Cranberry Bliss Bars are a must-make recipe. These are white- chocolate cranberry blondies that are very good copycat Starbuck’s Cranberry Bliss Bars. My recipe has been slightly adapted from Taste of Home. Watch the video showing you how to make Cranberry Bliss Bars, then scroll to the end of this post and print out the recipe so you can bake them at home.
They’re really and truly just “White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies,” but if you’re a Starbucks fan… they’re clearly Cranberry Bliss Bars. Oh, and if you’re really a Starbucks fan, you’ll like my post that shows you How to Make a Pumpkin Spice Latte.
I love to bake. And if I’ve been baking, then you should know that it’s because of one of these 5 reasons:
1. I’ve developed or discovered a recipe that I have to try ASAP.
2. It’s raining.
3. I’m falling off the diet wagon
4. I’m baking for something or someone
5. Depression has set in, and baking cheers me up!
Lucky for me, 98.9% of the time it’s #1.
The past week has been a roller coaster of emotions. I attended to my Mother in the hospital post-surgery each day. My 10 year old got an opportunity to play quarterback and throw an exciting touchdown pass, and that was fun to watch.
I lost a parking structure voucher and had to pay the maximum fine. I received emails with great opportunities attached.
Flat tire! I managed to create a handful of really yummy recipes for my cookbook.
I gained a pound. And I got in some good snuggle time with my 10-year-old boy, who made me pancakes on Sunday morning.
I hate being emotional. I guess it makes me human. It makes owning DiorShow Waterproof Mascara absolutely essential.
For some reason, feeling all weepy and weird usually makes me feel like baking (which is probably why I gained a pound).
These Copycat Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars are the sort of bar that is the ultimate in comfort. I kind of wanted to just pick up the whole SLAB and just take one big, fat, messy bite.
These bars are topped with a white-chocolate-cream cheese frosting. They’re sprinkled with dried cranberries and drizzled with white chocolate squiggles.
Starbuck’s version of Cranberry Bliss Bars adds an orange zest element to it. I’m not into that, so I left it out. But you can certainly add it back in!!
The first layer is blondie-like- so sweet, soft-ish, but firm- and a great base for this bar. There’s white chocolate and dried cranberries mixed into the base too.
Triangles seem like the obvious shape to cut these into. They’re much prettier than “squares,” I think.
I must say that these Cranberry Bliss Bars might cheer up even the gloomiest of people. I’m not even a huge fan of white chocolate, and I could have eaten a whole bunch of this stuff.
So yeah, they’re really, really good. Starbucks Good. Maybe better than SBux.
I forgot to mention a few more bright sides of my week- that the barking dog neighbors are moving out and our good friends are moving in, that I got 8 beautiful new cookbooks in the mail, and that I brainstormed some delightful new ideas for recipes coming up soon on the blog.
Life is good, it’s just sometimes full of roller-coaster moments. I just need to remind myself of that when life gets weird- make a cup of hot chocolate overflowing with marshmallows (spike it, if need be), relax, and accept the oodles of hugs and love that my husband showers me with daily.
I’m one lucky girl. And I love to bake! If you lived near me, you’d get stuff.
Good stuff. Yummy stuff. Stuff I don’t want to eat but I do, and then I’m desperately looking for someone to give it to (like these bars).
Here are a few more holiday bar recipes you might enjoy:
- Gingerbread Bars
- Eggnog Sugar Cookie Bars
- Maple Pecan Bars
- Cranberry Walnut Bars
- No Bake Chocolate Mint Bars
Cranberry Bliss Bars
Recipe Details
Ingredients
BLONDIE LAYER:
- ¾ cup (1½ sticks) salted butter, cubed
- 1½ cups packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- 6 ounces white baking chocolate, coarsely chopped
FROSTING:
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 6 ounces white baking chocolate, melted
- ½ cup dried cranberries, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13x9-inch baking dish with nonstick spray.
PREPARE THE BLONDIE LAYER:
- In a medium bowl, melt the butter for one minute in the microwave; stir in the brown sugar. Scrape the butter and sugar into a large bowl and let cool to room temperature. Use an electric mixer to beat in the eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; gradually add the dry mixture to the butter mixture. Stir in the cranberries and chopped chocolate (the batter will be thick).
- Spread the blondie batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 18 to 21 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean (do not over bake). Cool completely on a wire rack.
PREPARE THE FROSTING:
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until well-blended. Gradually add half of the melted white chocolate; beat until blended. Frost the blondies. Sprinkle with cranberries. Drizzle with remaining melted white chocolate. Cut into 30 bars- square or triangle-shaped. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Video
Notes
- If you'd like to add an orange flavor to these bars, add 1 tablespoon grated orange zest to the frosting.
And yes, I agree, 18-21 minutes wasn’t enough I think I cooked mine at least 30.
Took these for dessert to a dinner last night. Everyone just raved over them. They are delicious!!! I didn’t bring any home!
Thank you for the lovely recipe. I am adding orange zest to mine as Starbucks has an orange flavor. But I bet the ingredients are better quality at home! I also periodically check my oven temp with a thermometer. Until my last repair, my temperature ran 25 degrees lower than it should have, so I would add 25 degrees to my oven setting.
Just a word of warning…18-21 minutes is not NEARLY enough time to make sure these are done ( even though a toothpick came out clean ). I baked mine for 31 minutes and now they seem firmed up. Did anyone else have this issue? My oven works perfectly fine! These are delicious though. 🙂
These are amazing! Thank you and Happy Holidays!!
These are great! I split the recipe, and made half as the recipe described and used huckleberries for the other half. The huckleberries were amazing in this recipe!
One question – how did you get them out of the baking pan to cool without them breaking? I’m having issues…
I lined my pan with parchment so I could lift out the whole thing, but without you’ll likely have to let them cool in the pan, then remove.
SO excited to have found this recipe! I just had my first one of the season at Starbucks, and it’s like some kind of addictive drug: I NEED MORE!!!
I can’t wait to make these this weekend!
Tried the Cranberry Bliss for a potluck dinner last night & they were a hit!
I added 2 T of minced crystallized ginger to the base & used white chocolate chips (cause I couldn’t find bars) Will definitely make them again. Saw a hint to use chopped pistachios & cranberries as top sprinkles for a nice red & green Christmas effect. Found them easy to make except I had problems melting the chocolate for the top drizzle – the chocolate seized and now looks like feta cheese LOL
These turned out so well!! My moms weakness/fav treat is starbucks cranberry bliss bars. First thing she said when she bit into one was “how could u do this to me” LOL. They’re fanstic and I will be making lots of them over the christmas season that’s for sure . Did only get 32 small bars, but they were nice and dense. 🙂
Making these bars right now! The batter is amazing, the smell is amazing, can’t wait for the finished product 😀
Your bliss bars or cranberry blondies are far superior to Starbucks. I just made a batch and they look and taste amazing. Thanks!
Wow! Thank you so much for the recipe! I made these for Valentine’s Day and they turned out great!
The recipe is awesome. I have made two batches in the last day. The first I baked at the recommended 18 minutes but it was a little hard for my preference. The second batch I baked for 15 minutes and I liked it much better. Either way they taste great and was a huge hit in my basket of goodies that I give away each year. Thanks!
Thanks so much for this recipe!! They are amazing. Thank you SO much!
Cranberry Bliss is my all time favorite at Starbucks. I made these to give as Christmas gifts tonight and I’m not sure if they’ll last that long. So hard not to eat them all. I accidentally burned the chocolate I was going to drizzle at the end but they are still awesome.
Glad to hear! Not the burned chocolate part- but otherwise 🙂 Happy holidays!
I used to work at a Starbucks and I’ve eaten too many of these bars to count. Just made a batch of these and I can barely believe how easy and great they are. I left out the orange zest and they’re still fantastic, but I think next time I’ll add it in because I can’t resist using my zester. Thanks for sharing!
Made these to give out as christmas treats. Most excellent. The only thing I did change is less cream cheese in the icing so that the consistency was less creamy and 18-21 minutes was not enough to cook mine thoroughly. Those things have some much sugar and butter that I am sure they can keep a very long time in the fridge!! So delicious and so bad for my waist 🙂
Hi There!
I just made these and they were delicious – thanks so much for posting! A couple of quick questions, if I may. (1) Do you think, if in a pinch, it would be possible to skip the frosting from scratch and use a store-bought cream cheese frosting? (2) Once made, how long do you think these bars will keep? I ask because I’d like to bring them to a Christmas occasion this coming weekend, but I’m traveling there on Friday so I was thinking of making them on Thursday (2 days prior). I’m just wondering if that’s too far in advance.
Thanks!
-Dawn 🙂
Hi Dawn, I think if you have them stored in a covered container in the refrigerator that they will keep fine for a couple of days. Yes, I’m sure you could sub store-bought frosting.
Yep I did use 8 oz of cream. These are delicious and I used maraschino cherries instead of dried cranberries. Now that I tried one it’s just the right amount of frosting. Thanks for the recipe.
I just made these and there was hardly enough frosting to fill the whole pan. Are the measurements right on these because 1 cup of powdered sugar doesn’t seem like it would make a lot of frosting.
Yes! The measurements are correct. Did you use an 8-ounce package of cream cheese? You should be able to get a thin layer of frosting all across the top (just like the photos). I didn’t do anything differently for the photo.
These are delightful Lori. Cream cheese and cranberries .. oh my! Happy holidays Lori and wish you and yours a very merry Christmas!
Made these last night to take to the holiday party at work today. Wow! They are very, very good!
Yum! I overbaked the cookie layer and everyone still thought they were delicious. I bought more white (Lindt) chocolate today and plan to make this recipe again and make sure I don’t overbake them this time! I put chopped crystalized ginger in the blondie layer and I love them that way…Starbux has ginger in their Bliss Bars.
Great recipe! My husband always wanted these at home. I just made them today. Excellent and easy to prep!