The first recipe up for this holiday baking season are some cranberry bliss bars. These bars are inspire by the cranberry bliss bars from Starbucks and they are essentially a blondie bar recipe with dried cranberries and white chocolate chips topped with a cream cheese frosting, cranberries and a white chocolate drizzle. The “blondie” base is just a simple brownie recipe without the chocolate and these blondies are made with the usual suspects to which I add some orange zest and grated candied ginger along with the white chocolate chips and the dried cranberries. The frosting is a simple combination of cream cheese, powdered sugar and melted white chocolate and I like to add a hint of orange. Dried cranberries are sprinkled on before a final drizzle of white chocolate. These cranberry bliss bars are so nice and moist, chewy and tender and divinely and decadently delicious! They are to disappear quickly no matter where you serve them!
Cranberry Bliss Bars
Copycat Starbucks cranberry bliss bars with soft and moist cranberry and white chocolate chip blondies topped with cream cheese frosting, white chocolate drizzle and cranberries!
ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
- 2 tablespoons candied/crystallized ginger, minced/grated
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 2 cups powdered/confectioners sugar
- 1 tablespoon orange juice
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries
For the cranberry white chocolate chip blondie bars:
For the cranberry white chocolate cream cheese topping:
directions
- Cream the butter and sugar before mixing in the eggs, vanilla, orange zest and candied ginger.
- Mix the flour, baking powder and salt before mixing into the wet ingredients followed by the white chocolate chips and dried cranberries.
- Pour the batter into a greased (or parchment paper or foil lined) 9×13 inch baking pan and bake in a preheated 350F/180C oven until a toothpick pushed in the centre comes out clean, about 20 minutes, before setting aside to cool.
- Mix the cream cheese, powdered sugar and orange juice.
- Melt the white chocolate in a microwave or over a double boiler and mix half of it into the cream cheese frosting.
- Spread the cream cheese frosting over the bars, sprinkle on the cranberries and place the remaining melted white chocolate in a small ziplock bag, make a small cut in the corner and squeeze the chocolate over the bars in desired pattern.
- Let cool, slice and enjoy!
For the cranberry white chocolate chip blondie bars:
For the cranberry white chocolate cream cheese topping:
Option: Replace the candied ginger with 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger.
Option: For a harder cream cheese frosting more similar to Starbucks, add 1 extra cup of icing sugar.
Note: Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 seconds bursts on high heat until melted. OR Melt the chocolate in a bowl held over a saucepan with simmering water until melted.
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Peppermint Candy Cane Chocolate Chip Cookies in a Jar
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Matcha Green Tea White Chocolate Blondies
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Cookies and Cream Blondies
These are such a fun party treat! I've been all about cranberries lately!
Sues
Can we get proper weights in grams, please. 1 cup / 2 sticks doesn’t make sense in the UK.
2 sticks butter = 1/2 pound or 220g, enjoy!
I just ask my iPhone to convert things such as these. Very handy!
I have done the same thing (converting) with ALL weights and measures then printed them out and placed my charts on a “Pin Board” for quick and easy references. I’m in Australia and it’s NO BIG DEAL anymore!
The recipe sounds great except for the white chocolate. To me white chocolate is not chocolate. Could I just substitute dark chocolate for the white?
Yes you can! Enjoy!
I, too, do not like white chocolate. But in this case it works somehow. Quite complimentary to the cranberries. If your adventuresome, you might want to give it a try.
I love the sound and look of these as is, but some have mentioned about not liking “white chocolate”. I too don’t care for “white chocolate” very much, but I think with dark chocolate they’d lose their “Christmas” look, so I’m going to keep with “white chocolate”. Thank you Kevin and I wish you a Very Merry Christmas from Australia. Looking forward to MANY MORE of your recipes in the New Year.
I’m so excited to find these. They’re my Christmas Crack, so it will be really fun to make them and share them. Thank you so much for the recipe!
These were fantastic!!! I really love the addition of candied ginger and orange peel which were not in my previously favorite recipe for Bliss Bars. Everyone who has tried them wants the recipe. Delicious!
Sounds delicious! I was wondering if I can use fresh cranberries in the cake? I’d use the dried for the frosting. Thank you.
I would would probably not use fresh cranberries in this, but they should work.
These do not need to be refrigerated? The cream cheese in frosting makes me nervous to leave out of fridge, however I’d like them better not chilled. Thanks in advance.
I store these in the fridge. Enjoy!
Hello!
Would this still taste ok if I used dried cranberries that have no oil or sugar? They are hand dehydrated. It seems like there is enough sugar in the whole product to more than make up for it. Just wondered about your opinion on this. Thanks so much!
They will work; there is enough sugar without the extra on the cranberries! Enjoy!
Could these be made without eggs?
Another fabulous recipe, Kevin! I took these to a Christmas cookie exchange and they were the first cookies gone. There were 25 people. I had hoped to get one of my own on the second go round but there were none left. Good for you, bad for me! Thanks for sharing your recipes with us. You’re the best!!
Is the 8 x 13” baking pan a typo? Should that be 9 x 13”? If not, where do I find a 8 x 13” baking pan?
I’ve tried several of your recipes and must tell you that my family and I have enjoyed every one. Can’t wait to try this one out. Perfect for Christmas.
Can these possibly be made with gluten free flour. I like some of your dishes but when I see AP flour I never try past that since I need to be gluten free.
Yes they can!
How long will these keep in the refrigerator?
I would keep these for about 7 to 10 days at the most. They also freeze well so you can store them for longer in the freezer.
These are exactly like, if not better than, the Starbucks version. Best copycat recipe I’ve tried out so far hands down.
Hi! I was wondering if I could substitute blueberries for the cranberries? Looks delicious and I can’t wait to try the recipe!
Dried blueberries would be good in this!
Sound amazing and I love cranberries….a keeper for my holiday recipes!
I just made these this afternoon. Mine took a lot longer than 20 minutes though! I know everyone’s oven is different but my oven is only a year old and based on other recipes, I think it’s accurate. Mine took about 35 minutes before I was satisfied they were done. They smelled amazing! The icing is lovely – I did add the extra cup of icing sugar and was very happy with the consistency of it. I put in a tbsp of eggnog instead of the orange juice as I didn’t use the orange zest in the bar. I made these to give away on cookies trays that I do up for our neighbours – well, if my husband doesn’t eat all of them before I get a chance to assemble said trays!!