Healthy, not overly sweet, and a fantastic anytime snack! They are beloved by my two and four year old children.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 47 mins |
| Additional Time: | 8 hrs 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 9 hrs 37 mins |
| Servings: | 16 |
| Yield: | 1 9×13-inch cheesecake |
Ingredients
- cooking spray
- 1 ¾ cups graham cracker crumbs
- ½ cup butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- ¾ cup fresh cranberries
- ¼ cup water
- ¾ cup white sugar, divided
- 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 5 tablespoons milk, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 ½ teaspoons almond extract
- ⅓ cup sliced almonds, or to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 9×13-inch baking dish with aluminum foil and lightly grease with cooking spray.
- Combine graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and 2 tablespoons sugar in a bowl. Mix until butter evenly coats the crumbs. Transfer to the baking dish and flatten into an even layer.
- Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Leave oven on; remove crust and let cool.
- Place cranberries, water, and 1/4 cup sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. Cook until cranberries have burst and mixture is thick, about 7 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes. Pour sauce into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth, adding more water to thin, if necessary.
- Combine remaining sugar and cream cheese in a bowl. Beat using an electric mixer until smooth, scraping down sides of the bowl every 90 seconds, about 4 minutes total. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add milk, lemon juice, and almond extract; mix batter on medium-low until combined.
- Spread batter evenly over the cooled crust. Drop spoonfuls of cranberry sauce on top and use a knife to swirl it through the batter. Toss almonds evenly over the cheesecake.
- Bake in the preheated oven until set, 27 to 33 minutes. Let cool, at least 30 minutes. Refrigerate until set, 8 hours to overnight. Cut into bars the next day.
- Fresh or thawed frozen cranberries would work in this recipe.
- Substitute 2 tablespoons water plus 2 tablespoons raspberry liqueur for the 1/4 cup water, if desired.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 257 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 20 g |
| Cholesterol | 70 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 190 mg |
| Sugars | 14 g |
| Fat | 18 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
These were absolutely delicious!! I made these to bring to Thanksgiving dinner and my company the night before ate half of the tray not realizing this dessert was not for them:) With that said, I followed the recipe except I had homemade crandberry sauce on hand from another recipe. I used that instead of the sauce suggested. I also, used 1 teaspoon of almond extract and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract. I felt the almond would be to overpowering. Definetly make these the night before as it allows the crust to set and congeal. Serving after baking the crust crumbled. Delicious, easy to make and festive!
I was looking for something to use up leftover frozen cranberries and this was it. Cut the recipe in half and it fit an 8×8 pan perfectly. If you use frozen berries, I recommend putting the berries and sugar on warm until the berries thaw, you may not need to add extra water for the cooking, mine were a little too watery even with extra cooking time. The lemon juice was a bit overpowering, added a spoonful of Amaretto (from the liqueur recipe on this site) and 2 Tbp sugar to the cream cheese before it met family approval. This baked up nicely and tasted better on the next day. When I make this again I’ll add more almond flavoring and more cranberries.