Starbucks Knockoff: Cranberry Bliss Bars

I’m a sucker for almost anything labeled “Limited Edition.”  I’m looking at you, Limited Edition Mint M&Ms.  You, too, Dogfish Head’s Punkin Ale.  And same goes for you, Starbucks’ Cranberry Bliss Bars.  Why must you only exist during the winter holidays?  You would be the perfect dessert on a summer afternoon.  If only I could dig into your cranberry goodness and cream cheese deliciousness all year ‘round.  Hooray, now I can!

Knockoff recipes for some of our favorite indulgences are nothing new.  I’ve always hesitated to make a knockoff because it usually doesn’t taste as nearly as good as the original.  Disappointment almost always abounds -- but not here, thankfully!  A quick Google search led me to this recipe for Cranberry Bliss Bars from Food.com.  The result?  Absolutely delicious, and truly every bit as tasty as the original from Starbucks.  So pshaw to the limited edition moniker for Cranberry Bliss Bars.  They’re here whenever you crave them!  Huzzah!

Cranberry Bliss Bars
For the bars:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons orange extract or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I recommend using both!)
2 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¾ cup dried cranberries
¾ cup white chocolate chips

For the cream cheese frosting:
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon orange extract

For the drizzled chocolate finish:
1/3 cup dried cranberries, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons grated orange rind
1/3 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon canola oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with parchment paper.

Begin by making the bars: Beat the butter and sugars until light.  Gently blend in eggs and extract(s), taking care not to overbeat eggs.  Add the flour, baking powder, and ginger and beat briefly.  Add the cranberries and chips, stirring just until incorporated.  Spread the thick batter in the prepared pan.  Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until light brown at the edges and a toothpick in the center tests clean.  Be careful not to overbake or the bars will be dry.  Let cool completely.

While the bars are cooling, make the frosting: blend the cream cheese and butter until fluffy.  Add  extract and confectioners’ sugar and beat until frosting is fluffy and spreadable (add 1 teaspoon of milk to thin slightly, if needed).  Spread evenly over cooled bars.

Drizzled chocolate finish: Sprinkle the orange zest and chopped cranberries over the frosted bars.  Next, mix the white chocolate and oil in a glass measuring cup.  Microwave 1 minute; stir until melted.  Use a fork or whisk to drizzle the white chocolate diagonally across the bars.

Now for the tough part, allow one hour for the white chocolate to set before cutting.  Starbucks cuts their bars into triangles; for the authentic touch you could do this, too.  I usually dive right in with a knife and fork -- so delectable.  Enjoy and laugh in the face of "limited edition!"

Kahlua Blondies

Oh my gosh, is there anything better than an ooey, gooey blondie fresh from the oven?  How about a drunken blondie!  No, no, I’m not referring to the latest LiLo scandal.  The brownie’s lighter, sweeter cousin, the blondie, is my favorite cookie bar -- the perfect marriage between a chocolate chip cookie and a brownie.  Jazzing it up with the kiss of Kahlua adds a wonderfully subtle sweetness and meshes well with the chocolate chunks.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.  Excuse me while I get another piece…

Kahlua Blondies
8 Tbs (1/2 cup) butter, melted
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbs Kahlua
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease an 8 x 8 inch baking pan and set aside.  In a large bowl mix the melted butter and brown sugar until well combined.  Add the egg, vanilla and Kahlua; mix well.  Add the flour and salt; stir to combine.  Pour into the greased baking pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Slice into bars, serve with a tall glass of cold milk and enjoy!

Carrot Apple Cookies – A Heart Healthy Salute to Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays.  Love is in the air, the fragrance of roses wafts around every street corner (or maybe just in my mind), and the promise of chocolate looms.  A heart in love should also be a healthy heart, which motivated me to craft a tasty cookie that is equally wholesome.  The apple and carrot in this recipe keeps the cookies moist while lending a subtle sweetness.  The whole wheat flour adds a hearty, almost nutty flavor which pairs nicely with the texture of the fruit and veggie here.  Whole wheat, carrots and apples… a love that will last forever.

Carrot Apple Cookies
½ cup grated carrot
¼ cup grated apple
1 ½ Tbs lemon zest
1 ¾ cups whole wheat flour
¼ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
10 Tbs butter (1 ¼ sticks butter), softened
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Combine the carrot, apple, lemon, flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.  In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and sugars.  Add the flour mixture and stir together until thoroughly combined.  Divide the dough into two equal portions, flatten into a disk shape and wrap each in plastic wrap.  Chill the dough disks for thirty minutes.

After half an hour, remove one of the disks and place onto a lightly floured countertop or large cutting board.  Roll the dough to about a ¼-inch thickness.  Dip your cookie cutter into a small bowl of flour, then cut the cookies and arrange on a baking sheet.  Sprinkle a pinch of sugar over the cookies before baking.  Pop into the oven and bake for 12 minutes or until slightly browned.  Repeat with the remaining dough.  Enjoy to your heart’s content!  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Chunky Monkey Cookies

 

Cookies!  Is there anything better than a warm, chewy round disk of goodness bursting with chocolate chunks and nuts?  Yes, if the answer includes bananas!  These cookies are so hearty, yet delectable, that you could eat them for breakfast without feeling guilty.  I did!  Though, truthfully, I could probably eat cookies for any meal.  I’m guessing that you’re the same way, too.

I was inspired to throw bananas into cookie batter while staring at a rather sad looking bunch that had long since passed their prime.  Sure, I could freeze ‘em to make a smoothie.  Or maybe throw together a quick banana bread.  Fine options, but really quite boring.  Ta-daaaa… banana cookies, or more appropriately, really chunky banana cookies.  The monkeys at the zoo would go nuts for these babies.  I know you will too!  Slightly sweet, equally savory, hearty and comforting… bananas have a new best friend.

Chunky Monkey Cookies
¼ cup butter, softened
1 banana, mashed
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp baking soda
¾ cups flour
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
½ cup rolled oats
¼ cup walnuts, chopped (or your favorite nut)
1 cup chocolate chunks (or chips, if you don’t have chunks)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a small bowl combine the baking soda, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl beat the butter and banana until thoroughly combined.  Add the egg and beat again.  Next, add the sugars and vanilla and mix until incorporated.

Add the flour mixture and stir just until combined.  Add the oats, nuts and chocolate chunks and mix well.  Drop by rounded tablespoons (or use a small ice cream scoop) onto the lined baking sheet.  You should get about 18 cookies (not all on one baking sheet, of course), depending on size.  Bake for 12 minutes or until moderately browned.  Go bananas!

Speedy Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

The mood to make cookies might strike at any moment.  This can be rather inconvenient when you’re craving freshly baked cookies but your butter is still in the refrigerator, stiff and cold.  So what’s a girl with a hankering for cookies to do?  Sure, I could wait a few hours for the butter to soften on the counter, or maybe try my luck and pop it in the microwave without making it melt.  Neither option is a good one.  I choose option number three: remove butter from the equation entirely!

A friend of mine introduced me to the convenience of making cookies with vegetable oil.  Yes, I was aghast when I first heard this suggestion, too.  After all, it’s the butter that makes a cookie truly delectable.  But you’ll be pleasantly surprised when you taste these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  The oil keeps them moist and most importantly, it makes these cookies very fast and easy to make.  Feel like a cookie right now?  In just a few minutes you’ll be savoring the melty chocolate and the chewy oatmeal, piping hot from the oven.  I make these with an equal measure of whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour, because I try to get little health benefits wherever I can.  The whole wheat flour also adds a subtle but pleasant nuttiness, and a slightly chewier texture.  Try it and let me know what you think about these.  I’ll definitely make them whenever I get a sudden yearning for cookies without pre-planning for softened butter!

Speedy Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies
½ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup rolled oats
½ cup chocolate chunks

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a small bowl, combine the flours, baking soda and baking powder.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the salt, oil, sugars, egg and vanilla.  Add the flour mixture and stir just until combined.  Mix in the oats and chocolate chunks.

Drop by rounded tablespoons (or use a small ice cream scoop) onto the lined baking sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.  Enjoy!

Nutty Coconutty Whole Wheat Cookie Bars

I recently made coconut ice cream which called for a massive quantity of egg yolks.  Tonight I found myself staring at the bowl of leftover egg whites, wondering what to do with them beyond an omelet.  Add to that quandary some leftover coconut and I was in a true puzzle.  By good fortune, I stumbled upon a recipe at a blog recommended by a friend and used the recipe for Low-Fat Oatmeal Chocolate Cookie Bars as a springboard for my own version.

Admittedly, my version is not quite low in fat.  With significantly less oatmeal, slightly more eggs, and a smorgasboard of mix-ins, these Nutty Coconutty Whole Wheat Cookie Bars are more of a mid-afternoon snack and less of a healthy treat.  But the clearly discernable whole wheat flour in every bite easily fools me into believing that I’m eating something good for my body.  Join me in the illusion.  The delectable taste, however, isn’t fiction!

Nutty Coconutty Whole Wheat Cookie Bars
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated white sugar
5 egg whites
2 tbs whole milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
¾ cup old-fashioned oats
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips  
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup coconut

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Combine the oats, flour, baking soda, chocolate chips, almonds and coconut in a large bowl.  Set aside.  In another large bowl mix the oil, brown and white sugars, egg whites, milk, vanilla and salt until very thoroughly combined.

Add the oat mixture to the egg mixture.  Stir gently, just until combined.  Pour into a greased 9x9 inch baking pan.  Bake for approximately 25 minutes, or until done.  Cool, slice  and enjoy!

The Greatest Cookie. Ever.

I love chocolate chip cookies.  I could make an entire meal of nothing but chocolate chip cookies.  Three square meals?  Pshaw.  Give me three round meals of gooey chocolate, soft buttery cookie and a hint of nuttiness.  Heavenly!  Throw in an unexpected twist and it’s sheer bliss.

I found nirvana in this cookie.  After several (tasty) attempts with different ratios of sugars, I finally found the perfect sweetness and texture.  A modification of the cookie variously known as a Cowboy Cookie or a Kitchen Sink Cookie (among others), this recipe combines the chewiness of an oatmeal cookie with the soft bite of hazelnuts coupled with a smooth chocolate finish to every bite.  I literally craved this cookie before breakfast, after breakfast and every minute of the day until the cookie jar was very quickly empty.

The recipe easily lends itself to substitutions.  I purchased a large bag of unshelled hazelnuts recently, and I couldn’t wait to crack them open.  Of course, I didn’t realize how far hazelnut shells can fly under the pressure of a nutcracker!  I’m still finding tiny bits of shells underfoot in the far corners of the kitchen.  But if you’re not a fan of hazelnuts, try this recipe with macadamia nuts, walnuts or your favorite.  Similar to the mint brownies made earlier in The Delectable Kitchen, sea salt is the secret ingredient that knocks this off the charts of deliciousness.  I guarantee you’ll find bliss with your first bite.

The Greatest Cookie. Ever.
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup light brown sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 ½ cups old fashioned oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped
½ cup shredded coconut (unsweetened, if you can find it)
Sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars until creamy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time.  Stir in vanilla.

Slowly add the flour mixture in small batches, mixing after each addition just until combined.  Be careful not to overmix.  Then, stir in the oatmeal, chocolate chips, hazelnuts and coconut.

Drop by rounded tablespoons (or use a small ice cream scoop) onto an ungreased baking sheet.  Sprinkle with sea salt.  Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, or until brown.  Eat to your heart’s delight.