It’s about time to bid those summer flavors goodbye! I decided to bake cranberry-cheesecake bars and lemon bars. Lemon bars have always been extremely difficult for me- they’re always too gooey and hard to cut – but this recipe was PERFECTION.

Here is the recipe for the cranberry cheesecake bars:

Crust:

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 large egg

1/4 cup pecans, chopped

 

Filling:

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup powdered sugar

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 (10-ounce) can whole berry cranberry sauce

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, butter and egg and beat at low speed until crumbly. Add pecans and mix well. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 13 X 9-inch pan.
2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 5 minutes just until crust is set.
3. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla and egg until smooth. In a separate bowl, blend together cranberry sauce and nutmeg. Pour cream cheese mixture over crust. Spoon cranberry sauce in 3 rows lengthwise in pan.
4. Run a knife through the cranberry sauce and cream cheese mixture to form swirls. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes, or until cream cheese mixture is set. Cool and cut into bars.