These Easy-To-Bake Cranberry Bliss Bars Will Brighten Your Day With Every Bite

Tright here’s one thing within the air come autumn that makes throwing on an apron, cranking up the oven to 350ºF, and getting your bake on a quintessential exercise this time of 12 months. I imply, who wouldn’t need the aroma of just-baked-cookies wafting by means of their residence whereas Elf performs on repeat within the background? Definitely not I.

Fortunately, Yumna Jawad, the creator of Really feel Good Foodie is one step forward of us with regards to setting immaculate cozy fall vibes. In actual fact, she lately developed a mouthwatering cranberry bliss bars recipe that’s the epitome of candy, spice, and all the pieces good in each chew. Between the layers of a decadent blondie made with anti-inflammatory spices like cinnamon to the soul-warming cream cheese frosting to the chewy orange-zested dried cranberries, these will encourage pure bliss from starting to finish.

This soul-warming cranberry dessert checks each field

This scrumptious cranberry bar recipe offers the ~phantasm~ that you just spent hours within the kitchen—however in reality, it takes now not than 20 minutes of prep to tug collectively.

Like lots of Really feel Good Foodie’s recipes, this one’s absolutely customizable, which means that you could simply adapt, tweak, and alter the recipe to finest fit your wants. For starters, the blondie batter requires white chocolate chips. Nonetheless, Jawad notes that they could be slightly too candy for some palates—however that’s no downside. “If you’re not a fan [of white chocolate], skip it altogether. You may also swap in a single cup of chopped roasted nuts of their place,” Jawad says. Not solely do the nuts—assume roasted walnuts, pistachios, or pecans—add crunch issue to those bars, they’re additionally loaded with heart-healthy unsaturated fat, together with omega-3s.

Equally, if cream cheese frosting is not your velocity, you’ll be able to swap it for a darkish chocolate drizzle—that is notably excellent when pairing your cranberry bliss bars with espresso. “Plus, you can too retailer your bars at room temperature as a substitute of the fridge when utilizing darkish chocolate,” says Jawad. Lastly, to kick up the vacation cheer issue, she suggests swapping candied ginger in for a 3rd of a cup of the cranberries.

For much more professional tips about making these tasty cranberry bars, be certain to take a look at the complete recipe on Really feel Good Foodie’s web site—the place she covers all the pieces from the way to make clear cuts when serving these bars and a pastry chef hack for infusing the batter with much more taste.

Cranberry bliss bars recipe 

Yields 24 bars

Substances

For the blondie base:
1 1/2 cups mild brown sugar, packed
1 orange, zested
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 Tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 Tsp floor ginger
1/2 Tsp baking soda
1/2 Tsp cinnamon
1/4 Tsp salt
1 cup dried sweetened cranberries
1 cup white chocolate chips (optionally available)

For the frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1 Tsp vanilla extract

For the topping:
1/2 cup chopped dried sweetened cranberries
Orange zest, if desired

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving slightly extra on all 4 sides so you’ll be able to simply take away the blondies as soon as baked.

2. To make the blondies, add brown sugar to a big bowl. Add orange zest and therapeutic massage the zest into the sugar together with your fingers till it’s very aromatic. Whisk in melted butter till easy. Add eggs, separately, then whisk within the vanilla extract.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk collectively the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Use a rubber spatula to fold the dry substances into the moist substances till no streaks of flour stay. Fold within the dried cranberries and white chocolate, then scrape the batter into the ready pan. Bake for 25 to half-hour, or till the sides are barely brown and a cake tester inserted within the middle comes out clear.

4. Put aside to chill for about 20 minutes, then rigorously take away from the pan and set on a wire rack to chill fully.

5. As soon as the blondies have cooled fully, make the frosting. Add cream cheese and butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream collectively at medium velocity for 2 to 3 minutes, or till fluffy. Add powdered sugar and vanilla, and beat till easy, about one to 2 minutes extra.

6. Unfold the frosting all around the cooled blondies in a fair layer. Add chopped cranberries and orange zest on prime, if desired. Set within the fridge to chill for about one hour, then minimize into 24 even triangles and serve.

On a baking spree? Attempt these gluten-free herb parmesan biscuits subsequent: