Cranberry Bliss Bars

NcMysteryShopper's Note:

I LOVE these and I was so excited when Todd Wilbur posted his version of the recipe on Top Secret Recipies! A very sweet, soft triangle of white chocolate and cranberry cake, covered with delicious creamy lemon or orange frosting and dried cranberries that is wonderful with coffee (the acid of the coffee tons down the sweetness of the bars). You can make these lemon or orange flavor. Yum! These are great for Christmas! Awesome for Valentine's Day - just cut into heart shapes. Sugar buzz awaits! VERY very Sweet.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 16

Cake

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla or 1 1/2 teaspoons orange extract
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup diced dried cranberries
• 6 ounces white chocolate, cut into chunks

Frosting

• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 4 teaspoons lemon juice or 2 teaspoons orange extract
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup diced dried cranberries

Drizzled Icing

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 2 teaspoons vegetable shortening
• orange zest, garnish (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Beat butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs, vanilla, ginger, and salt; beat well.
3. Gradually mix in flour until smooth.
4. Mix 3/4 cup diced dried cranberries and white chocolate into the batter by hand.
5. Pour batter into a well-greased 9x13-inch baking pan and spread evenly.
6. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until cake is light brown on the edges.
7. Let cool.
8. Frosting: combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon juice and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth.
9. When the cake has cooled, spread frosting over the top of cake.
10. Sprinkle top with diced cranberries.
11. Icing: Whisk powdered sugar, milk, and shortening.
12. Drizzle icing over cranberries in a sweeping motion or use a pastry bag with a fine tip.
13. Allow cake to sit for several hours, then slice the cake lengthwise (the long way) through the middle.
14. Slice the cake across the width three times making a total of eight rectangular slices.
15. Slice each of those rectangles diagonally creating 16 triangular slices.

Reviews

[lisalouk01]

Very good- with a couple tweeks. I first made them for my boyfriend after the holiday season ended and Starbucks stopped carrying them. I have been making them for him ever since, he doesnt even want the ones from Starbucks anymore. I made some tweeks to the frosting, I used 8oz of cream cheese and 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, everything else I kept the same.

[Just Call Me Martha]

I started making this same recipe a couple of years ago and have made it about 6 or 7 times now. I now make a few adjustments after having compared it to the actual Starbuck's version several times. This recipe is great exactly the way it is posted as well! I will just mention the changes in case it can benefit someone else: I cut down the cranberries in the cake to 1/2 a cup and I add about 1/3 cup of finely chopped candied ginger. It punches up the ginger flavour a bit. I use a small cookie sheet (10 X 15) so they come out not quite as high - more like a bar. Someone had mentioned the frosting being sweet. You can cut the icing sugar by about half a cup and added some grated lemon rind - works great. The only other thing I changed was to drizzle melted white chocolate (Lindt) on top instead of icing, which is what you'll find on a Starbuck's bar. This is a delicious and visually appealing recipe and is a hit every time!

[Lucky Clover]

I really, really wanted to like these because I LOVE the cranberry bliss bars at Starbucks. Unfortunately, they were so sweet I couldn't even finish one. The frosting is definitely off. I think the original tastes like it has a lot more cream cheese or something. I would definitely use less powdered sugar next time. But, for now, I think I'll stick with Starbucks. Oh well, it was worth a try!