Cranberry Almond Cream Cheese Bars

Cranberry Almond Cream Cheese Shortbread Bars

Crust and Topping.

• • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • 3/4 cup cold, unsalted butter

Filling.

• • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature

  • 8 ounces almond paste, grated

  • 1 egg

  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

  • 1 1/2 cups leftover homemade cranberry sauce (or, substitute your favorite fruit preserves or even pie filling)

Crust.

Preheat the oven to 350 and spray an 8x8 inch square baking dish with non-stick spray.

In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour mixture, until coarse and crumbly, with any remaining pieces of butter the size of peas. Reserve 1 cup of the crumb mixture for the topping, and press the rest firmly against the bottom of the pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

Filling.

Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese, almond paste, egg, cinnamon and vanilla with a hand mixer for several minutes until well combined.

Remove the crust from the oven. Carefully spread the cream cheese mixture over the hot crust. Dollop the cranberry sauce evenly over the cream cheese layer. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup crumb topping over the cranberry sauce.

Bake until the topping is golden brown, about 35-40 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Yields about 16 2-inch square bars or 32 1x2 inch bars.

Recipe from Curly Girl Kitchen