Blond Brownies with White Chocolate and Cranberries
These Blonde Brownies with White Chocolate and Cranberries are buttery, thick, chewy and perfect for an easy holiday dessert!
Servings 16 bars
Calories 382.2kcal
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- ½ cup granulated white sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sweetened dried cranberries
- 12 ounces white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (or 325 degrees F for dark or nonstick pans). Spray 9 x 13-inch pan with nonstick spray and set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter, brown sugar and white sugar on high speed for 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla and eggs (one at a time), while mixing on low. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl, as necessary.
- In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Slowly add flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low speed, just until combined.
- Use the spatula to gently fold in the cranberries and white chocolate chips.
- Transfer batter to the prepared baking dish. Bake for exactly 30 minutes, being careful not to overbake the blondies (a toothpick may not come out clean, and that’s fine – the bars will continue to cook and set as they cool).
- Cool blondies on a wire rack before slicing and serving.
Notes
- To make these exactly like the Cranberry Bliss Bars from Starbucks, finish the bars with cream cheese frosting and sprinkle dried cranberries over top.
- How to make blondies chewy: Be careful not to over-bake the bars or they will not have that soft, chewy texture that we all love. When you remove them from the oven, the center will still be soft and may even look slightly underbaked. That's fine! The blondies will firm up as they cool, and will be perfectly buttery and chewy!
- Are blonde brownies supposed to be gooey? The baked, cooled bars will not be gooey, but they will be soft, buttery and chewy on the inside -- very similar to a fudgy brownie.
- Why are my blondies cake-like or crumbly? These blondies will not be cake-like because they have such a high fat-to-flour ratio. The bars will be dry and crumbly if you bake them for too long. That's why it's important to pull them out of the oven when they're still soft and slightly under-baked.
- Make blonde brownies with walnuts, pecans or macadamia nuts if you'd like some added crunch! Just fold in about 1 cup of the chopped nuts at the same time that you add the white chocolate chips and cranberries.
- Turn this into a butterscotch blondie recipe by swapping out the white chocolate chips and cranberries. Instead, replace those two ingredients with about 3 cups of butterscotch chips.
- For a classic combination, make these blonde brownies with chocolate chips instead of the white chocolate and cranberry.
- Make these cranberry orange blondies by adding about 1 tablespoon of orange zest to the batter, along with the cranberries and white chocolate chips.
- How to store blonde brownies: Store the blondies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
- How to freeze blondies: Wrapped tightly, the blondies will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- If baking with unsalted butter, increase the salt to 1 teaspoon.
Nutrition
Serving: 1blonde brownie | Calories: 382.2kcal | Carbohydrates: 53.6g | Protein: 2.4g | Fat: 21.2g | Saturated Fat: 13.5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3.2g | Cholesterol: 54.2mg | Sodium: 177.1mg | Potassium: 66.5mg | Fiber: 2.9g | Sugar: 34g