These festive and fun White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies are made with fresh cranberries, white chocolate chips, and chopped pecans, with a little extra melted white chocolate drizzled over the top for good measure! A perfect addition to a holiday cookie platter at a Christmas cookie exchange party!
When it comes to Christmas cookie exchanges with friends, I am always trying to think of something to bring that will be different from the usual sugar cookies, peanut butter blossoms , and gingerbread men .
Don’t get me wrong – I love all of the classic Christmas cookies and will be sharing more on the blog here in a few weeks, but I think it’s fun to branch out and contribute something new each year!
Now I know I just posted another bar-type cranberry and white chocolate dessert the other day with my Fresh Cranberry Shortbread Bars , but hear my out on why you need both these recipes in your life.
White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies have a totally different and distinct texture and flavor from the fresh cranberry shortbread bars. White chocolate cranberry blondies are much sweeter and chewier, with the texture and density of a fudgy brownie, whereas the cranberry shortbread bars are much lighter, buttery, and crumblier, just like, well, shortbread.
I was actually recipe testing lots of different cranberry recipes a while ago trying to decide what I wanted to post for Cranberry Week and loved each of these different little bar desserts so much that I decided to just share both.
I even took both treats to a gathering with friends and had about a dozen different taste testers do side-by-side evaluations to help me try and narrow it down and they were all pretty divided about which one they preferred.
We love cranberry season! Some of our other favorite cranberry recipes are White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies , The BEST Cranberry Orange Bread , and Easy Cranberry Fluff Salad !
For the record, I’ll tell you that the shortbread bars are my fave – much, much less sweet, and the cranberry flavor is really at the forefront. But the other three members of my family all prefer these white chocolate cranberry blondies, with their pretty drizzle of white chocolate over the top and additional sugar to cut the tartness of the cranberries even more than the shortbread bars.
I’m thinking you might have to make them both and weigh-in on which ones are your favorite as well.
These white chocolate cranberry blondies are an easy-peasy, one bowl recipe. You can totally swap walnuts or macadamia nuts for the pecans, although I think pecans are especially tasty in this dessert.
There are plenty of white chocolate chips that help boost the sweetness factor of these blondies, which I cut into triangles just for a fun, different shape.
Also I just love, love, love how the fresh cranberries burst while they bake and infuse basically every bite with the sweet-tart juiciness! These bars just aren’t the same made with dried cranberries, so be sure to grab the fresh ones while they are in season!
And that white chocolate drizzle over each bar? That’s a lot of visual bang for very little buck. It’s just ½ cup of white chocolate that I melted in the microwave and drizzled over the blondies after slicing them.
They don’t really need it, since they already have white chocolate chips mixed into the batter, but it sure makes them pretty!
More Cranberry Recipes You’ll Love
- Cranberry Orange Pull-Apart Monkey Bread
- Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce
- Cranberry Jello Salad with Cream Cheese Topping
- Easy Cranberry Apple Pie
- Fresh Cranberry Shortbread Bars
Cake
Festive Cranberry Coconut Cake
Holidays
Cranberry Fluff Salad
Candy
White Chocolate Cranberry Pecan Fudge
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White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies
Ingredients123
- ▢ 1/2 cup salted butter softened
- ▢ 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
- ▢ 2 large eggs
- ▢ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ▢ 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- ▢ 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips divided
- ▢ 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries washed and patted dry
- ▢ 1/2 cup pecans coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13" pan with a parchment paper sling.
- Cream butter and brown sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat in eggs and vanilla. ½ cup salted butter, 1 ½ cups light brown sugar, 2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in another bowl, then add to the butter and sugar mixture, stirring just until combined. 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Stir in the cranberries, 1 cup of the white chocolate, and pecans, then spread into the prepared 9×13" pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown. Do not overbake. 1 ½ cups white chocolate chips, 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, ½ cup pecans
- Cool completely, then cut into individual bars or triangles. Melt the remaining ½ cup of white chocolate in the microwave in short 20 second bursts, stirring well between each burst of heat until melted. Transfer to a plastic bag, snip off the corner, and drizzle over the cooled bars. Let set before serving.
Nutrition
White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup salted butter softened
- 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips divided
- 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries washed and patted dry
- 1/2 cup pecans coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Line a 9x13" pan with a parchment paper sling.
- Cream butter and brown sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat in eggs and vanilla. 1/2 cup salted butter, 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, 2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in another bowl, then add to the butter and sugar mixture, stirring just until combined. 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Stir in the cranberries, 1 cup of the white chocolate, and pecans, then spread into the prepared 9x13" pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown. Do not overbake. 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips, 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, 1/2 cup pecans
- Cool completely, then cut into individual bars or triangles. Melt the remaining 1/2 cup of white chocolate in the microwave in short 20 second bursts, stirring well between each burst of heat until melted. Transfer to a plastic bag, snip off the corner, and drizzle over the cooled bars. Let set before serving.
Nutrition
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