Beautiful, delicious and indulgent Cranberry Bliss Bars. Take a pan of these treats for your next holiday event. White chocolate and dried cranberries are so good together.
Starbucks coffee house made Cranberry Bliss Bars famous. These pretty treats are SO good with a cup of coffee. Which makes them a perfect treat for every coffee drinking family in America and beyond…
Let’s make our own homemade (probably even tastier) version. Our Homemade Food Junkie Cranberry Bliss Bar Recipe is quite a bit cheaper to make at home and really pretty easy.
Just follow our video demonstration and our in depth printable recipe guide.
Look for the video in the sidebar of this post and in the bottom of the recipe card.
More Dessert Bars:
More Delicious dessert bars your family and friends are sure to enjoy. We also have holiday candies, Holiday candy bark and candy cane cookies that are simple to make.
They are all so good and make great gifts too. Just search the blog for candy… and fudge.
Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars Recipe (copycat):
This is not a completely copycat Starbuck recipe. We made it our own way. I did look up the ingredients they use.
Believe me you can’t pronounce most of them so they don’t belong in your mouth.
We can do better than that. And we did. This is such a great recipe for a holiday dessert.
These cranberry bars cut into very small 1 x 1 inch pieces make small, tasty finger food. And they look so cute on a party tray.
Or cut them larger, 2 x 2, and feed your family this indulgent homemade dessert. The servings will drop by half but they will go much quicker.
This sweetly pretty wintertime treat wins high marks time after time.
These bars start with a base dough built from a blondie recipe with chunks of white chocolate and cranberries mixed in. Add a cream cheese frosting with orange zest, cranberries and MORE white chocolate. Who can beat that?
TIPS for baking:
- Choose Dried sweetened cranberries. Fresh cranberries will not be sweetened and will add more tartness than desired. Frozen cranberries will have the same result.
- Starbucks version uses ground ginger. We did not use it. However if you prefer the ginger in the blondie add 1/2 tsp. when the cinnamon is put into the recipe.
- After the cake is baked Cool completely before frosting it.
- Watch the video to see the method we use the coat the cranberries on top of the frosting with melted chocolate. This will keep the cranberries stuck on the bar and tastes good too.
- Store in the refrigerator after making to set and hold. The cream cheese frosting will hold up much better in the fridge.
- Keep the bar covered once set so they don’t dry out.
- we used Vanilla, Almond and Orange extracts. PLEASE use them all. The combination of flavors makes these cranberry bars so wonderfully yummy.
The combination of flavors and textures in these dessert bars are so attractive. They will vanish off your party trays in no time.
Your Printable Recipe Card:
Cranberry Bliss Bars Recipe
Beautiful, delicious and indulgent cranberry bliss bars. Take a pan of these treats for your next holiday event. White chocolate and dried cranberries are so good together.
Ingredients
The Cranberry bar Ingredients:
- 12 oz. White Baking Chocolate-divided
- 1 Cup Dried Cranberries-divided
Wet Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
- 3/4 Cup butter-melted (1 1/2 sticks)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract
- 1/2 tsp. orange extract
Dry Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 Cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp.salt
- 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
Frosting:
- 1 Cup powdered sugar
- 8 oz. cream cheese- room temperature
- (remaining 6 0z. white chocolate)
- (remaining cranberries)
- 1 Tablespoon fresh orange zest
Instructions
PREP:
- Oil a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Roughly chop 6 oz. of the white chocolate. Set chunks aside.
- Measure out 1/2 Cup of the dried cranberries. Set aside.
Make the cranberry bar dough:
- In a large bowl add the brown sugar, melted butter and eggs.
- Add the flavorings into the bowl.
- Whisk the wet ingredients together with a hand held mixer until well combined.
- In a small bowl combine the dry ingredients.
- Whisk them together until blended.
- Add the dry ingredients in three small batches to the wet ingredients. Mixing after each addition. This is a very thick batter so Hand mix if necessary.Think cookie dough consistency.
- Fold in the cranberries and white chocolate chunks.
- Press the dough into the oiled baking dish with a spoon or your hands.
- Bake 18 to 20 minutes until the top is just golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely before frosting.
Frosting and Finishing:
- Sift the powdered sugar into a small deep bowl.
- Add the cream cheese to the powdered sugar and blend them with a hand held mixer.
- Melt the remaining 6 oz. of white chocolate in a double boiler until it is smooth and runny.
- While the chocolate melts. Rough chop the remaining cranberries. set aside.
- Grate 1 Tablespoon of orange zest into the frosting bowl.
- Now add HALF of the melted white chocolate into the frosting bowl.
- Mix the zest and melted chocolate in with a hand mixer until smooth.
- Spread the frosting evenly over the top of the COOLED bar cake.
- Sprinkle the chopped cranberries evenly over top of the frosting.
- Drizzle the remaining melted white chocolate over the cranberries.
- With a spatula or wooden spoon smooth the melted chocolate over the cranberries to coat.
- If desired add a few MORE chopped cranberries over the coated one for a pop of red color.
Notes
Please watch our video below for a complete run through of this recipe.
These cranberry bliss bars are easy travelers. They can be cut to feed various group sizes and events just by cutting them larger or smaller.
They will hold well several days if completely covered and stored in the fridge so they don't dry out.
Serve these at any Thanksgiving or Christmas event for a showy red and white bar that evokes snow and the Holiday season. They look great on a party tray.
TIPS for baking:
- Choose Dried sweetened cranberries. Fresh cranberries will not be sweetened and will add more tartness than desired. Frozen cranberries will have the same result.
- Starbucks version uses ground ginger. We did not use it. However if you prefer the ginger in the blondie add 1/2 tsp. when the cinnamon is put into the recipe.
- After the cake is baked Cool completely before frosting it.
- Watch the video to see the method we use the coat the cranberries on top of the frosting with melted chocolate. This will keep the cranberries stuck on the bar and tastes good too.
- Store in the refrigerator after making to set and hold. The cream cheese frosting will hold up much better in the fridge.
- Keep the bar covered once set so they don't dry out.
- we used Vanilla, Almond and Orange extracts. PLEASE use them all. The combination of flavors makes these cranberry bars so wonderfully yummy.
The combination of flavors and textures in these dessert bars are so attractive. They will vanish off your party trays in no time.
Nutrition Information
Yield
48Serving Size
1 x 1 inch squareAmount Per Serving Calories 153Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 20mgSodium 60mgCarbohydrates 18gFiber 2gSugar 10gProtein 2g
Cindy mays
Friday 15th of December 2023
I’ve made these two years in a row now. Our favorite way is using a heaping 1/2 C. Fresh cranberries. The tang adds some amazing flavor. We don’t use any on the top. Tried putting fresh squeezed OJ IN THE frosting this year and orange zest from two oranges. Wow!! Extra yummy !!! Then drizzled melted Ghirardelli white chips criss cross over the cream cheese frosting. ( this way is less sugar) and you can’t even tell when u use fresh cranberries. There’s no need to add any to the yummy orange cream cheese frosting.
Diane
Friday 15th of December 2023
Hi Cindy, We delighted you love these bars. Thanks so much for sharing how you tweak this recipe. I'll have to try these suggestions. They sound delish! Happy holidays