Name: Cranberry Cheesecake Bars
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 55 min
Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour; 1.5 cups quick or old-fashioned oats; 1/4 cup packed dark or light brown sugar; 1 cup butter or margarine at room temp (2 sticks); 2 cups white chocolate chips; 8 ounces softened cream cheese; 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk; 1/4 cup lemon juice; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 14 ounces Ocean Spray Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce; 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Cranberry cheesecake bars are a delectable cross between cheesecake and crumble. The delicious layers include a crumbly base, a cream cheese filling, a sweet but tart cranberry filling, and then a buttery streusel topping.

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Cranberry cheesecake bars are “amazeballs” according to my niece who tasted them recently. I mean, I do tend to agree! This is a decadent dessert that is so stinking good. If you like cranberry sauce, crumble, and cheesecake, this dessert was made for you.

This cranberry cheesecake bar recipe came to fruition one day when I was thinking about how many of us have a can of cranberry sauce in our pantries right now. I bet a lot of us do. I checked when I was getting ready for this post and I had three! What better way to use it right now than to make these pretty, easy-to-serve, cheesecake bars with a ribbon of red and white running right through the center?

We start with a crumble topping and base made with butter, brown sugar, flour, white chocolate chips, and oats. Oh yes, there is chocolate, because white chocolate and cranberry are just a match made in heaven! Then we need our cheesecake filling, which is a deliciously creamy combination of cream cheese, condensed milk, lemon juice, and vanilla extract (like my cherry cream cheese pie). The final piece of the puzzle is cranberry sauce. All that’s left to do is add the remaining crumble topping and bake!

These cranberry bars come out of the pan looking as pretty as they do in that photo up there! Seriously! Take a bite and you’ll get the scrumptious combination of cranberry flavor with cream cheese filling and the topping’s crumble texture. Sounds absolutely delicious, right?

Let’s get in the kitchen!

Recipe Ingredients

All-purpose flour
Quick or old-fashioned oats
Light or dark brown sugar
Butter or margarine
White morsels (white chocolate chips)
Cream cheese (here’s how to easily make homemade cream cheese)
Sweetened condensed milk
Lemon juice
Vanilla extract
Cornstarch
Whole berry cranberry sauce (or you can make homemade cranberry sauce by going here)

How to Make Cranberry Cheesecake Bars

Mix your oats, brown sugar, and flour in a bowl.

Stir them up well.

Now add in your butter and cut that in there with a fork or a pastry cutter until it is good and crumbly.

Like this.

Stir in your morsels.

Now take out 2+1/2 cups of this and set it aside. That will be your crumb topping later.

Press the rest into a 9×13 baking dish that you’ve sprayed with cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until it is fluffy (or until it decides to give up and do whatever you want).

Add in sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, and vanilla.

Mix that up until smooth and creamy.

If you didn’t let your cream cheese sit out like you were supposed to, it might be a little lumpy still. But hey, life happens.

Spread this over the top of your crust.

Dump your cranberry sauce into a bowl or measuring cup like I’m using.

Add cornstarch.

Stir that up really well with a fork to blend.

Now if you are thinking this out in your head you might be thinking that this isn’t going to be an easy task but it really is. Once you start stirring that fork around it all blends together surprisingly fast.

Spread this over the top of your cheesecake layer.

Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture on top.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

Cranberry Cheesecake Bars — Original photo courtesy of Ocean Spray

Ain’t they pretty?

Now technically you are supposed to not only allow these to cool completely but also cover and refrigerate them before serving (up to 24 hours in advance).

You should definitely, definitely do that. Always follow instructions, right?

But I will tell you that eating one warm, straight from the pan, is a pretty awesome experience as well!

Storage

The best part is you can store your cranberry cheesecake bars in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Recipe Notes

Use any kind of oats, including quick oats, old-fashioned oats, or rolled oats.

Check out these other cherry recipes:

No-Bake Cherry Cheesecake Balls

Cherry Crumb Cake With Cake Mix

Cherry Cheesecake Cookies

Lemon Cherry Cheesecake

Cherry Bars

Easy Crescent Cherry Cream Cheese Cobbler