These cranberry blondies are a nice change from regular chocolate brownies. I love making them during the holidays when fresh cranberries are in season!
I have a confession to make – I cannot make fancy-schmancy Holiday cookies. It’s not that I haven’t tried, it’s just that my rolling pin and I can never seem to get along nicely. Over the years, there have been far too many failed attempts at proper Holiday cookie making that I’ve pretty much sworn off the process altogether.
Sadly, my kids have started pointing out all of the beautiful Holiday Cookies that have been gracing the covers of magazines lately.
“Mom, can you make us those pretty red and green candy cane cookies?”
“Uhhh, maybe.”
“Mom, can you make us those really cool snowflake cookies. Look – these ones right here with the glitter sprinkles too?”
“Uhhh, maybe?”
After several of those non-committal conversations the other day, I finally admitted to the kids that I was a Holiday-Cookie-Making-Failure. (I’m more of a cake, crisp, brownie, pudding kind-of-person.)
But, as luck would have it, Aunt Daniele wields a mighty rolling pin, so I told them that they could rip out the pages of my magazines, and bring them over to Aunt Daniele’s house where she would happily make all of the cookies for them. (Hmmm, perhaps I should have asked my sister first – SURPRISE Aunt Daniele!)
They seemed very pleased with the vision of their beloved Aunt covered in flour and mass producing any cookie they wanted, so I got off easy, and celebrated by making them some super cool Cranberry Blondie Squares drizzled with white chocolate!
If the rolling pin is your enemy, stick with these Cranberry Blondie Squares. They’re festive, they taste great, and they just look like they took you hours to make!
CRANBERRY BLONDIES
Makes: 12 servings
Bake: 350°F for 25-35 minutes
Adapted from Better Home & Gardens
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
Directions:
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 11x7x1-1/2-inch or a 9x9x2-inch baking pan with foil; coat foil with cooking spray and set aside.
Step 2: In large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer until softened. Add in both sugars, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; blend thoroughly. Then beat in eggs and vanilla until just combined. Using your electric mixer on low speed, carefully beat in flour until moistened.
Step 3: Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate. Spread batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with fresh cranberries (and minced walnuts, if using); press in lightly with a spatula.
Step 4: Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. Lift with foil to remove from pan. Cut into bars.
Step 5: Add 1 cup of white chocolate chips to a Ziploc bag. Place bag into the microwave for 15-20 seconds. Remove bag from microwave and knead the bag to disperse the heat. Repeat until all of the chips have melted. (If you do not do this, the bags will explode in your microwave – trust me, I learn the hard way!)
Step 6: Cut the corner off of the bag so that you can squeeze (pipe, drizzle, whatever) the melted chocolate on top of the blondies. Allow chocolate to cool before serving.
Thanks for reading,
Denine
Want more cranberry recipes?
@Aunt Daniele – I’m more than happy to supply you with a lifetime supply of blondies if you just bake those blasted cookies for me! I hate rolling dough! 🙂
@Homegrown & Healthy – Beware! I ate all of them. It’s sad but true. I think my husband ate one or two, but I was eating them for breakfast. I better ask Santa for a treadmill ofr Christmas! 😉
Thank you! I just bought fresh cranberries a few hours ago and had no idea what I was going to do with them. This will be tried this evening 🙂
I will make cookies for your little cherubs any day! Thanks for the blondies, they were so delicious. I was really tempted to hide them from the kids and keep them for myself!
Dani