Cranberry Bliss Bars

These bars are in a word...amazing!  They are a  combination of a blondie base packed with white chocolate & cranberries,  topped with a cream cheese frosting then sprinkled with a few more bits of  cranberry for good measure and white chocolate drizzled over the entire thing. Oh my, just describing them makes me want to eat one or two!They are super rich, so you may want  to cut them into small pieces. Smaller pieces just means you can have more than one.  Enjoy!






Ingredients

Bars:
1 cup  butter, melted
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon orange extract ( I used orange zest)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup dried cranberries

Frosting and Topping:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon orange extract ( I used orange zest)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
2 squares  white baking chocolate, melted

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350/180C degrees F. Line a 13x9 inch jelly roll pan or rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Beat together melted butter and brown sugar over medium speed with an electric mixer. Add in eggs, 1 tsp orange extract, and 1 tsp vanilla extract and beat until mixed well. Add in ground ginger, baking powder, salt, and flour, beating until just blended. Don't overmix.
Stir in white chocolate chips and dried cranberries by hand. Spread evenly into the bottom of prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes until set and golden brown at the edges. Don't overbake or bars will be hard. Remove from oven and place pan on a wire rack to cool. Allow bars to cool completely before topping with frosting.

To make the frosting, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add 1/2 tsp orange extract and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and mix well. Top cooled bars with frosting. Sprinkle with chopped dried cranberries and drizzle white chocolate over the top with a fork. I dip my fork into the chocolate then shake it gently over the top of the bars to create little streaks. You can either slice right away and enjoy, or place the bars in the refrigerator for about an hour (what I like to do) to help them set up before cutting. Cut into triangles and enjoy!


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