White Chocolate Cranberry Orange Bliss Bars
January 4, 2014
4 Comments
When I was in San Francisco I discovered Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars! They are sweet, tangy, and bright…pure bliss 🙂
I love citrus desserts! They can be sweet but also still taste light and refreshing. These bars walk that line perfectly, merging the sweet Christmasy tastes of cranberries and white chocolate with the summery tanginess of oranges and cream cheese.
I baked a slightly lightened version from Mel’s Kitchen Café, where the sugar and butter have been reduced and the full fat cream cheese has been swapped for the reduced fat version. The result is just as rich and fantastic as the one I had at Starbucks!
These bars start with a sweet buttery blondie cookie bar speckled with cranberries, white chocolate, and orange zest. They are covered in white chocolate cream cheese frosting, sprinkled with cranberries and orange zest, and finished off with a generous drizzle of melted white chocolate! Mmmmm…Bliss never tasted so good!
White Chocolate Cranberry Orange Bliss Bars
Ingredients
BARS
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1 stick of butter
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1 1/3 cups packed light brown sugar
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2 large eggs
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½ teaspoon vanilla extract
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1 teaspoon orange zest*
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2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
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1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
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¼ teaspoon salt
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1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
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½ cup dried cranberries coarsely chopped**
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½ cup white chocolate chips or 4 ounces white bakers chocolate coarsely chopped
FROSTING and TOPPINGS
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½ cup white chocolate chips or 4 ounces white bakers chocolate
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8 ounces full fat or reduced fat cream cheese softened
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1 cup powdered sugar
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1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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2 teaspoons orange zest divided*
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½ cup dried cranberries coarsely chopped**
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9”x13” baking pan.
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In a large bowl melt butter in microwave. Stir in brown sugar until fully dissolved. Set aside to slightly cool. Once cooled, whisk in eggs, one at a time. Then whisk in the vanilla and orange zest.
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In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Gradually add flour mixture to butter-sugar-egg mixture until combined. Fold in the cranberries and white chocolate. Spread batter evenly in the prepared baking pan. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let bars cool completely in pan before proceeding.
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Once bars are cooled melt white chocolate in microwave on 50% power stirring every 30 seconds. Using an electric mixer beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Stir in vanilla, 1 teaspoon of orange zest and half of the melted white chocolate. Spread the frosting evenly over the bars.
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Sprinkle bars with cranberries and remaining orange zest. Drizzle with remaining melted white chocolate. Cover and refrigerate until chocolate is set, at least 30 minutes. Cut bars to serve. They are best served cool and should be stored in the refrigerator.
Recipe Notes
*I found that zesting one orange gave me about the 3 teaspoons needed for the total recipe.
**I found that 1 bag of craisins was perfect for the 1 cup of cranberries needed for the total recipe.
Anne@FromMySweetHeart
Wow, Karen…these are gorgeous! Honestly, they look much better than the ones sold at Starbucks (and I love their cranberry bliss bars). These are definitely bumped up on my ‘must make’ list! Beautiful photos, too! : )
Karen
Hi Anne! Thank you so much for your kind words! I definitely recommend making these bars and would love to hear about how they come out when you get the chance 🙂
Dina
these look better than starbucks!
Karen
Thanks Dina! 🙂