Cranberry Ecstasy Bars

By mangia_g2

These are similar to Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars.

Ingredients

• Cake:
• 1 cup (2 sticks)butter, at room temp
• 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup minced dried cranberries
• 1 1/2 oz white chocolate, chopped
• 1/4 cup minced crystallized ginger
• Frosting:
• 8 oz cream cheese, at room temp
• 3 TB butter, at room temp
• 1 cup plus 3 TB powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp grated lemon zest
• pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup minced dried cranberries
• Drizzle:
• 1 oz white chocolate
• 1/4 powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp milk

Details

Servings 16

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9x13 pan with parchment and then grease the paper.

To make cake: In a large mixing bow, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; continue mixing until light. Sift together flour, ground ginger and salt; add to butter mixture. Continue mixing until flour is incorporated. Fold in dried cranberries, chocolate and crystallized ginger. Spread batter in prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or til golden. Remove from oven and cool completely in pan.

To make frosting: In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, lemon zest and salt until well-mixed.
Remove cake from pan, remove parchment, and trim off edges so cake is uniformly flat. Using an offset spatula, uniformly spread the frosting onto top of the cake. Sprinkle minced cranberries on top of frosting and refrigerate for 1 hour.

To make drizzle: In a small saucepan over low heat, melt white chocolate, whisk in powdered sugar and milk until well-mixed. Scrape into a pastry bag and drizzle over the entire cake.

To serve, slice cake lengthwise down the center, making two long rectangles. Cut each rectangle into four equal portions; slice each of these in half diagonally.