Cranberry Bliss Bars

These homemade Cranberry Bliss Bars are even more delicious than the Starbucks version! They have a chewy, thick blondie base studded with white chocolate chips and cranberries, and a tangy cream cheese frosting. The perfect holiday treat – and they're pretty easy to make!

This post is sponsored by Bob's Red Mill. All opinions are our own.

There’s a *popular* 😉 coffee chain that sells these every December but they’re WAY better homemade! 

Every time December comes around, I majorly crave one of these cranberry bliss bars. They're SO delicious! The white chocolate cranberry blondie is fantastic on its own, but the cream cheese frosting makes it absolutely decadent.

This recipe is a part of our Instagram series 'Better Than Store-Bought', a series where we make copycat recipes of your favorite store-bought foods and snacks! Try our homemade Cheez-It's, Goldfish, or Fig Newtons next.

Jump to:

• Cranberry Bliss Bars Ingredients
• How to Make this Cranberry Bliss Bars Recipe
• Storage
• Tips and FAQ
• Top tip
• More holiday dessert recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Reviews

Cranberry Bliss Bars Ingredients

For the bars

• Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Flour: This is the flour we use for all of our baking recipes! We absolutely love Bob's Red Mill baking products and have been using them for years. We haven't tried this specific recipe with their gluten free 1:1 flour, but it's always our favorite GF flour to use!
• Butter: Unsalted is best here. No need to leave it out to soften – you'll be melting it for this recipe.
• Brown sugar: We use light brown sugar.
• Eggs
• Orange zest: Optional, but adds a lot of flavor! You can also add in a dash of orange extract if you have any.
• Vanilla extract
• Ground ginger: If you don't have any, it's totally fine to leave it out.
• Baking powder and salt: We always use kosher salt.
• White chocolate chips: You can also use a bar of white chocolate chopped into chunks.
• Dried cranberries: No sugar added dried cranberries or regular dried cranberries work fine here.

For the frosting

• Cream Cheese: Make sure to let it soften at room temperature for about an hour before making the frosting.
• Powdered sugar: I personally prefer the frosting with just 1 ½ cups powdered sugar so it's not too sweet, but it won't be quite as thick as the store-bought version. If you want a thicker frosting, add more powdered sugar as desired.
• Dried cranberries: I chop them up a bit smaller for topping the bars.
• White chocolate for drizzling. Melt in the microwave, then drizzle over the bars before slicing!

How to Make this Cranberry Bliss Bars Recipe

PREP: Preheat oven to 350˚F and line a 9x13” baking dish with parchment paper. 

STEP 1: Add butter to a small pot and melt over low heat. Whisk together brown sugar and melted butter in a large bowl. 

STEP 2: Add in the eggs, orange zest and vanilla and whisk until smooth. 

STEP 3: In a separate bowl, whisk together the ginger, baking powder, salt and flour. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, mixing just until combined, then stir in the white chocolate and cranberries. 

STEP 4: Spread the dough into the prepared pan in an even layer and bake for 22-24 mins, until light golden brown around the edges. (Don’t over-bake! They should still be fairly pale on top.)

STEP 5: Add the cream cheese to a mixing bowl and beat for 1 minute. Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add additional powdered sugar as desired for consistency – I like mine with 1 ½ cups, but it will be a little thinner than the Starbucks version.

STEP 6: Spread the frosting on top of the cooled bars, then top with chopped cranberries and drizzle with white chocolate. Slice into triangles and enjoy! Store in the refrigerator.

Storage

Because of the cream cheese, you'll need to keep these cranberry bliss bars stored in the refrigerator. Store in an airtight container for about 5 days. If they don't have the cream cheese frosting on top, you can keep them stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

Tips and FAQ

More tips

• Want extra thick frosting? Add more powdered sugar! I like to keep the powdered sugar on the lighter side so it's not too sweet, but that does mean that the frosting isn't quite as thick as the store-bought version. Feel free to add extra powdered sugar until it reaches your desired consistency.
• Drizzling the white chocolate: For a super authentic look, transfer the melted white chocolate to a small plastic bag, cut off the tip, then drizzle in a random circular pattern all over the bars. Feel free to use as much or as little white chocolate as you'd like.
• How to slice perfect triangles: Start by slicing the rectangle in half lengthwise. From there, cut each long triangle into 4 evenly sized rectangles. Cut each rectangle in half along the diagonal to form triangles.

More holiday dessert recipes

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

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