Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bar

Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bar
By: Todd Wilbur

Cake:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 ¼ cups light brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups flour
¾ cup dried cranberries, diced

Topping:
¼ cup dried cranberries, diced
6oz white chocolate, cut into chunks

Frosting:
4oz cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
4 teaspoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon vanilla

Drizzled icing:
½ cup powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons vegetable shortening (Crisco)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Make cake by beating butter and brown sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs, vanilla, ginger and salt and beat well. Mix in flour until smooth. Mix ¾ cup diced dried cranberries and white chocolate into batter by hand. Pour batter into a greased 9x13 baking pan. Use a spatula to spread the batter evenly across the pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until cake is light brown on the edges. Allow the cake to cool.

Make frosting by combining cream cheese, 3 cups powdered sugar, lemon juice and vanilla in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. When the cake has cooled, use a spatula to spread frosting over the top of the cake.

Sprinkle ¼ cup of diced cranberries over the frosting on the cake.

Whisk together ½ cup powdered sugar, 1 Tablespoon milk, and shortening (Crisco) until smooth. Drizzle icing over the cranberries in sweeping motion or use a pastry bag with a fine tip to drizzle frosting across the top of the cake.

Allow cake to sit for several hours, then slice the cake lengthwise (long way) once through the middle. Slice the cake across the width three times, making a total of 8 rectangular slices. Slice each of those 8 slices once diagonally, creating 16 triangle slices.

Makes 16 bars