These Cranberry Bliss Cookies are a riff on the popular Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars – just in cookie form!
Every year, I forget how much I love those Cranberry Bliss Bars at Starbucks. For some reason, I’m always reluctant to order one, but once I do, I’m instantly reminded of their incredible deliciousness. But I’m on maternity leave, and I opted for the extended leave, so this momma is poor, haha!! So that means I can’t be indulging in these very often.
What I can do, however, is make something at home that tastes just as amazing (if not better), and it’s something I can do on my tight budget.
I knew I wanted a cookie, and not the traditional bar. There are approximately a million copycat Cranberry Bliss Bar recipes on the internet, and they’re pretty spot on, so anything I could do would just be a drop in the bucket. I wanted to create something different, so cookie is the direction I went.
I knew I wanted a soft sugar cookie base, and love the way the Swig Sugar Cookies have ruffled, craggy edges, so I adapted a recipe from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe to fit my needs. Swig Sugar cookies took the internet by storm a few years ago, and are a cookie made famous by the Swig Soda Shops in Utah. I’ve been to Utah several times, but never had the pleasure of trying one, so I can’t say for sure if the recipe I used is authentic or not. What I can tell you, is that it’s sweet, soft and scrumptious, regardless of it’s authenticity.
To figure out the flavour profile of the Starbucks bars, I went out and bought (re: splurged on) a box of them, and read the ingredients. Candied orange peel and ginger are the big flavour components of the bars, but candied orange peel is too fancy for me (also, as stated above, I’m on a budget and candied orange peel is definitely a luxury this girl doesn’t need). I found that adding some ground ginger and orange extract gave me great flavour. The original bars are studded with white chocolate chips, and in my first test run, I added some to the cookie, but I was not a fan! White chocolate is an important component, so instead of adding them to the cookies, I added a ton of melted chocolate in the frosting, plus added a beautiful drizzle to dress things up. The frosting is super simple and has 5 simple ingredients – cream cheese, melted white chocolate, powdered sugar and orange and vanilla extracts.
The end result is a cookie that has garnered rave reviews from my co-workers (I sent them to work with the hubby), and many requests for the recipe. My work friends love pretty much everything I pawn off on them, but these have had the best reviews by far. These are definitely a new favourite of mine, and will most likely be in the holiday rotation every year from here on out.
Cranberry Bliss Cookies
Ingredients
Orange Cranberry Sugar Cookies
- 1/2 cup butter at room temperature
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup + 2 tbsp powdered sugar
- ¼ cup + 2 tbsp canola oil
- 2 tbsp sour cream
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tsp orange extract
- 2 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp cream of tartar
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup dried cranberries roughly chopped
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp orange extract
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- Finely chopped cranberries
- 1/3 cup white chocolate chips melted, for drizzling
Instructions
Orange Cranberry Sugar Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add butter, sugar and powdered sugar and beat until combined, about 1-2 minutes. Add in the oil and beat until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides.
- Add in the sour cream, egg, vanilla and orange extract and beat until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt.
- Add the flour mixture into the bowl with the wet mixture and pulse the mixture slowly until the dough just barely starts to come together. Add in the cranberries and mix until everything is fully incorporated and there are no more streaks of flour.
- Scoop dough into 1-2 tbsp balls (I did mine about 1 ½ tbsp) and place about 2 inches apart on the ,baking sheet. Using a flat-bottomed glass (I actually used my 1-cup dry measuring cup), gently press the tops of each ball to flatten the cookie until it’s about ½ inch thick. The edges of the cookie will be ruffled and craggy.
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. 10 minutes was the magic number for me on a light coloured baking sheet. You do not want the cookies to start turning brown on the edges at all.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes on the pan before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Scrape down the sides.
- In a small bowl, melt the white chocolate in the microwave in 20 second intervals, mixing in between.
- Add the melted white chocolate into the mixer with the cream cheese and beat until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Mix in the vanilla and orange extracts.
- Add the powered sugar and beat until fluffy, about 4-5 minutes.
To Ice the cookies
- Scoop about 1 tbsp of the icing on to each cookie, and using an offset spatula, spread the icing into a nice, even circle. Sprinkle the tops with chopped cranberries and drizzle with melted white chocolate.
Nutritional calculation was provided by WP Recipe Maker and is an estimation only. For special diets or medical issues please use your preferred calculator
Cookie recipe adapted from Mels Kitchen Cafe
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