Don’t be a square this holiday season. We spruced up the traditional blondie formula with some spices, white chocolate, and cranberries. Topped with a velvety White Chocolate Frosting, these bars will be on your to-bake list all year long.
Spiced Cranberry White Chocolate Blondies
Makes 10 blondies
Ingredients
- 1½ cups (330 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
- ¾ cup (170 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 large eggs (100 grams), room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (4 grams) vanilla extract
- 1½ cups (188 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (3 grams) kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon (1 gram) ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon (1 gram) ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon (1 gram) ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 5 ounces (150 grams) white chocolate baking bars, roughly chopped
- ½ cup (78 grams) roughly chopped dried sweetened cranberries
- White Chocolate Frosting (recipe follows)
- Garnish: assorted holiday sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter a 9-inch square baking pan; line pan with parchment paper, letting excess extend over sides of pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together brown sugar and melted butter until well combined; whisk in eggs and vanilla.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Fold flour mixture into sugar mixture just until combined. Fold in white chocolate and cranberries. Spoon batter into prepared pan; spread into an even layer using a small offset spatula.
- Bake until golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack.
- Using excess parchment as handles, remove from pan. Cut in half, creating 2 rectangles. Cut each half into 5 triangles with 3-inch bases.
- Place White Chocolate Frosting in a large piping bag fitted with an open star piping tip (Wilton 1M); pipe frosting onto cooled blondies, working from tip to base of each triangle. Garnish with sprinkles, if desired.
White Chocolate Frosting
Makes 2½ cups
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup (150 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- 7.5 ounces (215 grams) white chocolate baking bars, melted and cooled for
- 5 minutes
- 1¼ cups (150 grams) confectioners’ sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- Green gel food coloring*
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter at medium speed until smooth, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Beat in melted white chocolate. With mixer on low speed, gradually add confectioners’ sugar, beating until combined. Add vanilla and salt; increase speed to medium, and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, stopping to scrape sides of bowl. Stir in enough food coloring until desired color is reached. Use immediately.
Notes
*We used Wilton Gel Icing Color in Kelly Green and Juniper Green.
