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Cranberry Bliss Bars are a blondie filled with ginger and dried cranberries topped with a orange flavored cream cheese frosting, more cranberries and a white chocolate drizzle. They are better than the seasonal Starbucks treat.Â
Why You’ll Love This Recipe!
Starbucks Copycat Recipe: If you are a fan of the Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars you are going to love this recipe. It has been taste tested by fellow fans and found to be “better than the real thing.” The cake on this homemade version is lighter and not as dense as the real thing which everyone preferred.
Great Flavor: These copycat Starbucks Cranberry Bliss bars are the perfect combination of cranberry, ginger, white chocolate and a touch of orange zest.
Pretty and Festive: Thanks the red and white colors, these bars are perfect for the holiday cookie plate!
Ingredients
- Flour. I use unbleached all purpose flour
- Brown Sugar
- Butter. I use salted butter
- Eggs
- Ground Ginger
- Vanilla Extract
- Salt
- Dried Cranberries
- White Chocolate or white chocolate chips. Chop white chocolate into small chunks.
- Candied Ginger. This can be hard to find and you can leave it out. It is usually found in the bulk section of the grocery store.
- Cream Cheese
- Powdered Sugar
- Orange Zest
How to make Cranberry Bliss Bars
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9 x 13 pan with nonstick spray.
- Beat together butter and brown sugar in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or use a hand electric mixer until light and fluffy.
- Stir in eggs and vanilla extract, beating until light and fluffy.
- Pour in flour, powdered ginger and salt. Mix well
- Fold in the cranberries, chocolate chunks or chocolate chips and minced candied ginger
- Spread mixture in prepared pan and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown or toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool on a wire rack.
- After cake cools, mix all frosting ingredients together and spread over top of cake
- Sprinkle with minced cranberries.
- Drizzle with white chocolate.
Tips
- Use a cake decorating bag with a small round decorating tip or a zippered freezer bag that you have snipped one of the corners off to drizzle melted chocolate.
- Allow Cranberry Bliss Bars to cool completely before cutting. Cut them into rectangular shaped pieces and then cut each rectangle in half diagonally. I also like to cut the edges off of all four sides to give it a nice clean finish.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you store Cranberry Bliss bars?
Because of the cream cheese in the frosting they should be kept stored in the refrigerator. Store in an airtight container. They will keep for 2-3 days. They can also be frozen for up to 2 months.
What is the best way to serve them?
They can be served chilled or room temperature. I prefer them at room temp.
The Cranberry Bliss Bar would make a great addition to a holiday cookie plate too since they are pretty and delicious. So if you are looking for some Bliss in your life – give these a try.
Check out more delicious treats:
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Cranberry Bliss Bar Recipe
Ingredients
Cake Base:
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 1/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 cup minced dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup quality white chocolate bar coarsely chopped
- 1/4 cup minced candied ginger
Frosting:
- 4 oz. cream cheese softened
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp butter softened
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp grated orange rind
Drizzle:
- 2 Tbsp minced dried cranberries
- 1/3 cup white chocolate melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 x 13 pan
- Beat together butter and sugar and then add eggs and vanilla beating until light and fluffy
- Add flour, powdered ginger and salt. Mix well
- Fold in the cranberries, chocolate chunks and minced candied ginger
- Spread batter in pan and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown
- After cake cools, mix all frosting ingredients together and spread over top of cake
- Sprinkle with minced cranberries
- Use a cake decorating bag of melted chocolate with a small round decorating tip to drizzle the chocolate over the cake
- Cut into bars
Tips & Notes:
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Nutrition Facts:
DonnaMarie Miller says
My only comment – is I am critically allergic to ginger & had a friend who was a manager at Starbucks & their recipe does not have the ginger in it. I love them & “manage” to have several during the Christmas season.
How do you think it would effect the recipe if the ginger was left out?
Thanks & Blessings!
Leigh Anne says
I think they would still definitely be delicious without the ginger, especially if Starbucks doesn’t really use it.
Stephanie says
Finally! A side by side comparison! There are so many different recipes for these, but yours is the one I will try. One question, do you think 1/2 tsp of baking powder would help these at all? Alot of Bliss recipes have it included.
Leigh Anne says
I don’t think the baking powder would hurt. Enjoy!
Bonnie@WhatAboutPie says
I really love cranberry bliss bars. We don’t have them at our starbuck’s quite yet…that I know of! I am going to try this recipe for a Harvest dinner at church this Friday. I think people will love them! The holidays are coming up…I think you should revisit this post again for your readers because cranberry bliss bars are awesomely delicious!
Debra Keele says
My son-in-Law had a craving for the Starbucks bars. I wrote this recipe down for him (he loves to bake). He misread my writing and added the 4oz cream cheese to the batter. YUM. They were a little bit denser but my were they delicious. Thank you for offering this recipe to us. It’s a keeper (added cream cheese too)
Heather Truckenmiller says
This is one of my favorite recipes this year, thank you so much for posting it!