I made a promise to myself I’d take this entire week off running. I woke up this morning and wanted nothing more than to go for a run, but since I’m about to start half Ironman training, I’m sticking with my original plan. I know my legs will appreciate the time to repair themselves, and I would like to avoid burnout if possible.
I’m still doing abs though, just to balance out my beer consumption.
I’ve found it kind of awesome how much more time I get to spend with this little person when I don’t have to run all the time.
However, if I were to give up working out I would quickly go insane, and nobody wants that, so I’m just going to have to find a way to balance everything…my full time job, GRE studying, triathlon training, mom-ing, cooking, blogging…
I made some of these bliss bars a few weeks ago for Mike to take to work; his co-worker loves the Starbucks version. She said these were even better than the real thing! And my mom the white chocolate hater loved them too. I think they definitely deserve a spot on your Christmas baking list!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter, cubed
- 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 6 ounces white chocolate chips, coarsely chopped
- 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 6 ounces white baking chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, line a 13x9 baking pan with parchment, and spray the bottom and sides with nonstick spray.
- To make the bars, melt the butter in a medium saucepan and stir in the brown sugar.
- Transfer to a large bowl and let cool to room temperature.
- Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together and gradually add to the butter mixture. Stir in cranberries and white chocolate chips.
- Spread evenly in the prepared pan and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool on a wire rack.
- To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese and confectioners' sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Gradually add half of the melted white chocolate and beat until smooth.
- Frost the bars, then sprinkle with cranberries.
- Drizzle with remaining melted white chocolate.
- Cut into triangles, and keep in the refirgerator
(adapted from Taste of Home)
