Take Out Fake Out: Light(ish) Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars
Oh, hello there.
I come to you today with a real good one. I know there are tons of people out there that have mad love for these bars. As with many things that Starbucks carries, these only come out for a short time, just long enough for you to get terribly addicted to them before they snatch them away for another year. Not to mention, to get one of these babies out of those oh so perfectly lit cases, you have to shell out, like, four bucks. Typically, $4 wouldn’t be the end of the world for me, but when I’m already spending that amount (or more) on a coffee, I find it a hard pill to swallow.
So I made these! Seriously, they are not hard at all, they are super quick to whip up and they come out tasting almost identical to the real thing. Plus as a giant bonus, they are a (much) lighter version. I used coconut oil for the fat, unsweetened apple sauce instead of eggs and made the frosting from low fat cream cheese.
Double bonus: you can have these any time of the year! I really resent the fact that Starbucks reserves items for only certain times of the year. What if I want a Pumpkin Spice Latte in June? Or a Petite Vanilla Bean Scone in December? Not cool, man. Not cool. It seems like they have pegged the Bliss Bar as a fall treat because of the dried cranberries, but you know what? You could totally switch up the dried fruit that you use in these. Dried cherries, apricots, raisins or even candied ginger would be delish.
Basically let’s just not let the seasonality of a dried fruit decide when we can and can’t have a damn bliss bar.
Miss Delish OUT!
Just kidding.
As usual please comment below if you have an idea of something you would like to see on an upcoming edition of Take Out Fake Out. Petite Vanilla Bean Scones anyone?
Cranberry Bliss Bar:
Serves 16
Total time: 40 minutes
Total time where you’re actually doing things: 10 minutes
What you need:
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 2/3 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup chopped dried cranberries (divided use)
- 1 block low fat cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup white chocolate melting wafers
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and make sure the oven rack is in the center position. Spritz a 9×13 cookie sheet with coconut oil spray. In the bowl of your electric mixer add the coconut oil, brown sugar and white sugar, mix until light and fluffy. Add the apple sauce and mix to combine.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, turn the mixer to low and add the dry ingredients slowly, mixing until just combined. Now add the white chocolate chips and half the dried cranberries, and mix again until well incorporated.
Scoop out the dough and place it onto the greased cookie sheet, press it down with a spoon until it is evenly coating the whole pan. Now place in the preheated oven and bake for 20-22 minutes until browned and set. Leave in the pan for a few minutes so you can handle it, then transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once the cake/giant cookie has cooled completely, add the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla to the bowl of your electric mixer and stir to combine, turn up the speed on the mixer and whip for about 1-2 minutes until light and fluffy. Set aside.
Add the chocolate to a microwavable bowl, and microwave for 30 seconds, remove and stir, microwave for another 30 seconds, stir again and then if it has not completely melted by this point, keep putting it in the microwave for 10 seconds at a time until it is completely melted.
Ice the giant cookie bar with the cream cheese frosting you made. Drizzle the entire top with the melted white chocolate and then sprinkle evenly with the rest of the dried cranberries. Allow the chocolate to harden, about 5-10 minutes, then cut off the edges of the bar, slice into 8 large squares then slice each square in half diagonally. Store them in a covered dish or you can even freeze them in an airtight container for another day.
Enjoy!
Related posts:
Take Out Fake Out: Shrimp Po’ Boy
