Vanilla Chip Cranberry Blondies

Submitted by FloridaGrl

"These are fantastic!!"

 

• Ready In: 15mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Serves: 20

ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1⁄4 cup canola oil
• 1⁄4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1⁄3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2⁄3 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup dried cranberries, divided
• 1⁄2 cup vanilla chocolate chips or 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1⁄2 cup chopped pecans
• nonstick cooking spray

directions

1. In a large mixing bowl,beat the eggs, oil,applesauce and vanilla. Combine the flour, brown sugar,baking powder,and salt;stir into egg mixture until blended. Stir in 1/2 cup cranberries(batter will be thick).
2. Spread into a 13x9 baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Top with chips,pecans and remaining cranberries;gently press topping down.
3. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

Reviews

[So Cal Gal]

These really are fantastic--they're as tasty as they are pretty, they're very easy to make, and they're better for you than the average blondies (I love the oil and applesauce instead of a stick of butter!)! I made a few changes, based on what we had: I used light olive oil, whole wheat pastry flour, sodium-free baking powder, and dried tart cherries (next time I'll try to get some dried cranberries). With the red berries and white chocolate chips, these would be perfect on a Christmas cookie tray (just thinking ahead--lol!). I look forward to making these again! Thanks so much for a great recipe, FloridaGrl!!