I'm also in the holiday spirit because last night was my family's annual Christmas party, held at my aunt's house in Newton, N.H. She had quite the spread of food out, including warm spinach and artichoke dip, rum and bourbon balls, cheese and crackers, lasagna bites, and brown sugar kielbasa, to name a few. My duty was dessert, so I made Merry Berry Cheese Squares. I received this recipe when I acted as a judge at The Nashua Telegraph's Culinary Delights Cook-off a few months ago. I did not note who made the recipe, but these bars were second in the running for the "best dessert" award that day. The bars are creamy and rich, and the whole cranberries add a necessary tartness to the otherwise too-sweet squares. Plus, they look almost as festive as the snow outside:
Yields: 24 pieces
-2 cups unsifted flour
-1 1/2 cup oats
-3/4 cup, plus 1 tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar
-1 cup butter or margarine, softened
-1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
-1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
-1/4 cup lemon juice
-1 (16-ounce) can whole berry cranberry sauce
-2 tbsp. cornstarch
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With mixer, blend flour, oats, 3/4 cup brown sugar and butter until crumbly. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of mixture. Press remaining mixture into bottom of greased 13x9 inch baking pan. Baked for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and set aside.
Beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually add the sweetened condensed milk, and mix until smooth. Stir in lemon juice. Spread the cheese mixture over the baked crust (doesn't have to be cooled). Combine the cranberry sauce, cornstarch and remaining 1 tbsp. brown sugar. Spoon this over the cheese layer. Top with reserved crumb mixture, and bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown.
Cool and cut into pieces. Refrigerate leftovers.
These squares are definitely not figure-friendly, but it's the holidays - nothing I consume between now and New Year's will probably be healthy. The bars were also a big hit with my family, and I cut them into smaller pieces, since I knew people would be eating a bunch of other desserts.
What baked goods are you making for your upcoming holiday parties?
These bars were sooooo good :)
ReplyDeleteGreat Choice!