Cranberry Bliss Bars inspired by the ones you love from Starbucks! This homemade version is filled with white chocolate, a hint of orange flavor and plenty of dried cranberries. Festive for the holidays, these bars are so beautiful and delicious, you won’t be able to resist making them all year long.
Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe
Starbucks Copycat Recipe – Homemade cranberry bliss bars taste even better than the Starbucks version because they haven’t been sitting around in a pastry case all day!
Sweet and Tart – The tart cranberries taste amazing paired with sweet white chocolate, tangy cream cheese and the buttery cookie layer.
Orange extract – A twist of citrusy flavor enhances the taste of the cranberries perfectly. It’s essential for making these taste like an authentic Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bar.
Easy to make and serve – Dessert bars like this one make a great choice for holiday parties or gift giving.
Gorgeous dessert! These bars look absolutely beautiful on a cookie tray or dessert table, with hardly any effort at all. If you’re not an expert cookie or cake decorator, cranberry bliss bars are the perfect choice for a holiday dessert that looks as festive as it tastes.
With a buttery cookie base, decadent cream cheese and white chocolate topping, and that perfect sweet and tart burst of flavor from the cranberries, nobody can resist this Cranberry Bliss Bar Recipe. Skip the Starbucks line and make this seasonal favorite at home, for less!
While this recipe does have a number of steps, I promise you they are all incredibly easy and straightforward. This recipe is simple enough that the kids can even get in the kitchen and help!
Ingredients and Substitutions
Butter – While this recipe calls for salted butter, using unsalted is also fine. I would add an additional 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the dough recipe in this case.
Cream Cheese – Make sure to use the cream cheese that comes in a brick, not the kind that comes in a tub.
Dried Cranberries – While this recipe is made with dried cranberries, you could use dried cherries or dried blueberries, whatever dried fruit you like! A popular brand of dried cranberries is Ocean Spray Craisins, and I also find dried fruits at Trader Joes.
White Chocolate Chips – You could also use white baking chocolate, in place of the chips.
Extracts – While this recipe calls for vanilla and orange extracts, you can swap them as you see fit. This would also be delicious with almond extract, lemon extract, ect.
How To Make Cranberry Bliss Bars
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” by 13” baking pan with parchment paper. Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, vanilla extract, and orange extract. Mix until combined and set this aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring only as much as necessary to blend.
- Then gently fold in the dried cranberries and white chocolate chips.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Check with a toothpick. You want there to be just a few crumbs stuck on the toothpick which means it is ready to come out. If it is still quite wet, give it another 5 minutes. Place the pan on a wire rack and allow the bars to cool completely.
- While the bars are cooling, prepare the frosting.Beat the cream cheese until creamy. Beat in the icing sugar and cornstarch. Add in the vanilla extract, orange zest, and salt. Beat this until well blended.
- When the bars are cooled, spread the icing all over the top. Then sprinkle evenly with the dried cranberries and white chocolate chips.
- In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips with the vegetable oil. (Melt and stir in 15 second intervals – chocolate can burn very quickly.)
- When this is fully melted, use a fork to beat it smooth, then use the fork to drizzle the melted chocolate over the frosted bars. For best results, place the pan in the fridge and allow the finished bars to cool for an hour before cutting and removing from the pan.
Recipe Tips and Advice
- Storage – These bars should be kept refrigerated. Place them in an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Freezing – These Cranberry Bliss Bars freeze well! Allow them to cool completely (give them a few hours in the fridge) before cutting them, (it is much easier to cut them before freezing). Then wrap them in both plastic wrap and aluminum foil or place them in an airtight container. These bars may be frozen for up to 3 months. Allow them to thaw overnight in the fridge before serving.
The Perfect Cut
To cut the triangle shaped bars, cut the pan into 3 rows of 4. This will give you 12 large squares. Then cut each square diagonally and you will have 24 triangle shaped bars.
More Recipes To Try
If you like this fruit filled recipes, here are some other recipes I think you’ll enjoy.
- Raspberry Crumble Cookies
- Linzer Cookies
- Chantilly Cake
- Pineapple Cranberry Cooler
- Sugar Cookie Fruit Pizza
- Lemon Blueberry Scones
- Orange Cranberry Cookies
- Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
More Delicious Bars To Try
Cranberry Bliss Bars
Ingredients
Cookie Base
- 1 cup salted butter
- 1 3/4 cups brown sugar (tightly packed)
- 2 large eggs (at room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon orange extract
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries
- 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese (softened)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Topping
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup white chocolate chips (left whole)
- 1/3 cup white chocolate chips (melted)
- 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
Instructions
Cookie Base
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” by 13” baking pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, vanilla extract, and orange extract. Mix until combined and set this aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring only as much as necessary to blend.
- Gently fold in the dried cranberries and white chocolate chips. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Check with a toothpick. You want there to be just a few crumbs stuck on the toothpick which means it is ready to come out. If it is still quite wet, give it another 5 minutes. Place the pan on a wire rack and allow the bars to cool completely.
Frosting
- While the bars are cooling, prepare the frosting.Beat the cream cheese until creamy. Beat in the icing sugar and cornstarch. Add in the vanilla extract, orange zest, and salt. Beat this until well blended.
- When the bars are cooled, spread the icing all over the top. Then sprinkle evenly with the dried cranberries and white chocolate chips.
Topping
- In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips with the vegetable oil. Melt and stir in 15 second intervals – chocolate can burn very quickly.
- When this is fully melted, use a fork to beat it smooth, then use the fork to drizzle the melted chocolate over the frosted bars. For best results, place the pan in the fridge and allow the finished bars to cool for an hour before cutting and removing from the pan.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
Meet Christi, Love From The Oven
I’m Christi I love sharing easy & delicious recipes that your family & friends will love. I’m a mom, baker, cookbook author and lover of sprinkles.
These look delicious! Can almond flour be substituted to make them gluten-free?
Can you do this recipe with fresh cranberries?
I haven’t tried, let us know if you do!
I absolutely love these berry cakes and cookies. Please tell me why this page is so very diffucult to
scroll, though. I get extremely frustrated and close the link before finding what I’m hoping to see!
I would be happy to help troubleshoot any problems. If you can clarify what you are finding difficult (and what you are using – phone, tablet, computer – what broswer), that will assist me in helping you. I just checked the site on both desktop and phone, and don’t see any problems, but it’s hard if I don’t know what you are seeing.