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Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars are a tasty treat on the restaurant’s seasonal menu. These delicious brown sugar cookie bars with dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, and crystalized ginger are covered with cream cheese frosting, cranberries, and white chocolate drizzle.
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Cranberry Bliss Bars
The Cranberry Bliss Bar is a fall favorite from Starbucks that everyone loves. Now you can recreate this tasty bar from scratch with this copycat Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bar recipe.
Maybe you enjoy a coffee-house treat every now and then. While you may not always be able to afford to go out for dinner, it may be within your budget to enjoy an occasional trip to a fancy coffee house such as Starbucks. Now you can choose to skip Starbucks and save money by turning your kitchen into a Starbucks.
Once the holidays are near, Starbucks rolls out its festive menu items, including its go-to classics like the peppermint mocha and other holiday drinks. Every year Starbucks brings back its delicious Cranberry Bliss Bar. The only problem? The window to enjoy this tasty treat is fleeting!
What Is a Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bar?
The Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bar is a seasonal menu item. Here is Starbucks’ own description of its fall treat:
A blondie cake with dried cranberries, finished with a layer of cream-cheese icing flecked with orange zest and a sprinkle of dried cranberries – a holiday extravaganza of undeniable yum!
However, Starbucks’ description falls a bit short because it leaves out the crystalized ginger and the combination of tart cranberries and white chocolate – undeniably more yum!!
Cranberry bars are regarded as seasonal because cranberries are colder weather fruit. The good news is you can enjoy a cranberry treat year-round because this Cranberry Bliss Bars recipe calls for dried, not fresh, cranberries.
What Makes Cranberry Bliss Bars So Craveable?
Three words: the irresistible taste!!! This Cranberry Bliss Bar recipe will become your absolute favorite dessert to make for the holidays. In fact, these bars are so craveable that your family will run the risk of getting pretty cranberry-bliss-bar-d out! This is one copycat Starbucks recipe your family will be asking for again and again.
What Makes This Cranberry Bliss Bar Recipe One You Should Try
If you love Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars, you don’t have to wait for the fall to enjoy them because now you can make them anytime.
This copycat Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bar recipe perfectly captures the blondie cake base of the Starbucks version. Then the base is deliciously frosted and dotted with cranberries and white chocolate – just right and not enough to be overwhelming.
Each bar is wonderfully soft and chewy with a subtle hint of toffee flavor from the brown sugar.
Then, the frosting is so good that you will be tempted to eat it by the spoonful right out of the mixing bowl!
Cranberry Bliss Bars Ingredients
Please don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients – these cranberry bars are really easy to make.
For the Cookie Bar Base:
- Self-rising flour
- Unsalted butter
- Whole eggs
- Egg yolk
- Brown sugar
- Kosher salt
- Orange zest
- Vanilla extract
- Dried cranberries
- White chocolate chips
- Crystallized ginger
For the Frosting:
- Cream cheese
- Powdered sugar
- Orange zest
- Lemon juice
- Salt
For the Topping
- Dried cranberries
- White chocolate chips
- Vegetable oil
How to Make Cranberry Bliss Bars
Even though the recipe involves several steps, they are all pretty basic and simple to execute.
Cookie Bar Base
- Use a mixer to cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl.
- Mix in the salt, zest, and vanilla.
- Add the eggs and yolk.
- Add the self-rising flour.
- Fold in the cranberries, chocolate chips, and crystallized ginger.
- Spread out the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake at 325°F until golden brown.
- Cool the crust completely in the baking pan on a wire rack.
Frosting
- Whip the cream cheese.
- Add the sugar, salt, and zest and whip until light.
- Add the lemon juice and stir to combine.
- Spread in a thin layer on the base.
Topping
- Sprinkle on the cranberries.
- Melt the white chocolate chips and oil together in a pan over medium heat.
- Drizzle the melted white chocolate sauce over the cranberries.
- Refrigerate for an hour.
- Trim the base edges and cut it into cookie-sized triangles.
Recipe Variations
These bars are so tasty that it would be hard to improve on them. However, here are a few variations:
- Gluten-free: Use gluten-free flour.
- Holiday spirit: Use food coloring to make the white chocolate red and green for the holidays or totally green for St. Patrick’s Day.
- Holiday cake: Make this a blondie cake by not cutting it up.
- Cherry bars: Swap the dried cranberries for dried cherries.
How to Serve Cranberry Bliss Bars
These Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars are best served chilled, so the frosting and topping are set.
These cranberry bars are fabulous for lunchbox treats, fall bake sales, parties, and gift-giving. You can also cut them into smaller pieces and add them to holiday cookie trays.
Starbucks menu items are easy to prepare at home. You can make a whole batch of Cranberry Bliss Bars and have plenty to share with others. Your office co-workers will love you!
What to Serve With Cranberry Bliss Bars
These copycat Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars are the ultimate in snacking comfort and are guaranteed to cheer up even a gloomy person! You might be tempted to just pick up the whole slab and take one big, deliciously messy bite. Instead, enjoy this holiday treat with a cup of hot coffee, cocoa, or tea.
Your family will enjoy these bars as dessert after a variety of main dishes, such as:
- Instant Pot Pork Loin
- Oven Roasted Turkey Legs
- Ribeye Roast
- Yankee Pot Roast
How to Store Cranberry Bars
- Refrigerating: Place the bars in an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Freezing: Place the bars in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, then cover tightly in a container with both plastic wrap and aluminum foil. They will be good in the freezer for up to 3 months. Place in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
Love Starbucks Food? Try These Copycat Recipes!
- Bacon Gouda Sandwich
- Banana Nut Bread
- Blueberry Muffin
- Blueberry Scone
- Egg White Bites
- Sous Vide Egg Bites
- Spinach Feta Wrap
Favorite Cookies Bars and Brownies
- Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
- Easy Lemon Bars
- Hello Dolly Bars
- Homemade Fudge Brownies
- Red Velvet Brownies
- Turtle Brownies
Check out more of my easy cookie recipes and the best copycat Starbucks recipes on CopyKat!
Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars
The Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars are a seasonal menu item. Now you can make them anytime with this copycat recipe.
5 from 11 votes
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Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Cranberry Bliss Bar, Starbucks Recipes
Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes minutes
Servings: 48
Calories: 145kcal
Author: Stephanie Manley
Ingredients
Cookie Bar Base
- 6 ounces unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 cups self-rising flour
- 1 cup dried cranberries chopped
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 3 tablespoons finely minced crystallized ginger
Frosting
- 3 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar sifted
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Topping
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 4 ounces white chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
Instructions
Cookie Bar Base
Line a half sheet pan with parchment or Silpat. Set a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat to 325°F.
Cream the butter and brown sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer until smooth and creamy.
Add the salt, orange zest, and vanilla and mix until well-combined.
Add the eggs and yolk, one at a time, mixing until combined and scraping the bowl as necessary.
Add the self-rising flour and mix until just combined.
Fold in the dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, and crystallized ginger until evenly distributed.
Using an offset spatula, spread the dough evenly in the prepared pan.
Bake for 10 minutes. Then rotate the pan and continue to bake until the base is golden brown and fairly firm, an additional 10 to 12 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool on a rack.
Frosting
Whip the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until light.
Add the sugar, salt, and orange zest.
Mix on low speed until the sugar is incorporated.
Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and whip until light.
Add the lemon juice and mix to combine.
Once the bars have cooled, spread the frosting in a thin layer with an offset spatula. Don’t be too concerned with being neat at the very edges since you will be trimming them.
Topping
Sprinkle the cranberries evenly over the bars.
In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the white chocolate chips and oil together in 20-second bursts at 50% power, stirring in between, until melted.
Scrape the melted chocolate into a zip-top bag. Snip off a tiny corner and drizzle the white chocolate in a cross-hatch pattern over the berries.
Refrigerate for an hour.
Using a pizza wheel, trim the edges of the bars to make an even rectangle. Cut vertically into thirds and horizontally into fourths. You will end up with 12 squares. If you would like dessert-size bars, cut each square diagonally in half to make 24 triangles. If you would like cookie-size bars, cut each triangle diagonally in half again for a total of 48 triangles.
Nutrition
Calories: 145kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 21mg | Sodium: 41mg | Potassium: 38mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 130IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 22mg | Iron: 0.2mg
