❤️😍🙌 These Copycat Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars are for anyone who loves the Starbucks version. These can be made year-round at home for pennies on the dollar and taste every bit as fabulous and then some! I like to call them Better-Than-Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars!
Copycat Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars
Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars are a seasonal favorite that disappear almost as quickly as they arrive. Luckily, they’re easy to recreate at home. Inspired by my white chocolate blondies and coconut white chocolate chip blondies, these copycat bars are essentially start with a chewy blondie base and are loaded with white chocolate and cranberries, then topped with a luscious cream cheese frosting infused with melted white chocolate.
Denser, richer, and packed with more cranberries and white chocolate in every bite, the homemade version is even better than the original. Plus, you can adjust the texture to your liking by adding baking powder for a fluffier base or leaving it out for a denser, fudgier one.
The real star here is the frosting. Cream cheese and white chocolate are whipped together until smooth, then spread on generously (thicker than Starbucks does!) and finished with a sprinkle of cranberries and a drizzle of melted white chocolate. The result is a decadent, bakery-worthy treat that’s dangerously easy to make in just about 30 minutes. These bars have all the nostalgia of the Starbucks classic but with the cozy, homemade taste that mass-produced treats can’t match. If you’re craving a holiday-inspired dessert, these copycat Cranberry Bliss Bars are a must-try!
I made this for the first time last (2022) Christmas…DIVINE!! I will be making this year too and gifting some also. If you like cranberries do not hesitate to make these little jewels! Another winner from Ms. Averie! ❤️
Christa
What’s in Cranberry Bliss Bars?
To make this cranberry bliss bar recipe, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Eggs – Let the egg come to room temperature for easy mixing
- Light brown sugar
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour – To keep these bars gluten-free use a 1:1 all-purpose gluten-free flour
- Salt
- White chocolate chips
- Dried cranberries – Use Craisins or whatever brand you like best
- Orange zest
- Cream cheese – You may use whipped or light cream cheese, you know, to save calories, so you can eat more
- Confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar)
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Cranberry Bliss Bars
It’s a very simple batter that comes together in less than 5 minutes by hand:
- Combine the bars: Melt butter, and combine it with the wet ingredients and dry ingredients. Then, fold dried cranberries and white chocolate chips into the dough. Pour the blondie batter into a prepared pan, and bake in a preheated oven. The batter bakes up quicker than you may think, about 18 to 20 minutes. They will be a light beige, not golden brown. Even a few extra minutes of baking time will create a much drier bar, ruining the bliss!
- Make the cream cheese frosting: While the bars cool, melt white chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl, stirring frequently. You can also use a double boiler. Add part of the melted white chocolate to a pile of confectioner’s sugar, vanilla, and cream cheese in a large bowl. Beat with a stand mixer or hand mixer on medium speed until the mixture is fluffy. I didn’t bother sifting the confectioners’ sugar used in the frosting because I knew that any tiny lumps would be concealed. Sift if you prefer or are serving these to royalty who may chastise you over a minuscule lump of confectioners’ sugar.
- Top the bars: Spread the frosting in an even layer over the cooled bars. It will look a little like almond bark! Sprinkle dried cranberries on top of the bars, followed by the remaining melted chocolate.
- Rest: Set the bars aside to rest, allowing the chocolate to set. Speed this up by placing the bars in the fridge! If you don’t let the bars set, they’ll crumble, and the layers are likely to separate.
- Slice: Lift the bars out of the pan. (Leave aluminum foil or parchment paper hanging over the edges as you line it to make this easy!) Slice the cooled blondies by making a cross, creating four small squares or quadrants. To each of the four quadrants, slice on the diagonal to create two triangles, for a yield of eight triangular-shaped bars. They’re generously-sized, very similar in size and shape to the Starbucks version, but the beauty here is that this recipe makes just eight bars, since it’s baked in an 8-by-8-inch pan.
Can I Double This Recipe?
I have not tried doubling the recipe, and in theory, doubling and using a 9-by-13-inch baking dish would probably work, but I haven’t tried. Eight of these puppies in one batch was plenty, eating 16 of them before the frosting gets a little too crunchy or dried out would have been overkill for our family of three.
Cranberry Bliss Bars
Equipment
- 1 Medium Microwave-Safe Bowl
- 1 Small Microwave-Safe Bowl
- 1 Stand Mixer Fitted with a Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
For the Bars
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted (1 stick)
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste
- ¾ cup white chocolate chips
- ½ cup dried cranberries, loosely packed
- ½ teaspoon orange zest, optional and to taste (edited to add this on 12-9-12)
For the Frosting and Topping
- 1 cup white chocolate chips, melted and divided
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened (whipped or light may be used)
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, I used about 2 3/4 cups
- ¼ cup dried cranberries, loosely packed (optionally, roughly dice them if the pieces are larger)
Instructions
For the Bars:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- In a medium microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, about 90 seconds.
- To the melted butter (allow it to cool slightly so you don’t scramble the egg), add the egg, brown sugar, vanilla, and stir to combine.
- Add the flour, salt, and stir until just combined, taking care not to over-mix or the bars will be tough.
- Fold in 3/4 cup white chocolate chips, 1/2 cup cranberries, optional orange zest, and stir to combine.
- Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing it lightly with a spatula or offset knife if necessary.
- Bake for 18 to 21 minutes, and center is set and golden or until edges begin to slightly pull away from sides of pan, or a toothpick comes out clean; do not overbake.
- Allow bars to cool before frosting them. While they cool, make the frosting.
For the Frosting and Topping:
- In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the white chocolate on high power, about 1 minute, reheating in 10-second intervals, or until it can be stirred smooth. White chocolate is notorious for scorching so melt it very carefully, and slowly, heating in quick bursts, and keep a watchful eye; use a double boiler if that’s easier.
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine cream cheese, about three-quarters of the melted white chocolate (about 3/4 cup, just eyeball it), 2 cups confectioners’ sugar (I don’t sift it because any tiny lumps will be covered up by sprinkled cranberries and white chocolate drizzle), vanilla, and beat until smooth and fluffy.
- Start by mixing on low speed so sugar doesn’t spray, and then beat on medium-high for about 3 minutes. Mixture will seem stiff at first but will loosen and fluff up after 2 to 3 minutes of beating on medium-high; stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Add additional confectioners’ sugar (I used about 2 3/4 cups, I like it on the thicker side) based on taste preference and desired frosting consistency.
- Frost the bars; if you have excess, it will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least 1 month.
- Evenly sprinkle 1/2 cup cranberries over the top of the frosted bars. Evenly drizzle bars with remaining melted white chocolate, reheating for a few seconds in the microwave if it has set up.
- Allow bars to set up for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Cranberry Dessert Recipes:
Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Bliss Cake — This fast, easy, no-mixer cake is light, soft, fluffy, and moist. It’s springy and bouncy, with just enough density to give it some heft and dimension.
Cranberry and White Chocolate Chip Cookies – Cranberry Bliss Bar flavors, in cookie form. Tender, soft, pillowy centers!
Cranberry Bliss Seven Layer Bars — A buttery graham cracker crust, topped with white chocolate chips, chocolate chips, walnuts, dried cranberries, coconut, and sweetened condensed milk!
Crustless Cranberry Pie —A FAST, super EASY, no-mixer dessert that’s perfect for holiday entertaining!! Somewhere in between pie, cake, and blondies is what you get with this FESTIVE recipe! Take advantage of those fresh cranberries!!
Cranberry Oatmeal Crumble Bars — The bars are soft, slightly chewy, and the hearty oats with big crumbles are a perfect contrast to the juicy cranberry filling.
Cranberry Orange Bread— The fresh cranberries in this cranberry orange bread contrast nicely with the sweet orange glaze, making it the perfect blend of sweet and tart!
Cranberry Chocolate Chip Blondies — The soft, buttery, caramely, brown sugary, blondie base is the perfect complement to the chewy, tart cranberries.
I made these last night and indeed followed your recipe as written. I have an accurately calibrated oven and an oven thermometer I use all of the time because I bake/cook for my family daily. This recipe’s baking time is not accurate with an 8 x 8 pan. Note: you previously cited/linked your recipe from a Taste of Home recipe, which when compared reflects the 18-21 minute bake time for a 13 x 9 pan. Perhaps this is where the error occurred? All told, I baked mine for 35 minutes, they did not burn or blacken because the excess foil used to line the pan was in fact folded over the edges to prevent burning. I did find them delicious, if a bit too sweet (frosting wise). I used 2 cups powdered sugar, next time I will try a 13 x 9 dish and compare. When removed from the pan to frost I was surprised how “greasy” they appeared, but I did not think they tasted greasy at all.
The baking time was accurate for me, but all ovens, climates, ingredients, etc. vary. Glad you found them delicious!
I almost want to hate you for absolutely nailing this recipe. Now that I can have cranberry bliss bars at home that taste exactly the same if not better than my favourite Starbucks treat, I’m worried at how large I’m going to get by this time next year. Amazing recipe, and I couldn’t agree more with the addition of orange zest. A lot of copycat bliss bar recipes I’ve tried before add things like ginger and lemon and I always felt is was orange I was tasting in the real ones. You. Nailed. It. I love you and hate you (in the best way possible). THANK YOU!
Glad there’s a love-hate relationship going and that these are your new BFFs :) I agree, it’s quite dangerous to be able to have these around, year-round. I totally love them too!
I used a 8×8 inch. I like the bars thinner, so I used a 9 x 12 inch pan. The original Starbuck’s recipe is thinner then this recipe. Other than that, they were delicious ..
I made these last week and absolutely loved them! You are right, they were so easy and quick to make. Now I can get my Cranberry Bliss Bar fix at home!:) Thank you so much for posting this, and all of the details in your directions. I really appreciate it!
So glad you enjoyed these and thanks for saying that all my details in the directions help you! Isn’t it nice to know you can always have your Bliss fix at home now! :)
Made these today and they were a big hit. I agree that they are even better than Starbucks as they taste like homemade rather than mass produced. The only thing I would do next time is make them in a 9×9 pan so the base woud be little thinner and cut them a little smaller as they are pretty sweet. Thanks for the great recipe!
Glad they were a huge hit and I totally agree with ‘better than Starbucks as they taste like homemade rather than mass produced.’ Amen :)
I’m gearing up for my holiday baking/freezing frenzy. I’d love to include these in my baskets this year… they look fantastic! How do you think they would freeze?
Very well! You may want to do the final touches of frosting at the very end, like just make the bars, freeze, and then frost them after you thaw them, but if you can’t swing that, I think just freezing them totally ready to go would be fine. Enjoy!!
Hello Averie!
Found you on Pinterest. I am baking as I type for a work potuck tomorrow! I’m actually going to cut them into smaller triangles to make the recipe stretch (I’m thinking 16ths). I am super excited because cranberry bliss bars are my Starbucks faves! I’m feeling pretty positive from all the great reviews. I did reduce the amount of white chocolate in the blondie batter only because that is my least favorite part but everything I followed to a T :0) Hopefully it all works out!
Enjoy and I’m sure they’ll be a hit!
Averie these are divine. I am making it for the 2nd time in 3 days. I hate paying $$ at starbucks for them. These hit the spot! Havea great week
So glad you love them and are going on round 2 in 3 days…love that! And yes, so much better than paying for $tarbucks. :)
hey averie :) from reading the comments, and my experience today – you may want to leave a note for people at the beginning of this recipe and in the directions.
i absolutely positively followed this recipe to a t, and while my oven hasn’t recently been calibrated – i know it’s fairly close to actual temperature from other things i’ve made recently.
i suspect i’m at the opposite end of the spectrum as you are humidity wise – today humidity is at 93.6% for example – and these absolutely positively would not set.
if i had more spare time i would work on this more and offer up suggestions as to making a recipe like this work in the high humidity of the pacific northwest.
i think for future i will take comments seriously about high cook times for recipes – and consider baking blogs in the pacific northwest as they are apt to have conditions that are similar humidity wise.
Thanks for trying the recipe, Amy, and if you read through the comments you’ll see glowing reports from dozens of people, and these are one of my fave recipes and I’ve never had that issue with them but I’m sorry you did!
I would say just bake them longer, 5 minutes or so (maybe 10?), until they set. Or, add an extra 1/4 cup of flour, give or take, I think either of those two things would do the trick for your humid climate.
I will say, though, that I vacation in the Caribbean a few times a year and I do cook for my blog when I’m there and recipes that I make there are a totally different animal than in San Diego. I also have a bad oven there but the humidity does change things. There’s a ‘rule of thumb’ to not bake on humid days but I realize that can’t always be avoided. So for anyone in an extremely humid climate I would add more flour and bake longer. Thanks for trying these!
Thanks Averie! I have no doubt the recipe works well in lower humidity! I tasted some of the bits on the edges that did harden and they were delicious. I was up over 40 minutes when I had to give up on the recipe. I just think you may want to add a note re flour and humidity over 90% to the recipe – as it sounds to me other people have experienced what I did. I’m chalking it up as a learning experience. I know now I have to consider what recipes to make more carefully because of how it is here. I would have loved if I had known up front.
Unfortunately I can’t made a headnote on all 1000+ recipes in my archives that if someone is baking at altitude, in extreme humidity, baking with GF flour, etc. that their results may very well vary from mine. I do my best to share the recipes I created in my kitchen, and share exactly what I did in extreme detail, but I can’t be a ‘short order cook’ to accommodate every possible scenario that my readers may have in their personal situations. If you’re baking at altitude reduce the baking soda, if you’re baking in humidity add more flour and here’s how much, if you’re baking GF add more brown rice flour…you get the point…that would be a FT job right there! Thanks for understanding!
Can’t wait to make these. Thinking of making for Christmas gifts. Do this need to be refrigerated? What’s their approximate “shelf life”? Thanks
It’s discussed within the recipe, near the end. Enjoy them!
These are AMAZING! I really love cranberries, so I decided, why not try it. It is definitely one of the best things i have ever made! The frosting was a bit too sweet for my liking, so as a personal preference, i would reduce the sugar in the future. Other than that, these turned out amazing and beautiful! Thank you so much for the recipe, Averie :)
Thanks for trying them, Jemima, and glad you loved them! You could always just go with less frosting next time, halve that portion of the recipe. Or just drizzle it on, rather than fully spread it on. The Starbucks version is pretty dang sweet and that’s what these are like but I have a big sweet tooth :)
I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE these bars! They came out perfectly! I’ve made them twice already and I’m sure I’ll be making them MANY more times, they’re absolutely fantastic. And that white chocolate cream cheese frosting. OMG that stuff is absolutely out of this world! Thank you for sharing this recipe Averie!
This is one of my fave bar recipes on my whole site! Glad you love them so much too! :)