Cranberry White Chocolate Cookie Bars

These cookie bars are a lot easier to make than they look. The final result is a beautiful, soft, white chocolate-drizzled triangle full of different flavors and textures. These bars are the perfect dessert to bring to a holiday party - if they make it out of the kitchen!

This recipe (derived from Taste of Home and inspired by Starbucks 💁🏼) involves prepping a few different elements and then putting them all together at the end for one big holiday flavor mashup, so be ready for a little multi-tasking (but it's well-worth the effort)!

Ingredients:
Cookie Bars:
3/4 cup butter (1.5 sticks), melted
1.5 cups dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 + 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Buttercream Frosting:
2 sticks butter, softened
3+ cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-2 tablespoons milk

Topping:
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1 tablespoon milk
Dried cranberries

Tools:
9"x13" baking pan
baking sheet
parchment paper
3 mixing bowls
cooling rack
2 small microwave-safe bowls
Sifter

Instructions:
Cookie bars: 🍪

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and leave out 2 sticks of butter to soften (for frosting).
2. Melt 3/4 cup butter in one of the microwave-safe bowls. Pour the melted butter into a mixing bowl and stir in brown sugar.
3. Beat the eggs into the wet ingredient mixture one at a time, followed by the vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, spices.
5. Stir the dry into the wet ingredients a little at a time. Once combined, add the dried cranberries, shredded coconut, and white chocolate chips.
6. Spread the thick batter evenly into the baking pan. Bake for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Toppings Part I: Toasted Almonds 🌰

1. Add a sheet of parchment paper to your baking sheet. Spread the sliced almonds in an even layer across the baking sheet.
2. Bake for about 10 minutes (in the same oven as the cookie bars) until lightly browned.

Toppings Part II: Toasted Coconut 🌴

1. Take the almonds out of the oven once they are browned and fragrant. Move them to a plate.
2. Using the same pan and parchment paper, spread out the toasted coconut on the baking sheet and bake (in the same oven as the cookie bars) for about 10 minutes until golden. 

Remove the bars from the oven once they are ready and leave them to cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Remove them from the pan and allow the bars to finish cooling on a wire rack for about 30 minutes. While the cookie bars are cooling, make the frosting.

Buttercream Frosting: 🍰

1. Sift 3 cups powdered sugar.
2. Using the softened butter, beat until creamy.
3. Add the powdered sugar to the butter a little at a time and mix.
4. Once the sugar is fully incorporated, add salt, vanilla extract, and 1 tablespoon of milk.
5. Beat until the consistency is the same as a can of frosting. If the mixture is too stiff, add another tablespoon of milk (you can add up to 4 tablespoons). If the frosting is too loose, sift and add a little more powdered sugar.

Make the melted white chocolate right before assembling the cookie bars. All other ingredients can be left out on the counter until it is time to bring everything together.

Toppings Part III: Melted White Chocolate 🍫

1. Using a microwave-safe bowl, microwave the remaining white chocolate chips for 15 seconds. Remove and stir. Repeat this process until the chocolate chips become a chunky chocolate mound.
2. Add 1 tablespoon milk and stir until chocolate is smooth. You may need to microwave again for about 10 seconds and then stir.

Assembly: 🏆

1. Spread a layer of buttercream frosting on the cookie bars - this layer can be as thick you want.
2. Add the toasted coconut, toasted almonds, and dried cranberries to the buttercream layer.
3. Using a fork, drizzle the melted white chocolate over the toppings.
4. Once the chocolate is dry, cut into triangles and enjoy!

😛😛😛

Tips and Variations:

• Add parchment paper to your baking pan, leaving the ends of the paper sticking out. This way, the bars can be lifted out of the pan to finish cooling on a wire rack.
• Try using a cream cheese frosting instead of butter cream. This would help balance out the sweetness of the white chocolate.
• The cookie bar recipe would work wonderfully as regular cookies! Try dropping 1-inch rounds of the batter onto your baking sheet and bake at 350 for ~15 minutes. Finish with a white chocolate drizzle.