Cranberry Bliss Bars

These were called White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies when I found them, but they looked like Cranberry Bliss Bars to me!

I added the white chocolate drizzle and then the cranberries, which does not look as pretty as if you do it the right way--cranberries first, THEN white chocolate drizzle...Oops.

Normally blondies would have me responding, "Why blondie when you can brownie?!" But, I mean cranberry bliss bars are obviously in a category of their own.

These are super sweet and decadent, but the tangy cream cheese and cranberries help balance out the the white chocolate.

As I'm sure you know, these are the perfect holiday treat!

Cranberry Bliss Bars

~Print Recipe~

• 6 Tablespoons butter, melted.
• 3/4 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Dash of ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 3 oz. chopped white chocolate (or chips)

• 5 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 3 oz. chopped white chocolate (or chips), melted.
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped

1. For bars: Grease a 8 in. square baking dish and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
2. In a large bowl, mix melted butter with brown sugar. When it has cooled to room temperature, mix in egg and vanilla. 
3. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Gradually stir dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix in 1/4 cup cranberries and 3 oz. white chocolate. The batter will be very thick.
4. Spread batter into prepared baking dish. Bake for 18-21 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted
   
   near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
5. For frosting: beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until blended. Gradually add half of the melted white chocolate and beat until blended. Frost the bars. Sprinkle with chopped cranberries and drizzle with remaining white chocolate. Cut into wedges and store in the refrigerator.

Note: This recipe easily doubles to fit a 13"x 9" pan. In that case, 1 package cream cheese (8 oz) will do. 

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

Yesterday was one of my coworker Nancy's last day of work, and in her usual form, she brought in several trays of baked goods to share with us all. What a sweetheart. One of the treats were these amazingly tasty cheesecake bars. I usually am not a huge fan of cheesecake (because there isn't enough chocolate) but these mix the best of both worlds: cheesecake and chocolate chip cookies. Enough said.

What's in it

Your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough recipe

16 oz cream cheese (room temp)

3/4 C sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

How it's made

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 9x11 baking pan.

Whip up a batch of your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough (I recommend Martha Stewart's Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from her "Cookies" book, or the back of the Nestle Tollhouse bag). Press a little more than half of the cookie dough into the bottom of the baking pan evenly with a rubber/silicone spatula. Set aside remaining batter.

In a bowl whip together sugar and cream until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and cream until mixed well. Pour on top of cookie layer in baking pan.

With the remaining cookie dough batter, press handfuls of batter flat in your palms, then drop on top of cream cheese mixture in the pan. Repeat until evenly distributed across the top.

Bake at 325 degrees for about 45-60 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean and cookie dough is golden on top. Let cool then slice into bars.