Copycat Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bar Recipe

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Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars, which are essentially frosted blondies with cranberries and cream cheese frosting, have been one of the chain's popular seasonal staples for quite some time. They tend to go away around the start of the year, though, as Starbucks shifts away from its November-December holiday menu to its regular winter menu. If you're craving cranberries year-round, though, you can bake up a batch of copycat Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars by developer Patterson Watkins instead.

Watkins assures us that her copycat bars are identical to the Starbucks version in all core components, from the blondie base to the white chocolate to the abundance of cranberries. "I kept the blondie base with the white chocolate and dried cranberries," Watkins says. "I made sure to top the bars with cream cheese frosting and melted white chocolate. I garnished with the chopped dried cranberries." 

She admits, though, that she made a few tweaks that, in her opinion, improve this dessert to a considerable extent. "I find the SB bars to be a bit crumbly — I like my bars to be softer, chewier, sweet treats you can sink your teeth into," she tells us, so these bars are quite a bit thicker. She also finds Starbuck's Cranberry Bliss Bars to be just a tad too sweet. Instead of reducing the sugar, though, she added an extra (and very cranberry-friendly) ingredient, orange zest, which helps balance that sweetness with some citrusy zing. 

The blondie base consists of flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and an egg, while white chocolate chips and dried cranberries are added for flavor. Additional ingredients needed to frost and top the cookies include cream cheese, powdered sugar, and orange zest.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Line a 8x8-inch baking pan with parchment paper and lightly spritz with cooking spray. Set aside.

To begin the blondie batter, place the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.Whisk to combine.

Place the brown sugar and melted butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, stirring to combine.

Add the egg and vanilla extract to the butter/sugar mixture and beat until fluffy.

Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and stir to combine the batter.

Add the white chocolate chips and dried cranberries to the batter and mix on low until combined.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, spreading it out evenly.

Place the blondies in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until cooked through and lightly golden brown.

Remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely on a wire rack.

While the blondies are cooling, make the frosting by placing the softened cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk until fluffy.

Add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract, whisk to combine, and set the frosting aside until ready to use.

Once the blondies have cooled, flip over to expose the underside (this will give us a flat surface to spread out the frosting).

Spread the frosting out evenly over the blondie base.

Sprinkle the frosting with the chopped cranberries and the minced orange peel.

Place the white chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl.

Microwave in 30 second intervals, until melted and smooth.

Drizzle the melted white chocolate over the top of the blondies.

Cut into bars before serving.

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If you'd rather make a thinner, more Starbucks-like version of these Cranberry Bliss Bars, you may certainly do so, but this will require cooking them in a half-sheet pan measuring 13x18 inches or a 13x9-inch baking pan. Thinner bars won't need to bake for a full half hour, so start checking them at the 15-minute mark to see if they're done.

Thinner bars should also be cut while they're still soft and warm. The shapes can be Starbucks-style triangles instead of the rectangles shown here. In fact, you could even use cookie cutters. While this will leave you with all kinds of odd-shaped leftover bits, these can serve as a generous lagniappe for a very hungry cook. Once the cookies are cut, don't take them out of the pan right away. Allow them to cool completely, then apply the frosting and other toppings while they're still in the pan. When the toppings have set, you can separate the bars and put them on a plate or into a storage container.

As these bars are blondies at heart, they lend themselves well to any number of ingredient swaps and switches. For starters, using dark chocolate in place of white would make for a slightly less sweet bar. You could also opt for a different type of dried fruit, such as blueberries, cherries, or apricots — the latter would work especially well with the white chocolate, as they, like cranberries, have enough tang to balance the sweetness. Adding chopped, toasted nuts is also an option. Walnuts or pecans go great with cranberries, while almonds would be lovely with the other fruits mentioned.

The cream cheese frosting, too, is something that can be changed up. To save time, you could go with a canned version, or use vanilla instead if you enjoy super-sweet cookies. If you're feeling experimental, you could double down on the cheesiness by using mascarpone or even goat cheese in place of the cream cheese. It's also possible to leave off the frosting and white chocolate drizzle and just go with a minimalist dusting of powdered sugar.

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