Nutella Cheesecake Squares

Ingredients:
crust:
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/8 teaspoon salt

filling:
16 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup Nutella
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 large eggs,at room temperature

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease or spray with baking spray an 8x8 inch pan. In a small bowl, add the butter, sugar, flour, cocoa, oats and salt, mix thoroughly with a fork. Press into bottom of the pan. Use the bottom of a measuring cup to flatten and press firmly. Bake for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cream together the cream cheese and sugar. Add the egg and flour, beat until smooth. Pour about 2/3 of the batter into the 8x8 inch pan. Add the Nutella into the remaining batter and mix throughly. Spread on top of the first cheesecake layer. Bake 25 minutes or until set. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into squares.

My thoughts:

I don't tend to join in on most of the group food blogging events that seem so popular right now but I love Nutella and just couldn't resist. While the American version of Nutella is widely available, I like to go to our local Italian market and pick up a jar of imported Italian Nutella. The two are fairly similar in flavor but the Italian version doesn't have hydrogenated oil and (perhaps because of this) is a little thicker. It also seems to be a bit more chocolate-y. Anyway, I am sure whatever local version of Nutella you have available would work fine in this recipe.

I had originally came up with the recipe a couple of months ago only to find that I was totally out of Nutella and that I hadn't yet replaced the 8x8 inch pan I had dropped. The horror! Then I got distracted by other cooking and a never ending cold and forgot all about it until I saw someone mention WND on twitter. So I dragged out the recipe and made it this weekend. It was as tasty as I had hoped. The cheesecake is rich and creamy and has a great chocolate-hazelnut flavor. The bottom crust is very chocolate-y and the oats add body and crunch. The crust is also a great alternative to the more traditional graham cracker or shortbread crust which can be kind of bland or boring. In this case, the crust brings out the flavor of the bars without overpowering it.

Cranberry Cheesecake Squares

Ingredients:
crust:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup light brown sugar
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/8 teaspoon salt

filling:
1/2 cup whole berry cranberry sauce
16 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 large eggs
juice of one tangerine
zest of one tangerine


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease or spray with baking spray an 8x8 inch pan. In a small bowl, add the butter, sugar, flour, oats and salt, mix thoroughly with a fork. Press into bottom of the pan. Use the bottom of a measuring cup to flatten and press firmly.


Bake 15 minutes or until just golden. Meanwhile, cream together the cream cheese and sugar. Add the egg, zest, juice and flour, beat until smooth. Pour over the crust. Dot with cranberry sauce and swirl with the tip of a knife. Bake 25 minutes or until set. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into squares.

My thoughts:

My husband loves cranberry sauce. Once cranberries make their appearance in the grocery store I start making cranberry sauce with any meal where it seems appropriate. I think I've made a different cranberry sauce just about every week since late October. This leaves me with a fair amount of leftover cranberry sauce to play with. I've made yummy muffins with cranberry sauce already this year but I wanted to make a dessert with cranberry sauce that would be holiday-worthy. These are a snap to put together and can be made ahead. Prebaking the crust is a bit of a time killer but you can make the filling while it bakes and it ensures a perfect, crisp crust. I also liked using oatmeal in the crust, it is a little nontraditional but it really adds some body to the crust and actually makes the bars a little easier to slice and lift out of the pan. The tangerine flavor is present but not too strong, it just adds a citrus note to the cheesecake. I really can't say enough about this bars, they are just really good, my whole family raved over them and my mother deemed them "swoon-worthy".



Note: any whole berry (i.e. not jellied) cranberry sauce would work, even store bought (!) but I think using this cranberry-tangerine sauce would be the best.

Pineapple Coconut Squares

Ingredients:
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups sweetened, flaked coconut
1 cup flour
1 cup crushed pineapple in juice, drained
1 tablespoon butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 tablespoon sugar
3 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease or spray one 8 inch square pan. In a medium bowl, combine the softened butter, flour, baking soda, salt, sugar and half of the beaten eggs until it forms a thick dough. Spray or grease a spatula to spread the dough evenly along the bottom of the prepared pan. The dough will be extremely sticky. In another medium bowl, mix together the remaining eggs, melted butter, pineapple and coconut. Mix until combined. Pour evenly over raw dough and bake 30-35 minutes or until set and slightly browned. Allow to cool thoroughly before slicing.

My thoughts:

These bar cookies are so retro and sunny tasting I almost expect Marcia Brady to walk in at any moment. They are super simple to make and the combo of pineapple and coconut is classic. They are also surprisingly low fat.