Chocolate Cranberry Bars
‘Tis the season for cranberries. I love cranberries and fall is the time of year that I start incorporating them into my recipes. Recently, I was trying to think of a dessert to make using items in my pantry. I pulled out dried cranberries and chocolate chips. Thinking about how I could incorporate these two together is how I came about this delicious chocolate cranberry bar recipe.
The dough used in this recipe comes from a recipe my mother used for her cookies while growing up. My mother makes some of the most delicious desserts. So, you could say I learned a lot of my baking techniques from her and I hope to pass them down to my children one day too.
Jump to RecipeYou can’t go through fall and winter without having something with cranberries in it. These bars will not fail you on flavor or richness. They will keep you coming back for more and probably won’t last long in your house (they don’t last long in mine). The combination of cranberries with the two types of chocolate makes such a delightful treat.
The soft, brown sugary, blondie base is the perfect compliment to the tart cranberries. The two different chocolates used in this recipe also really balance one another. For this recipe I used Ocean Spray Craisins and McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract.
How to make:
To make the chocolate cranberry bars begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Make sure that your eggs are at room temperature for this recipe. Your bars will turn out better.
In a bowl, combine the vegetable shortening with the granulated and brown sugar. I usually use a mixer to do this, but you can cream them together with a spoon as well. Afterwards, add in your eggs and vanilla extract. Mix together well with the shortening and sugars.
Next, in a separate bowl combine all of your dry ingredients. Whisk together well. In batches, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix well until the dough forms.
Finally, add in the chocolates and dried cranberries. Mix slowly, making sure there is an even distribution of the chips and fruit in the dough. Spread it out in a prepared 9×9 baking pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown or toothpick runs clear. Once the bars have finished baking, allow time to cool and cut into squares. Serve warm or at room temperature. Bon Appetit!
More dessert recipes like these chocolate cranberry bars can be found here.
Chocolate Cranberry Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- In a mixer, cream the shortening with sugars. Sugars need to be mixed well with the vegetable shortening.
- Next, add eggs and vanilla extract. Mix altogether.
- In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients- flour, baking soda and salt. Whisk these ingredients together.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to wet ingredients mixing well. You will want to see a dough begin to form.
- Add in the mini chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and dried cranberries.
- Once all of the ingredients have been mixed well. Transfer it to a prepared 9×9 baking pan. Spread it out evenly and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Once cool, cut into bars and enjoy. Can be enjoyed warm or at room temperature. Store in a closed container.
