These festive and fun White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies are made with fresh cranberries, white chocolate chips, and chopped pecans, with a little extra melted white chocolate drizzled over the top for good measure! A perfect addition to a holiday cookie platter at a Christmas cookie exchange party!

White chocolate cranberry blondies cut into triangles.


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!

An overhead image of white chocolate cranberry blondies.

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. 

Red kitchen stand mixer with a bowl full of white chocolate cranberry blondie batter.

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!

Baked white chocolate cranberry blondies in a pan.

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!

Sliced white chocolate cranberry blondies with drizzled icing on top.

More Cranberry Recipes You'll Love

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White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies

4.91 from 10 votes
Amy Nash
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 16 servings
These festive and fun White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies are made with fresh cranberries, white chocolate chips, and chopped pecans, with a little extra melted white chocolate drizzled over the top for good measure!  A perfect addition to a holiday cookie platter at a Christmas cookie exchange party!

Ingredients
  

  • ½ cup salted butter, softened
  • 1 ½ cups light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ cups white chocolate chips, divided
  • 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, washed and patted dry
  • ½ cup pecans, coarsely chopped

Instructions
 

  • Heat oven to 350°F. Line a 9x13" pan with a parchment paper sling.  
  • Cream butter and brown sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
  • Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in another bowl, then add to the butter and sugar mixture, stirring just until combined.  
  • Stir in the cranberries, 1 cup of the white chocolate, and pecans, then spread into the prepared 9x13" pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown. Do not overbake.  
  • Cool completely, then cut into individual bars or triangles. Melt the remaining ½ cup of white chocolate in the microwave in short 20 second bursts, stirring well between each burst of heat until melted. Transfer to a plastic bag, snip off the corner, and drizzle over the cooled bars. Let set before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 300kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 42mg | Sodium: 144mg | Potassium: 122mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 225IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 76mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe? Show me on Instagram!Mention @HouseOfNashEats or tag #houseofnasheats!

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About the author

Hi, I'm Amy

I enjoy exploring the world through food, culture, and travel and sharing the adventure with mostly from-scratch, family friendly recipes that I think of as modern comfort cooking.

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Reader questions and reviews

  1. These are so pretty and sound delicious! I'm sad to admin that this year was the first time I'd ever made a blondie - I don't know why I waited so long. They're so good and so easy to customize! Definitely trying your version!

  2. I love blondies and I've never thought to make them this way! I can't wait to try them out.

    Danielle

    momwifefoodie.com

  3. 5 stars
    Oh what a great way to use fresh cranberries! I love myself a good blondie, and adding cranberries just takes it over the top!

  4. Hi Amy, I love to cook and bake, been doing it a long time since I’m getting up there in years! I have thoroughly enjoyed your site, it is so very well written and informative but just the joy in your posts makes me read it to lift my mood at times when life throws me a curve! Thank you for all your hard work and creativity!