Cranberry Bars Worth the Making!

Okay, this is something that I actually made a couple weeks ago for a cookie exchange. But I think it is well worth the mentioning because they were a hit! It is common knowledge that I frequent Starbucks. But I rarely buy their baked goods, only their coffee. Except in the wintertime, when the Cranberry Bliss Bars pay a visit. Anyone who has taken a bite of one of these knows that it is in fact blissful -- a golden blondie chock full of dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks, topped with a cream cheese frosting, more dried cranberries, and a white chocolate drizzle! Need I say more?

Well this winter, I never got a chance to go around to get one. And when I went to the Starbucks at my local grocery store, the barista informed me that they were gone for the season. Maybe he should've specified that they were only gone at his location and that I could just get it from the Starbucks down the street. But that's okay. No harm done because when it came time for me to decide what to bring to the cookie exchange, I'd found the perfect excuse to make my own cranberry bliss bars. And boy was it worth it! The recipe makes a giant 10x15 sheet of bars. . . enough to share some, eat some, savor some, and allow my 3 year old who apparently loves them as much as me to have them for a snack (and sometimes breakfast) for a week. So here follows the recipe which is a culmination of a couple different recipes I found on the web. Well worth the making!

Homemade Cranberry Bliss Bars

Bars

• 1 c. butter, melted and cooled
• 1 1/3 c. brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tsp orange extract (if you don't have any you can use vanilla but the flavor won't be the same.
• 2 c. flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 3/4 cup craisins
• 3/4 c. white chocolate chips or chunks

Frosting

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 tbsp butter, softened
• 1 tsp orange extract (or vanilla)
• 1 tbsp milk

Topping

• 1/3 c. craisins, chopped
• 1/3 c. white chocolate chips
• 1/2 tsp. canola oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover a 10x15 sheet pan with parchment paper. Spray paper with nonstick spray


2. Beat butter and sugar together for the cake base. Add eggs one at a time and vanilla, beating until fluffy. Sift together the flour, baking powder, ginger and salt. Then add to the butter/sugar mixture, beating well. Fold in the cranberries and white chocolate chips. Batter will be thick. Spread into pan and bake for about 20 - 25 minutes (I baked mine for 23 min) or until light golden.


3. Remove cake from oven and cool. Remove cake from pan. When cake is cool, mix all frosting ingredients and spread a thin layer over the cake. Immediately sprinkle the chopped cranberries on top. In a double boiler or microwave melt the white chocolate with the canola oil. Then place melted chocolate in decorater bag with small tip (or a sandwich bag and cut a little tip off the corner). Drizzle the white chocolate over the cake. Allow 30 minutes for the white chocolate to set before cutting.