Shades of cranberry bliss

A lovely, lazy, rainy day spent baking cranberry bliss bars,

 
and eating them in our new bunny bowls,

Browsing through the winter Cotton & Paint,

and dreaming about making these slippers.

An early dinner out for Japanese food, brings a three dollar pair of shoes my way.

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Mock Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars

Love this recipe so much. The brown sugar, white chocolate, lemon and tangy cranberries go together wonderfully and it tastes great chilled. I've never had an actual one from Starbucks, but whenever I make it everyone says it tastes authentic.

Cake:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups diced dried cranberries
6 ounces white chocolate, cut into chunks

Lemon Frosting:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
4 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup diced dried cranberries

Drizzled icing:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons vegetable shortening

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Make the cake by beating the softened butter and brown sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, powdered ginger, salt and beat well. Gradually mix in flour until smooth. Mix the 3/4 cup dried cranberries and white chocolate into the batter by hand. Pour batter into a well greased 9x13 inch baking pan and use a spatula to spread the batter evenly across the pan.

3. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until cake is light brown on edges. Allow cake to cool.

4. Make the lemon frosting by combining the softened cream cheese, 3 cups of powdered sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. When the cake has fully cooled, use a spatula to spread the frosting over the top of the cake. Then sprinkle the 1/4 cup of diced dried cranberries onto the frosting.

5. For the drizzled icing, whisk together 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, and shortening. Drizzle the icing over the cranberries and lemon frosting in a sweeping motion or with a pastry bag.

6. Allow cake to sit for several hours and then cut into bars.

Comments

[debbie]

love the shoes! i've always wanted a pair of red shoes...and the cranberry bliss bars look so ono - thanks for sharing the recipe!it wasn't raining where i live in kaneohe, tho' i could see rain towards kailua - i stayed in all day....

[Tamie]

Those bunny bowls are adorable! Yum!

[sally]

I love this cranberry filled post. The bars look delicious and the shoes [both pairs] are SO cute.

[Emma]

Those bunny bowls are great! I love them ♥

[Aimee]

Where did you find the adorable bowls? They are too cute! And the yumminess inside the bowls looks just heavenly.

[Tracy]

Love the bunny bowls!

[jess]

the bowls are too cute!

[Ali]

Mmm - they sound really good and your bunny bowls are perfection!

[sara luzia]

Awww!!! u made me hungry! It's so lovely!
I take this oportunity to tell you I loved seeing/reading you in the "Crafter's Companion". Luv your work! :)

[brenda]

those bars look so yummy! It is amazing all the "shades of cranberry" you have captured.....{love the shoes}.....

[Sarah]

Bunny bowls and red gingham spoons?! Be still my heart! :D

[Dana]

Every thing here is so yummy/cute/adorable!! Ack!!!!

[Tammi]

This sounds great!

[Susan]

What gorgeous photos. Everything looks soooo beautiful, down to the water on the sidewalk. And I bet those cranberry bars are ten times BETTER than the Starbucks ones. The bowls are fantastic.

[gleek]

mmmm, those cranberry bliss bars look DEElicious! they are totally tickling my sugar craving :)

[hannah]

oh these look good.

[Biscuitbear]

Mmmh they look good! I don't know the taste of cranberries actually. One day I will have to try. The bunny bowls are lovely. I'm so envious of you being able to go out and buy a Japanese magazine just like that! On the other hand it's probably better for my wallet. When I lived in Japan I used to buy too many craft books.

[jenny vorwaller]

those look SO yummy! thank you for sharing the recipe! :)*

[Heidi]

I love the shoes! And thanks for sharing the recipe, I saw those and was like I wonder if she would share the recipe...lol I scrolled down and was like YES!!

[Heidi]

I love the shoes! Thanks for sharing the recipe too, they look yummy.

[LLA]

It does all look bliss-inducing! I bet everything just tastes better in a bunny bowl...

Spent the weekend cheering on Tadd - such a cutie! Have you ever seen anyone who just looked so thrilled to be doing what he was doing? He, too, seemed blissful....

[Stacey]

Those cranberry bliss bars look so scrumptious! Yum! I love your bunny bowls (I'm born in the year of the rabbit!) Can you tell me where you got your Cotton and Paint? I met someone who works at Hakubundo and he said they could order it for me with the ISBN number, but if you got it locally, then I could just go pick one up.

[jodi]

Love those bunny bowls and your cute shoes!

[joyce]

mmmmmm! looks so good. love the pictures and love the shoes! i must try the recipe.

[natascha]

What a great lazy day! I love days like these! Thanks so much for the recipe! Do you know how many grams is a cup?