White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies

Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but this batch of white chocolate cranberry blondies is so delightful! All kidding aside, this is the holiday treat you won’t want to miss this holiday season.

If you’ve been on the hunt for a recipe similar to Starbucks’ seasonal white chocolate cranberry bliss bar, your search is over. Our recipe begins with a dough similar to our classic blondie recipe. From there, these bars get into the holiday spirit by mixing cinnamon, dried cranberries and chopped white chocolate into the dough. Finished with a dreamy layer of homemade white chocolate cream cheese frosting, a drizzle of melted white chocolate and extra dried cranberries, this Christmas treat won’t last long once served.

Include these bars as part of your family’s holiday dessert table, tuck them into a holiday cookie gift box or swap them with friends for your annual holiday cookie exchange. With hints of fruit, creamy white chocolate and a buttery cookie base, they’re a fun, fresh offering to include alongside gingerbread, cutout cookies and other old-fashioned holiday favorites.

Ingredients for White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies

• Butter: While some blondie recipes cream butter and sugar together, these white chocolate cranberry blondies opt for melted butter, which makes the bars wonderfully dense and chewy.
• Brown sugar: Using brown sugar in blondies further enhances their chewiness by adding extra moisture to the dough. It also helps enhance the flavor of the dough with a rich molasses taste.
• Eggs: Eggs help give the blondies structure and improve their overall texture.
• Vanilla extract: While brownie recipes benefit from good-quality chocolate or cocoa powder, the best blondies are made with high-quality vanilla extract.
• All-purpose flour: Nobody likes a dry, crumbly blondie. For the best taste and texture, make sure you know how to measure flour the right way.
• Baking powder: Baking powder acts as a leavener to give these blondies a little lift while baking.
• Salt: White chocolate can be rather sweet; adding a little salt brings balance while enhancing the other flavors in the recipe.
• Cinnamon: Just a whisper of cinnamon in the dough adds warmth and complexity to this sweet holiday dessert.
• Dried cranberries: The slightly tart flavor of dried cranberries is the perfect balance to the sweetness of white chocolate.
• White baking chocolate: Using a baking chocolate bar allows for bigger chunks of white chocolate throughout the blondies and promises better melting for an ultra-smooth frosting.
• Cream cheese frosting: These blondies feature a dressed-up cream cheese frosting with orange zest and melted white chocolate.

Directions

Step 1: Mix the dough

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, then stir in the brown sugar. Cool slightly. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Next, beat in vanilla.

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture.

Step 2: Fold in the cranberries and chocolate

Stir in the cranberries and chopped chocolate. Note that the batter will be thick.

Step 3: Bake the blondies

Spread the dough into a greased 13×9-inch pan. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (do not overbake), 18 to 21 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Step 4: Make the frosting

While the blondies cool, prepare the frosting. Beat the cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and, if desired, orange zest until smooth. Then, gradually beat in half the melted white chocolate until smooth.

Editor’s Tip: For the best consistency, allow the melted white chocolate to cool almost to room temperature before beating it into the cream cheese mixture. If the chocolate is too warm, you might melt the cream cheese, and if it is too cold, the chocolate may harden before it is evenly mixed into the frosting, creating a grainy, coarse texture.

Step 5: Decorate, slice and serve

Spread the frosting evenly over the cooled blondies. Sprinkle with cranberries and finish with a drizzle of the remaining melted white chocolate. If desired, sprinkle with additional orange zest. Cut into triangles.

White Chocolate Cranberry Blondie Variations

• Add nuts: Add crunch to these fruity dessert bars by mixing in 1/2 cup chopped almonds, walnuts, pecans, pistachios or hazelnuts.
• Swap the chocolate: If you’re not a fan of white chocolate, you may substitute dark or semisweet chocolate for all or a portion of the white chocolate in the recipe.

How to Store White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies

Due to the cream cheese frosting in this recipe, these white chocolate cranberry blondies should be kept refrigerated in an airtight food storage container.

How long do white chocolate cranberry blondies last?

White chocolate cranberry blondies will stay fresh for five to seven days.

Can you freeze white chocolate cranberry blondies?

Yes, you can freeze these white chocolate cranberry blondies. Transfer the cooled and cut blondies to a freezer-safe food storage container, separating layers of bars with pieces of parchment to prevent sticking. Store for up to three months. Allow the blondies to thaw overnight in the refrigerator before enjoying.

White Chocolate Cranberry Blondie Tips

Can you double this recipe for white chocolate cranberry blondies?

Yes. For a dessert to feed a crowd, you can double the ingredients to make a bigger batch of blondies. To bake, spread into a larger 11×17-inch pan or bake in two separate 13×9-inch pans.

If you choose to bake in the 11×17-inch pan, the bars will be slightly thicker and therefore require a slightly longer bake time. Bake for 20 minutes, then keep a close eye on them and pull once golden and set in the center.

Can I turn these white chocolate cranberry blondies into cookies?

If you’d like to experiment with baking these blondies as white chocolate cranberry cookies, we suggest rolling 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball and then arranging the dough on a parchment-lined sheet pan at least 2 inches apart.

Bake until golden on the edges and set in the middle, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool for five minutes on the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Spread the cooled cookies with frosting and decorate them with additional cranberries and a drizzle of melted chocolate, if desired.

Watch How to Make White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies

ⓘ

back to content