Cranberry Bliss Bars

These Copycat Cranberry Bliss Bars, made famous by Starbucks, are soft, buttery, and speckled with dried cranberries and white chocolate. Plus, they have a delicious boost of flavor from crystallized ginger.

Cranberry Bars are the ideal indulgence from Thanksgiving through New Year’s. With just one bite, you will understand all the hype. This cranberry bliss bar recipe will rock your taste buds!!

Why You Must Make

• You can make them any time of year, not just when Starbucks has them available.
• They’re perfect for the holidays! Whether for a cookie exchange, left on the hearth for Santa, of just an amazing treat for your family, they’re festive and delicious.
• They freeze well, so you can make ahead of time or just hide them from yourself after too much sampling.

Tips for Making Bliss Bars

• PRO-Tip: Pull the butter, eggs, and cream cheese out of the refrigerator at least an hour before making these bars. They will incorporate into the batter or frosting better if at room temperature.
• Sift your powdered sugar for the smoothest frosting.
• If you have trouble with the crystallized ginger or dried cranberries sticking to your knife, just give your knife a light spray with Pam, or another non-stick cooking spray.
• Line your baking pan with non-stick foil. This will enable you to lift the baked, cooled bars out of the pan and move them onto a cutting board. So much easier than trying to slice them in the pan.
• PRO-Tip: Use a quart-sized bag with a small part of one corner snipped off to pipe on the white chocolate drizzle if you don’t want to use a piping bag and tip.
• This recipe makes 16 large bars. For my cookie exchange, I cut them into smaller triangles.
• Despite the cream cheese frosting, it’s OK to store these at room temperature.
• PRO-Tip: If you refrigerate them, bring them to room temperature to serve. They will be softer and taste better when not cold (though still yummy!).

How to Make

1. Preheat the oven and Prep the pan.
2. Make the batter for the bars, spread in the pan, and Bake.
3. Cool completely.
4. Make the frosting and Spread it over the cooled bars.
5. Sprinkle the top with chopped dried cranberries.
6. Make the white chocolate topping and Drizzle over the bars.
7. Let Cool completely and Cut into rectangle bars, then cut each rectangle on the diagonal, making triangle bars.

Frequently Asked Questions

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• Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies from The View from Great Island
• Cranberry Cream Cheese Bars
• Cranberry Bliss Cookies
• Cranberry Fluff Salad
• More of the Best Bar Cookie Recipes

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The Recipe:

Cranberry Bliss Bars Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Additional Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 55 minutes

Yield 16

Bar cookies flavored with ginger and speckled with dried cranberries, crystallized ginger, and white chocolate chunks, then topped with cream cheese frosting with a hint of orange.

Ingredients

Bars

• 1 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 ¼ cups light brown sugar, packed
• 3 eggs
• 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups flour
• ¾ cup diced dried cranberries
• 6 ounces white chocolate, cut into chunks
• 2 tablespoons crystallized ginger, chopped

Frosting

• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted 
• 2 teaspoons orange extract
• 2 teaspoons water
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ¼ cup diced dried cranberries

Drizzled Icing

• 2 ounces chopped white chocolate
• ¼ teaspoon vegetable oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. Grease or line a 9 x 13-inch pan with non-stick foil. Set aside.
3. Beat butter and brown sugar with a hand mixer until smooth.
4. Add eggs, vanilla, ginger, and salt; beat well.
5. Gradually mix in flour until smooth.
6. Mix the ¾ cup of diced dried cranberries, crystallized ginger, and white chocolate into the batter by hand.
7. Scrape the batter into the baking pan and spread evenly with an offset spatula.
8. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the cake is light brown on the edges. Let cool.
9. To make the frosting, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, orange extract, water, and vanilla in a large bowl.
10. Beat with a hand mixer until smooth.
11. When the cake has cooled, spread frosting over the top of the cake. Sprinkle top with diced cranberries.
12. For drizzle, melt white chocolate gently in the microwave.  Stir in oil.  Let cool slightly and scrape into a small ziplock bag.  Snip a small hole in the corner and drizzle over the bars.
13. Allow cake to sit for several hours, then slice.
14. To make 16 triangles slice the bars lengthwise down the middle. Then slice the cake 3 times across the width to make 8 rectangles. Slice each rectangle diagonally to make 16 triangular bars.

Notes

Having the butter, eggs, and cream cheese at room temperature makes for easy incorporation plus a smoother frosting.

Adapted from Good Eats.

Recommended Products

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• 
  Small Offset Spatula
• 
  9 x 13 Baking Pan
• 
  KitchenAid 9-Speed Digital Hand Mixer 

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

16

Serving Size:

1 bar
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 432Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 76mgSodium: 193mgCarbohydrates: 62gFiber: 1gSugar: 51gProtein: 4g

Thatskinnychickcanbake.com occasionally offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although thatskinnychickcanbake.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased can change the nutritional information in any given recipe. Also, many recipes on thatskinnychickcanbake.com recommend toppings, which may or may not be listed as optional and nutritional information for these added toppings is not listed. Other factors may change the nutritional information such as when the salt amount is listed “to taste,” it is not calculated into the recipe as the amount will vary. Also, different online calculators can provide different results. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information obtained is accurate.

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I just LOVE my neighbors…so fun celebrating Christmas with you all! December 2010. I made these again for our 2021 cookie exchange.