‘Tis the season for cool mornings, warm coffee, and one of my other winter favorites — Cranberry Bliss season at Starbucks!
If any of you have ever tried their heavenly cranberry bliss bars laced with white chocolate and cranberries, you know the reason why these treats fly off the pastry shelves each day. So for my fall baking season this year, I decided to experiment and try translating this favorite into a cookie. Hence the name, “Cranberry Bliss Cookies”!
I started with one of my favorite chewy cookie bases, filled with lots of vanilla, white chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Then topped it with a white chocolate cream cheese frosting, sprinkled with more cranberries, and drizzled with more white chocolate. I mean seriously — what’s not to love?!?
Sure enough, they were nothing short of heavenly. Quite sweet, but the extra tart of the cream cheese and cranberries gives just the perfect tart touch to leave you craving just one more. Perfect for dessert, or even a morning treat with your coffee. And definitely…blissful. :)
Cranberry Bliss Cookies
Ingredients
For The Cookies:
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract, store-bought or homemade
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup dried cranberries
For The Frosting:
- 1 (8 oz.) bar cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, melted in the microwave or double-boiler
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract, store-bought or homemade
- 2 cups powdered sugar
For The Topping:
- 1 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup white chocolate chips, melted in the microwave or double-boiler
Instructions
To Make The Cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt until well-blended. Set aside.
- Using an an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating in between to incorporate. Add the vanilla, then reduce the speed to low, and slowly add in the dry ingredients. Increase the speed to medium, and continue beating until well-combined. Fold in the white chocolate chips and cranberries, and mix until just-combined. (Do not overmix.)
- Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour. Then place dough by rounded tablespoon-fulls onto a baking sheet that has been prepared with parchment paper, at least 2.5-inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden around the edges. Remove pan, and transfer the cookies to a cooling rack until cool. Repeat with remaining dough until all cookies are baked. Wait until cookies reach room temperature before adding frosting and toppings.
To Make The Frosting:
- Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the cream cheese and melted white chocolate until combined. (**Be sure that your cream cheese REALLY is at room temperature before adding the white chocolate. Otherwise the chocolate could seize up.) Add in the vanilla and mix until combined. Then reduce speed to low and add the powdered sugar. Mix until incorporated. Then use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl, and beat once more for 1 minute on medium speed until the frosting is smooth. You can add more powdered sugar for a thicker frosting.
- Spread the frosting on the cooled cookies. Then immediately sprinkle the frosted cookies with the chopped dried cranberries. And use a fork to drizzle on the frosting, swishing it back and forth over the cookies.
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
I LOVE the Cranberry Bliss Bars at Starbucks and intended to recreate them but haven’t gotten around to it. Guess I will just need to try your recipe for now.
OMG! I can’t get enough of the Cranberry Bliss bars at starbucks. I’m not much of a baker….slice and bake is how I make cookies…I think I’m going to use plain sugar cookies (from the tube at the store) and then do the awesome toppings. :) Not as good as yours, I’m sure. But more my beginner level. ;)
This recipe is killer. I am obsessed with Starbucks cranberry bliss bars and one of the reasons is the hint of orange. So I tweaked this recipe a bit and added a tsp of orange zest. I’m sure it would be even better with a tbsp. I just didn’t have the patience to zest that much. Sure enough, it tasted exactly like the original. These cookies are just like the bars, dangerously good.
Do these keep at room temp or do they need refrigeration?
Should they be wrapped special to keep them moist?
In posts like this it really helps us at holiday time if we know if it can be shipped or if its a right now type of cookie.
Many people bake ahead or ship things.
How did you wrap them, store them. What is the shelf life in your opinion?
Yes, I would like to know exactly what Jerz said. I’m planning on baking this for my friends to give as Xmas presents but since some of them will be out of town for a few days I need to know if the cookies need refrigerating. Anyone knows?
I am in the process of baking these for a cookie exchange. I was worried about it making enough to share with eight ladies @ 1/2 dozen a piece! Well, using a small scoop, that I’ve had from my Pampered Chef consultant days, I am wrapping up with nearly seven dozen, twice what I expected!! I am so happy that it made so many…now the hubz won’t be sad that he’s not going to get a few :) Can’t wait to ice and decorate them in a few days…they are going to be scrumptious!!
I made these last Christmas and they were wonderful and froze well! And now I’m going to try to make them again– but with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts!
I made two batches of these amazing cookies. The first ones were good, but the second ones were even better. I think I may try and bake some in a shallow pie plate next year and see how they turn out. Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe!
These are honestly the most fantastic cookies ever!! I made them for Christmas but I had to make another batch because we kept sneaking them from the freezer! I think I will make them every year over the holidays for as long as I live! Cream-cheese icing, cranberry and white chocolate are a heavenly combination!
I switched up this recipe and instead of the dried cranberries I used a combination of the dried cranberries, blueberries and cherries. Really great. Great recipe to create in different ways.
I took these to a cookie exchange and they were amazing! thanks so much for sharing, I will save this recipe in my notebook :)