Starbuck’s Cranberry Bliss Bars – A copycat recipe for Starbuck’s famed Cranberry Bliss Bars. Notes of undying love are spread all over the Internet for these beloved treats. Even though I never had an original it’s easy to see they are deserving of all the attention they’ve garnered.
Everyone whose lips these passed had a similar reaction! Their eyes grew wide with the first bite and they pulled the cake away from their mouth to have a second look at them as if trying to figure out what was making them so darn delicious! Hands reached for second, third and even fourth pieces! Which only goes to show how very addicting and unassuming they are.
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The cake is incredibly dense, tender and moist speckled with bites of cranberry and white chocolate chips. Although there’s two types of ginger the flavor isn’t pronounced and mellows considerably when baked, the candied ginger itself melts right into the batter making it barely distinguishable in the finished cake. What you’re left with is an intensely flavored cake with a decadent cream cheese frosting that has a big bite of lemon to it.
Truly, nothing I can say belies how amazing these are! You will just have to make them to see for yourself. That’s all there is to it.
Starbuck's Cranberry Bliss Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 + 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries rough chopped
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup candied ginger minced
- Frosting:
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 + 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter softened
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- Drizzle:
- 3 tablespoons dried cranberries rough chopped
- 1/3 cup white chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and grease and line a 9 x 13 inch pan with parchment paper.
- Beat butter and sugar together until fluffy; add vanilla and eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift together flour, ground ginger and salt and beat in until fully incorporated. Batter will be thick.
- Fold in cranberries, chocolate and ginger. Spread the batter in the pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until light golden. Cool cake on wire rack and turn out.
Make frosting:
- Beat butter and cream cheese together until fluffy; beat in lemon zest, vanilla, and salt; add the confectioners’ sugar a little at a time until the frosting reaches a spreadable consistency. Spread evenly over the cake and scatter cranberries over top.
- To make the drizzle melt white chocolate in a double broiler or in the microwave; once it is smooth, use a spoon and drizzle over top of the cake.
- Cake is easier to cut when slightly chilled; cut into squares, then triangles.