Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars

By Addie

"You'll find these bars at Starbucks during special holidays. The texture is like a chewy brownie, but the flavors include white chocolate, zesty orange, and cranberry, finished with a cream cheese frosting. NOTE - this recipe uses a 10x15 pan. Many reviewers have reduced the sugar with excellent results, and I support doing that!

Ingredients

• BARS
• 1 cup butter ( 2 sticks, very soft)
• 1 cup brown sugar ( some cooks reduce this to 2/3 cup)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons orange extract or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 cup craisins ( dried cranberries)
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
• ..................................................
• FROSTING
• 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon orange extract ( or vanilla)
• .....................................................
• TOPPING
• 1/3 cup craisins, chopped
• 1 -2 tablespoon grated orange rind
• 1/3 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon canola oil

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (325 for a glass or dark pan). Prepare a 10x15 by lining it with parchment paper or use a non-stick spray.

BARS: With an electric mixer, beat together softened butter and sugars 3-5 minutes until light; gently blend in eggs and orange extract (don't overbeat eggs). Add the flour, baking powder, and ginger and beat briefly. Add the cranberries and chips, stirring just until incorporated.

Spread thick batter in prepared 10x15 pan. Bake 350 for 20-24 minutes until light brown AT EDGES and a skewer tests clean. Don't overbake or your bars will be dry. Let it cool completely. NOTE: If you use a 9x13 pan, the bars will be thicker and will take 26-28 minutes.

FROSTING: Blend cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add orange extract and confectioners sugar and beat until frosting is fluffy and spreadable (adding 1 t. milk if needed). Spread evenly over COOLED bars.

GARNISH: Use a zester to remove rind from an orange; sprinkle zest over frosted bars. Chop 1/3 cup Craisins coarsely; sprinkle over frosted bars.

DRIZZLE: Mix white chocolate and oil in a glass measuring cup.
Microwave 1 minute; stirring every 15 seconds until melted. Use a fork or whisk to drizzle the white chocolate diagonally across the bars.

Allow one hour for the white chocolate to set before cutting. **To make signature Starbuck triangles, cut into 20 large squares (5 cuts by 4 cuts with the knife). Then cut each square in half diagonally to create triangles.
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REVIEWS:

Oh, these are sooo good! I've never had the Starbucks bars, so can't compare. These were a bit time-intensive, but so worth the impressive results. After cutting into triangles, I swirled pink-tinted icing over the tops for a lovely Valentine effect. The orange, ginger and cranberry flavors meld so wonderfully! Thanks for sharing this!

I used vanilla extract instead of orange. Since I used two tablespoons of orange zest, it still had the orange taste to it. This dessert is very sweet, rich and yummy. I'm FUSSY and compared a lot of different recipes and am glad I chose this one. Everyone liked them.

Excellent recipe! They taste just like the ones at Starbucks! Good call on using parchment paper. It makes it easier to cut the bars and easy clean up. I recommend this recipe to everyone!

These are so good and perfect for Christmas time, much better than the ones at Starbucks. I used 1 teaspoon each of orange zest and vanilla in the batter, and used a 1/2 teaspoon each of orange zest and vanilla in the frosting. The amount of sugar in the frosting seemed like to much so I used just half of the amount and they were perfectly sweet. Just make sure that when your melting the white chocolate, do it in 15 second intervals stirring after each one or it will burn. Thanks for the great recipe!

This is a GREAT recipe but for my family, it was way too sweet. I made some changes:
BARS
I cut the brown sugar from 1 cup --> to 3/4 cup
and 3/4 cup of white chocolate chips --> to 1/3 cup
FROSTING
I cut the 3 cups of confectioners sugar --> 1 cup
They tasted so much better with less sugar. As for the texture, be careful as it will be dry if you don't cut the baking time in half! I baked mine at 350 for exactly 15 minutes and they turned out wonderful. Just as dense [although not as squishy] as the Starbucks version. If you want a clear sign, look for the brown at the edges, NOT the whole pan. I made this mistake the first time and they turned out a bit dry. I also creamed the butter instead of melting like one reviewer recommended. Finally, do NOT skip out on the orange extract for the vanilla. Yes the vanilla is more common, but the orange, ginger, and cranberry flavor is what makes these bars so delicious.

These are so good! Taste just like Starbucks! I made them twice and I think they taste the best if you let them chill in the fridge for a few hours to overnight. I chopped the chips and berries that go in the dough the first time and the second time I left them whole and liked that texture better. I left off the orange zest the second time and it tasted just as good.

Exactly like Starbucks! They turned out beautifully, and tasted absolutely fabulous -- and so much cheaper to make than buying a tray of them at Starbucks. Everyone who tasted them asked for the recipe. My sister-in-law wants me to bring some to Christmas dinner. --Quite a compliment, since she's the best baker I know.

These are seriously yum! I haven't had the bars from Starbucks in many months so it's hard to say if they are exactly the same but they are wonderful for sure!! I made them just as written but used a full size cookie sheet and only cooked them for about 16 min. I will make these again and again! Thanks for the wonderful recipe!!!

I made these 4 times in December. They are wonderful. I will be making them again for Valentines Day! Can't wait to share them again.

These really were very close to the starbucks bars. I will make these again and again.

If I could leave 10 stars I would. My daughter and I made them last night and they are wonderful. We followed the recipe exactly, we used the orange extract, and I think it really makes the bar taste just like Starbucks. We thought they tasted just as good the next day, too. At first we thought there was too much frosting, but after eating several, we decided, no - they are perfect as they are! Thank you for posting this recipe we had fun making them and eating them! Oh, yes - we did share some and I'm waiting for the recipe request!