until it forms coarse crumbs. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the mixture and press the rest into the bottom of your baking pan. Bake in oven for 15 minutes.

Next beat the cream cheese until fluffy and then add the sweetened condensed milk and beat until smooth, then mix in the orange juice. Spread the mixture over the partially baked crust. In a small bowl blend together the cranberry sauce, the 1 T of brown sugar, the cornstarch. Then spread the cranberry mixture evenly on top of the cream cheese mixture and top with the remaining crumb mixture. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes depending on your oven, until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool complete. Chill and then cut into bars.

This is a great recipe for a Thanksgiving dessert. You can even bake an extra batch and freeze them to have on hand for the Christmas season

Enjoy!!!

XO