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
Festive Cranberry Coconut Cake
Cranberry Fluff Salad
White Chocolate Cranberry Pecan Fudge
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