Everybody loves cranberry bliss bars around the holidays! These were inspired by those bars, but are definitely better. The base is a chewy sweet brown sugar cookie, the white chocolate is homemade, and the sweet smell of orange zest lingers around the house. I love sweet and tart flavor combination in these because it goes so wonderfully into all types of baking. You’ll be sharing white chocolate cranberry cookie bars over coffee all season long!
If you can find or want to order vegan white chocolate chips online, then just skip this first part of the recipe. But it’s actually super easy and totally worth the little bit of extra effort to make the white chocolate from scratch.
white chocolate cranberry cookie bars
Send the scents of Christmas all through the house with these white chocolate cranberry cookie bars with orange yogurt glaze.
Ingredients
white chocolate
- 4 oz. raw cacao butter
- 2/3 C confectioners sugar
- 2 tsp soy milk powder
cranberry bliss bar
- 1 tbsp ground flax
- 3 tbsp water
- 1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/3 C melted coconut oil
- 3/4 C packed light brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 C dried cranberries
- 1/4 C white chocolate chunks (above)
orange yogurt glaze
- 1 C confectioners sugar
- 2 tbsp vanilla flavoured coconut yogurt
- 1/4 tsp fresh orange juice
- 1/4 tsp orange zest
- 1 tbsp finely chopped dried cranberries
Instructions
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To make the white chocolate, combine confectioners sugar and soy milk powder in a small bowl. In a double boiler, melt the cacao butter until it's liquid, then remove from the heat and whisk in the powder mixture a spoonful at a time. If you can find white chocolate chips or a bar you can chop up, by all means do that instead of making this from scratch!
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You could use a chocolate mold/silicone mold if you like, but I don't own one. Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper and make sure it's well placed. I used alligator clips to hold a couple of the sides flat.
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Pour the cacao butter liquid onto the parchment and let it settle evenly. Refrigerate it for 20 to 30 minutes until it's solid. Once cooled, roughly chop it into small pieces.
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Preheat the oven to 350°F.
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In a small dish, whisk the ground flax with water until well combined and set it aside for it to slightly thicken.
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In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and sea salt with a fork. In a separate bowl, stir together melted coconut oil, brown sugar, and vanilla. Then stir in the thickened flax and water mixture. Fold the wet mixture into the dry mixture until it's about half combined, then add in the cranberries and white chocolate pieces and continue to mix until well combined.
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Cover a 9" x 9" baking pan with parchment paper. Press the batter into the pan evenly making sure it fills to the edges. Bake for 14 minutes. Allow this to cool completely out of the pan on a baking rack before icing.
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For the glaze, use a hand mixer and beat together the yogurt with confectioners sugar, orange zest, and orange juice until smooth.
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Spread all of the glaze evenly on the top of the cake with a large icing spatula and take it just to the edges so it drips down the sides a little bit.
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Sprinkle the chopped dried cranberries on top of the icing. Let this sit until the icing has hardened before slicing into bars. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Is the soy milk powder necessary?
Lauren, these are amazing. I made them today for our Family Christmas party tomorrow. I can’t wait for everyone to try them :). I am looking forward to getting your cookbook in February. I have mine pre-ordered…we will be cooking up a storm here in Alabama!