White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies with Almonds

Credit for this recipe goes to Recipe Girl.

I am guilty of being a Starbucks addict. Recovering, maybe, because I have forced myself to not stop there three or four times a week to buy coffee and/or a pastry, but every once in a while, I do find myself there, and probably once a day, I find myself wishing I was.

Especially around the holidays. They have exceptional seasonal drinks (like caramel brulee latte) and my favorite pastry... the Cranberry Bliss Bar.

I found a recipe that was described to rival those bars, so naturally... I had to make it. Today, I went and purchased the rest of the chocolate (because I didn't have enough, sad day), and came home and made these.

I just tried one. It's DELICIOUS. I added almonds to the top (which is not in the recipe) and a little orange extract to the chocolate drizzle for extra... flavor, I guess. Guh! I can't wait for my mom to try one (she's coming over to babysit in a while). I think she'll love them!

White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies:

Blondie Layer:

3/4 c. salted butter

1 1/2 c. light brown sugar

2 large eggs

3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/4 c. flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 c. dried cranberries

6 ounces white baking chocolate (I used Ghiradelli white chocolate chips (I bought one bag total)

Frosting:

1 pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 c. powdered sugar

6 oz. white baking chocolate, melted (see above) and halved

1/2 c. dried cranberries, chopped

1/4 c. cut almonds (I forget what the cut style is called, but they're slivered, sort of, but whole?)

1/8 tsp. orange extract (optional)

For Blondies:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Spray a 9x13 pan, or line it with parchment paper (that's what I did).
• In a medium bowl, melt butter, then stir in brown sugar. Let cool to room temperature and transfer to a larger bowl.
• Using a mixer, beat in eggs and vanilla. Then add dry ingredients.
• Stir in cranberries and chocolate (I used half a bag of the chips). The batter will be very thick, like clay, almost.
• Spread the batter into the pan.
• Bake 18-21 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not over bake.
• Cool on a wire rack.

For Frosting:

• In a medium bowl, use a mixer to beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until well-blended. Gradually add half of the melted white chocolate (so 1/4 bag melted chips), beat until blended.
• Frost blondies.
• Sprinkle with cranberries.
• Sprinkle with almonds.
• Melt the last portion of chocolate. I added 1/8 tsp. Orange Extract to it.
• Drizzle over the blondies. (Try not to make a giant mess... haha.)
• Cut the bars, and store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Of course, I ate one right away and then boasted to my mom via text message how delicious they are. Now, I should go put them in the fridge!

I have friends who work at Starbucks in various positions... and I hope they don't hate me for posting a "rip off" version of their pastry. Just sayin'.