Eggnog Cheesecake Bars with a Pecan Pie Topping (Plus a Zulka Cane Sugar Giveaway!)

Zulka contacted me and asked me to create a holiday-theme dessert for their Holiday Bake-Off Contest using their Cane Sugar. I immediately knew I wanted to make a dessert that combined my favorite flavors of the Christmas season: Eggnog, Cheesecake and Pecan Pie. Nothing says Christmas like those three! And who can have eggnog without a little rum? So I threw some of that in for good measure. 'Tis the season...

I made a standard graham cracker crust and decided to top it with a cheesecake filling packed with both eggnog and rum. Pure perfection! The topping is a traditional pecan pie filling. Pecan pie is made with corn syrup, which gives it a gooey and chewy consistency. The pecans add a little crunch on top, which is well-paired with the creamy consistency of the cheesecake. These bars turned out exceptional and very festive for Christmas!

And now for the giveaway! Zulka has offered to give one lucky reader a retail-size bag of Zulka Cane Sugar! Zulka offers a more natural, non-GMO replacement for plain white sugar. I had never baked with cane sugar before, but I can't even taste a difference in baking. Considering it's a lot better for me, I'm definitely going to be using Zulka from now on.

 GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

There are two ways to enter:

Like The Savvy Kitchen on Facebook and leave a comment 

AND/OR 

Leave a comment below telling me what you will bake using Zulka Cane Sugar.

Winner will be announced on December 11th.

You are more than welcome to enter Zulka's Holiday Bake-Off Contest yourself! Just create a holiday recipe using Zulka Cane Sugar and post it to their Facebook tab by December 22nd. Good luck!

All opinions in this post are my own. Zulka supplied me with my sugar and is also sponsoring the giveaway to one reader. Contest is open to U.S. residents only.

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Crust:

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 2 tbsp. Zulka cane sugar

Eggnog Cheesecake Layer:

• 2 (8 oz.) packages 1/3 less-fat cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup light eggnog
• 1 tbsp. flour
• 1/2 cup Zulka cane sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. dark rum
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Pecan Pie Topping:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup Zulka cane sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For the crust: Combine graham cracker crumbs with butter and sugar. Mix until all crumbs are moist. Press into the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.

For the eggnog layer: In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, eggnog, flour, and sugar. Add egg and mix well. Add vanilla, rum and nutmeg and mix to incorporate. Pour eggnog mixture over slightly cooled crust. Bake for 15 minutes. 

For the pecan pie topping: In a separate medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, corn syrup and melted butter. Stir in the eggs, salt and vanilla extract. Fold in the pecans.

Remove cheesecake from oven and top with the pecan mixture. Bake for an additional 25 minutes, or until center is set and pecan pie layer is a rich brown color. 

Allow to cool then refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Cut into bars.

Source: SK Original