Cranberry Bliss Bars (Recipe Review)

Cranberry Bliss Bars (Recipe Review)

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Christmas, Holidays, recipes

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I have been pinning cranberry bliss everything lately and decided to finally put some of the recipes to the test. I made the classic Starbuck's Cranberry Bliss Bar Copycat recipe from Todd Wilbur's Top Secret Recipes. They make a very pretty bar cookie and they would lovely at a cookie exchange or on a dessert table for the holidays!  Plus they have cranberries which make them healthy. HA HA HA HA!!!

Here is the recipe:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
2 Tbsp. minced crystallized ginger
3/4 cup chopped sweetened dried cranberries
4 oz. white chocolate, cut into chunks
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Frosting
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup chopped sweetened dried cranberries
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 tsp. lemon juice

Drizzled Icing
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. milk
2 tsp. vegetable shortening

 Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

 Make cake by beating the butter and brown sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the eggs, ginger, vanilla, and salt and beat well. Gradually mix in the flour and baking powder until smooth. Mix the chopped dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks into the batter by hand. Pour the batter into a buttered 9 x 13-inch baking pan. Use a spatula to spread the batter evenly across the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the cake is lightly browned on top. Allow the cake to cool.

Make the frosting by combining the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. When the cake has cooled, use a spatula to spread the frosting over the top of the cake.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup of chopped dried cranberries over the frosting on the cake.

Make the drizzled icing by whisking together powdered sugar, milk, and shortening. Drizzle this icing over the cranberries in a sweeping motion with a squirt bottle or fill a small plastic storage bag with the icing and cut off the tip of one corner.

Cover the cake and let it chill out in the fridge for a couple hours, then slice the cake lengthwise (the long way) through the middle. Slice the cake across the width three times, making a total of eight rectangular slices. Slice each of those rectangles diagonally creating 16 triangular slices.

What did I think of them?  Well, to be fair I didn't have the ginger and I think that would have made a big flavor difference.  Plus, I was too busy chatting with my neighbor to remember to take them out of the oven and they were dry.  Lastly, I melted white chocolate for the drizzle instead of the icing recipe.  I'm guessing the real recipe would have come out much better had I followed it exactly. Next time!

I want to try these cranberry bliss cookies from Gimme Some Oven.

Photo Source:  Gimme Some Oven

Bye, pumpkin!  See you later. I have to get my cranberry on.

Cheers!
Jenny