Cranberry Bliss Bars

Submitted by DailyInspiration

"Thought I had lost this wonderful recipe. Placing it here for safe keeping. Feel free to substitute low-fat, reduced-calorie ingredients. The number of bars will be dependent upon the size."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 15mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Yields: 1 pan

ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1⁄2 cups quick-cooking oats
• 3⁄4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed (plus 1 tbsp., divided)
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1⁄4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 (16 ounce) can whole berry cranberry sauce

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 x 9 inch baking pan.
2. Combine flour, oats, 3/4 cup brown sugar and butter. Mix until crumbly. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of crumb mixture and set aside. Place remaining crumbs in baking dish and spread out to form a crust. Bake for 15 minutes.
3. Beat cream cheese until fluffy and gradually mix in condensed milk, lemon juice and vanilla. Pour evenly over crust.
4. In small bowl, combine remaining sugar, cornstarch and cranberry sauce. Spoon over cream cheese mixture and sprinkle reserved crumbs over the top. Bake for 40 minutes. Cool at room temperature and refrigerate after cutting into bars. Store in the refrigerator.

Reviews

[NorthwestGal]

These were fantastic! We all loved them. They're much better than the ones I used to get at Starbucks. After my frenzy of Christmas baking, all I had left was lower fat Neufchatel cheese, so I had to use it. And it still turned out perfect (and I didn't add any extra sugar or other sweetener). I know I'll make these again, because they're so good. And I'll feel confident that using the lower fat cream cheese will still mean these will turn out just as good if I had used regular cream cheese. Thanks, Nancy's Pantry. This is a real "keeper"!