Cranberry Cream Cheese Bars have a sweet cookie bottom and top with cream cheese and tart cranberries for the filling and feature an orange icing drizzled over top. Perfect for the upcoming holidays.
One of the things that I love best about this time of year is that there are fresh cranberries in the grocery stores. I love everything about them from their lovely color to their tart flavor. Also, I love the fact that you can use them in so many different ways.
These bars are so simple to make and my family loves them. I am sure that they will be showing up during the holidays as an easy dessert.
These cranberry bars are just one of the ways that I will be using cranberries. What are your favorite ways to cook or bake with cranberries?
Helpful Tips:
- Start with all of the ingredients at room temperature. This will help when it comes to mixing everything up.
- Roughly chop the cranberries using a sharp knife or a food processor.
- Fresh cranberries are what I recommend for this recipe, but if you want to use frozen cranberries that will work also.
- I use some orange zest for a little citrus flavor in these bars. If you don’t have an orange you could use lemon zest.
- You will want to store these bars in the refrigerator since they have the cream cheese filling. Just remove them from the refrigerator a while before you are going to serve them so they have time to warm up or they do taste great right out of the refrigerator.
- If you don’t think that you will eat the bars up in 3 to 4 days you can freeze them in an airtight container.
Steps for making Cranberry Cream Cheese Bars:
Step one
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
Step two
Make the dough for the crust and top. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl.
Step three
In a medium bowl beat the butter, brown sugar, and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and beat in. Add the vanilla and mix in.
Step four
Add the flour mixture to the dough and mix in. Reserve 1 1/4 cups of the for the topping. Pat the remaining dough into the bottom of the prepared baking pan.
Step five
Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
Step six
While the crust is baking prepare the filling. Add the cream cheese to a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy about 30 seconds.
Step seven
Add the sugar and beat in. Mix in the sour cream and vanilla until well blended.
Step eight
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing just until blended. Fold in the cranberries and orange zest.
Step nine
When the crust has baked for 10 minutes remove it from the oven. Spread the filling over top of the crust. Crumble and sprinkle the rest of the dough over the top of the filling.
Step ten
Place back in the oven and bake for another 30 to 35 minutes or until the cream cheese is set and the crust is browned.
Step eleven
Place on a cooling rack and cool slightly.
Step twelve
While the bars are cooling make the icing. Beat the powdered sugar and orange juice until smooth. Drizzle over the bars that are slightly cooled.
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Cranberry Cream Cheese Bars
Ingredients
Crust
- 3 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup butter
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Filling
- 12 ounces cream cheese
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- zest from 1 orange
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups chopped cranberries
Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons orange juice
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt together and set aside.
- In a large bowl cream together butter, brown sugar, and sugar with an electric mixer.
- Add the eggs and beat them in. Mix in the vanilla.
- Add the flour mixture and mix in until well blended
- Reserve 1 1/4 cups of the dough for the top of the bars. Pat the remaining dough into the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes.
- While the bars are baking prepare the filling.
- Place the room temperature cream cheese in a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy about 30 seconds. Add the sugar and beat until well blended.
- Add the sour cream and vanilla and mix in. Mix eggs one at a time beating on low just until blended.
- Add the cranberries and orange zest and fold in.
- Once the bars have baked for 10 minutes remove them from the oven. Spread the filling over the crust. Crumble and sprinkle the reserving dough over the top of the filling.
- Place back in the oven and bake for another 30 to 35 minutes until the cream cheese is set and the top of the bars are brown.
- Remove from the oven and cool slightly on a cooling rack.
- While the bars are cooling make the icing. Add the powdered sugar to a bowl and gradually add the orange juice until the correct consistency. Beat until smooth. Drizzle over the warm bars.
Notes
- The ingredients should be room temperature.
- If you don't have an orange for this recipe you can substitute a lemon.
- I recommend fresh cranberries for the recipe, but if you have frozen cranberries they can be used.
- Roughly chop the cranberries with a sharp knife or a food processor.
- Store these bars in the refrigerator. Since there is a cream cheese filling this is the safest way to store the bars. You can keep this in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
- If you like these bars freeze well. Make sure to use an airtight freezer container.
So yummy! I love that thick crust.
well i must say these are really tempting. and i don’t really enjoy sweets. cranberries are the best, and so versatile, as you said. savory, sweet, alcoholic…. so many options!
Hi Dawn, your Cranberry Cream Cheese Bars certainly do look festive and yummy. We don’t get cranberries over this way, but I have wild lingonberries in the freezer. Do you think they might work in the recipe?
Hi Ron, I have never had lingonberries before, so I looked them up. I don’t see why they wouldn’t work. They sound like they are similar to cranberries. Thank you for stopping by!
I definitely want to cook Cranberry Cream Cheese Bars. It looks very appetizing. I hope I can find cranberries in our stores. Thanks for sharing!
Fresh cranberry season is way too short! We always buy some extra bags and freeze them so we can extend their season. Anyway, the bars look terrific. I’m a sucker for cream cheese goodies, and these look wonderful. Hope you have a terrific Thanksgiving!