Cranberry Bliss Bars

As soon as the temperature drops and winter sets in, I go on peppermint mocha and cranberry bliss bar binges at Starbucks. They're both my guilty pleasures. A few years ago, I thought it would be fun to make cranberry bliss bars at home, but the recipe I tried yielded results that were nothing like the soft, chewy bars I was used to. The bars I got were cake-like and overpowered by ground ginger.

Recently, I noticed some new recipes for cranberry bliss bars, and people who had made them compared them with the Starbucks ones, so I thought maybe it was time to try out a new recipe and keep my fingers crossed for better results.

I found this recipe on Sweetly Serendipity where it was adapted from Recipe Girl. I reviewed both recipes and then put a teensy spin of my own on the bars.

I was pretty pleased with the way these came out. The blondie base is dense and chewy, has a nice buttery flavor deepened by brown sugar, and is studded with white chocolate and dried cranberries. The mild cream cheese frosting adds a hint of sweetness and the dried cranberries on top add a touch of color. Because I had a ton of ginger mini chips (little bits of candied ginger) in the pantry, I thought it would be fun to throw some of those on top as well, for a small hit of ginger (unlike those first bars I made) and a little more decor. A drizzle of white chocolate is the perfect finish for these bars.

It's amazing that I even like cranberry bliss bars as much as I do because I don't love white chocolate. Somehow, though, the white chocolate is balanced by the tart cranberries and buttery blondies and just works here. I toyed with the idea of using bittersweet chocolate instead, but I truly think the white chocolate is just right -- just make sure you use good-quality white chocolate.

Cranberry Bliss Bars (adapted from Sweetly Serendipity and Recipe Girl)

Ingredients

Blondies
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut in pieces
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup dried cranberries
6 ounces white chocolate chips (preferably Ghirardelli)

Frosting
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
6 ounces white chocolate (chips or bars), melted
1 tablespoon ginger mini chips
1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13- by 9-inch baking pan with foil and spray with nonstick baking spray.

To make the blondies: In a medium bowl, melt butter in microwave for 1 minute. Stir in brown sugar. Scrape the butter and sugar  mixture into bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, and let cool to room temperature.

While the butter and sugar mixture cools, in a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

Once butter and sugar mixture is cool, beat in eggs and vanilla on medium speed.

Gradually add in the flour mixture on low speed, scraping bowl as necessary.

Add in cranberries and white chocolate chips on low speed, just until distributed.

Spread batter in prepared pan.

Bake for 18 to 21 minutes, or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Transfer pan to wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting: In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until well blended. Gradually add half of the melted white chocolate, and beat until blended.

Using an offset spatula, spread the frosting evenly over the blondies.

Sprinkle with ginger mini chips and cranberries.

Drizzle remaining white chocolate over the bars.

Store in refrigerator, covered. About an hour before serving, lift bars out of pan using foil and place them on a cutting board. Cut the bars into small squares or triangles, whichever you prefer, and serve. The bars are best at room temperature.

What treats have you re-created at home?

Chocolate-Covered Vanilla Caramels With Sea Salt

About a year ago, I made these caramels, and I found the process pretty frustrating. The caramels are very time-consuming to make, and once I finally had them made and they had set up overnight, all I had left to do was peel the foil off of them. You would think this would be easy since I had sprayed the foil with non-stick spray, but that wasn't the case at all. I spent at least half an hour peeling foil off the caramels. It would break off in little bits, and eventually I ended up discarding some of the caramels because I just could not get the foil off.

This time, I had heard about a new product from Reynolds Wrap: non-stick foil. Let me just tell you, non-stick foil was one of the best baking purchases I have ever made. It peeled right off the caramels in one whole sheet! It saved my caramels and saved me a ton of time and hassles. I ended up using it for several other baking projects during the holidays and will never try to make caramels and other sticky baked goods and candies without it again. If you plan to make these caramels, get the non-stick foil.

Also, give yourself plenty of time. Mixing the ingredients together is easy, but the caramels need to be stirred for about an hour. You may want to pull up a chair.

It wasn't a huge inconvenience to me because I could still see the TV from the kitchen since we have an open floor plan. If your kitchen is more closed off, I suggest some good music or a book or a magazine that you can keep by the stove with you to pass the time.

Once the caramel is made, you simply need to pour the mixture into the pan and let the caramels set up overnight. Then they need to be cut and dipped in chocolate and left to set up again (I leave some of them plain too). They will take a lot of time to make, but they will be totally worth it -- especially when you notice your family fighting over them or just watching to make sure someone is not eating more than their fair share of caramels. They're the perfect salty-sweet treat for candy lovers.

Soon, I plan to get a good thermometer so I can temper the chocolate, but for these I just melted some chocolate in the microwave and dipped the caramels in it. They still tasted great but lacked that "snap" and shine you get from tempered chocolate.

Chocolate-Covered Vanilla Caramels With Sea Salt (adapted from Food & Wine, December 2009)

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and reserved
2 teaspoons kosher salt
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
8 ounces milk chocolate, melted
Sea salt flakes (I used Maldon)
Grapeseed or vegetable oil

Preparation

Line a 13- by 9-inch sheet pan with non-stick foil and spray with non-stick spray.

In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.

Add the sugar, corn syrup, and cream, and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

Stir in the vanilla seeds.

Cook the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring until a golden caramel forms and mixture registers 245 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 1 hour.

Remove the caramel from the heat, stir in the kosher salt, and scrape the caramel into the prepared pan.

Let cool and set completely overnight.

Spray a sheet of parchment with nonstick spray and line 2 baking sheets with wax paper.

Invert the caramel onto the parchment, and peel off the foil.

Pour a little grapeseed oil on a paper towel and wipe a sharp knife with the oiled paper towel. Use the oiled knife to cut the caramels into squares, re-oiling as necessary.

Dip the caramel squares into the melted chocolate. I like to do some in bittersweet chocolate, some in milk chocolate, and some undipped. Feel free to adjust the chocolate amounts for your tastes.

Transfer the dipped squares to the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and refrigerate for 10 minutes to set.

Wrap any undipped caramel squares in wax paper.

Store in refrigerator, but let caramels come to room temperature before serving.

What are your favorite homemade candies?

Christmas 2011

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas. Here's just a glimpse of mine...

Cookie Baking And Decorating

Christmas Morning

Christmas Dinner

(Missing from pictures: shrimp cocktail, stuffed mushrooms, baked stuffed shrimp, and beef tenderloin.)

What are some of your favorite moments from the holidays this year?