You’ll love these copycat Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars! Soft blondies, white chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and cream cheese frosting.
Get ready to make friends – these Cranberry Bliss Bars are a huge crowd favorite. If you’ve had a Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bar, then you know how great this flavor combo is – white chocolate and dried cranberries are a match made in heaven! These are a replica of the Starbucks bars, but I actually like them better! Plus, it’s way more affordable to whip these up at home.
Recipe overview
- Blondies: Soft and chewy brown sugar blondies filled with white chocolate chips and dried cranberries. This blondie batter comes together in minutes, no mixer needed.
- Cream cheese frosting: This sweet and tangy frosting gets spread over the top of the brownies, with an option to add orange zest to bump up the flavor.
- Topping: A sprinkle of tart and chewy dried cranberries and a drizzle of melted white chocolate are the perfect finishing touch for this recipe.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Ease: The blondie batter and frosting come together in about 5 minutes (plus 20 minutes hands off bake time). Easy peasy!
- Flavor: Brown sugar blondies, tangy cream cheese frosting, tart dried cranberries, and sweet white chocolate. This flavor combo is incredible!
- Festive: The red and white colors makes these bars perfect for the holiday season; they look fantastic on a holiday cookie plate!
Recipe tips
- My number one tip is NOT to over-bake the blondies. The top of the bars should be dry with the center just slightly underdone when you pull them from the oven. They will continue to cook a bit as they cool. We’re going for soft and tender bars – not dry and hard.
- Allow enough time for the blondies to cool completely before topping with frosting.
- When melting white chocolate for the topping make sure that you melt the white chocolate very slowly. It can go from melted to lumpy in a matter of seconds.
- Feel free to swap the dried cranberries for dried cherries.
Serving and storage
- Serving: Serve slightly chilled or at room temperature. The colder the bars are the firmer they will be. I like to keep them at room temp for an hour or two before serving.
- Storage: Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. I would assume that you could freeze these, but I haven’t tried it.
More holiday desserts
White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
M&M Christmas Cookies
Ginger Molasses Cookies
Toffee Bars
Cranberry Cake
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Cranberry Bliss Bars
You'll love these copycat Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars! Soft blondies, white chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and cream cheese frosting.
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Servings: 12
Calories: 380kcal
Ingredients
Bars:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- ¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ⅓ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup white chocolate chips
Frosting:
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ⅓ cups powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- milk, to thin
- ⅛ teaspoon finely grated orange zest, optional
Topping:
- ¼ cup white chocolate chips, melted (see note)
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
Instructions
Bars:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8x11 pan with foil and grease the foil.
- In a large bowl, whisk melted butter and brown sugar until well combined, at least one full minute. Add egg and vanilla extract, whisk until combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until the ingredients are combined. Stir in ½ cup of dried cranberries and ½ cup of white chocolate chips.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared pan and spread into an even layer (I moisten the palm of my hand with water and gently press it in).
- Bake for 18-22 minutes. The bars are done when they have puffed slightly, are very light brown, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. They will appear a little underdone but they will continue to cook as they cool. Be careful not to over bake them. Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
Frosting:
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and orange zest (if using) and beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Add a splash of milk, if necessary, to thin the frosting. You can also thicken the frosting by adding a bit more powdered sugar, if necessary.
- Spread the bars with the frosting . Scatter the dried cranberries on top. Drizzle melted white chocolate over the cranberries.
Video
Notes
MELTING WHITE CHOCOLATE: You can melt the white chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler. If you use the microwave you have to melt it very slowly. I put it in for 10-15 seconds at a time and stir well between each interval. I have the best luck with good quality white chocolate. I typically use Guittard or Ghirardelli. You can also use white chocolate melting wafers for the topping.
PAN SIZE: Do not try to squeeze this batter into an 8x8 pan. The edges of the bars will dry out before the center cooks through.
STORAGE: Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
SERVING: Serve slightly chilled or at room temperature. The colder the bars are the firmer they will be. I like to keep them at room temp for an hour or two before serving.
Recipe adapted from Taste of Home
Nutrition
Calories: 380kcal | Carbohydrates: 55g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 54mg | Sodium: 102mg | Potassium: 124mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 43g | Vitamin A: 444IU | Calcium: 68mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!*Recipe updated December 2020*
Mary in Milwaukee
Hello & Merry Christmas!
I had one of these bars 3 wks ago at Starbucks for the very first time & OMG. . . D-Lish! Thus, why I sought out this recipe.
I’ve made them today (dry run for xmas w/fam). They turned out great tasting but not practical to serve! Problem #1 is that my 9×9″ is actually metric & therefore smaller (more like 8.3×8.3″). Turned out very thick but puffed up evenly. Problem #2 is once cooled, it colapsed in center leaving about 1″ of tall overdone outside edges.
Problem #3 is once I took out of pan (by buttered tinfoil) it broke very easily in multiple areas.
My take, they must be under cooked & I must need a better sized pan (gonna try 9×13″). Also, I replaced the white flour w/ half of finely ground almond flour & the other half was whole grain whole wheat flour. Sad. Quite sad. Good thing it was a dry run.
Celebrating Sweets
Hi, Mary. I’m sorry to hear that these didn’t work out for you. You definitely need a bigger pan. In the recipe I recommend an 8×11 (my preference) or a 9×9, but I mention that the 9×9 will make thicker bars. If you used an 8×8, that was definitely too much batter for that size pan.
Also, I can almost guarantee you that almond flour is what caused these to collapse and break. Almond flour is very delicate and absolutely not going to be strong enough to hold up in these bars. Almond flour cannot be used in place of all purpose flour in this recipe. Also, if you choose to replace the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour these bars will be drier and more dense than they are intended to be (they will not be similar to the Starbucks version).
Regardless, I know it’s frustrating to waste ingredients, so I’m sorry about that. If you have any other questions about making adaptations to this recipe please let me know. I’ve made these nearly a dozen times.
Thanks! Happy holidays!
Karen
I would like to know if these can be made ahead of time and freeze for later
Celebrating Sweets
Yes. But I would recommend freezing the bars UNfrosted, then frosting them after they have thawed.
Sarah
Made the frosting from this recipe for an orange cranberry white chocolate chip cookie. I changed it a bit but it turned out fantastic!!! Thank you for the recipe!
I sourced you as the inspiration and base recipe. Thanks again!
Judy
Do you think that this recipe will be okay to double and put bake in a jelly roll pan? I would like to bake these for a group!♥️ Thank you.
Judy
Celebrating Sweets
That should work, as long as your pan is about double the size of an 8×11. Enjoy!
Jen
Thank you for sharing! Will be trying this holiday season.
Nellie Tracy
These are absolutely delicious! Love them as a holiday treat!
Renee Goerger
This tastes just like the Starbucks cranberry bars. Thank you so much for the recipe. I love them!!
Allison
You’re welcome. Enjoy!
Skippy Sumner
I love Cranberry Bliss Bars for holiday season in years. I made it and my friends and co workers love it so much. Will do once a year during holiday.
Allison
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
BJ
I just made these and they are outstanding. They look beautiful and taste delicious. The tart cranberries are perfectly balanced with the white chocolate. I followed the recipe exactly and I’m very pleased with the results.
Allison
Thanks for the kind review! I’m glad you enjoyed them! 🙂