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These simple cookie bars combine store-bought sugar cookie dough with tart dried cranberries and a rich white chocolate ganache to create one of the best (and easiest!) holiday baked treats you’ll ever make. Don’t be surprised when “cranberry white chocolate cookie bars” are at the top of everyone’s wish list next year!
Looking for a copycat recipe for Starbucks’ cranberry white chocolate bliss bars? We’ve got you covered!
How to Make This Recipe
See recipe card below for full list of measurements, ingredients, and instructions.
Start with the sugar cookie base.
Mix together dried cranberries and 2 packages of ready-to-bake sugar cookie dough, then spread the cookie dough out across the bottom of a prepared pan. Make the layer of dough completely even all the way across, to ensure everything bakes consistently! Bake the sugar cookie base for 20-ish minutes or until the dough is set around the edges and lightly golden in the center.
Make sure the sugar cookie dough is at (or at least close to!) room temperature before you get started. It’ll be much easier to work with!
Make the Ganache.
Microwave white chocolate chips and unsalted butter in a completely clean, completely dry bowl. Be very careful that absolutely no moisture comes in contact with the chocolate, or it WILL seize! Once the ingredients are completed melted and the mixture is totally smooth, pour the chocolate over the sugar cookie base and spread it out evenly, covering the cookie layer completely.
Chill and serve.
Pop the pan of chocolate-covered cookie dough into the fridge and chill it for 30 or so minutes, until the ganache has set up completely. When it has, you can use the parchment paper in the pan to lift the sugar cookie sheet out of the pan. Try not to break the full sheet if you can help it! Once it’s out, use a sharp knife to cut the sheet into 16 individual squares, then serve the cranberry white chocolate cookie bars and enjoy!
What I Love About This Recipe
- If your holidays are anything like mine, you’re working full time while alsooo… running multiple kids to a thousand different practices, rehearsals, recitals, and lessons (per kid!); organizing holiday parties at school (big HI to the fellow room parents reading along); trying to nail down THE. PERFECT. GIFTS. for everyone on the list without also spending a fortune; making sure the Elf (okayyyyy, elves) move every day; figuring out what to cook for dinner; and trying to remember to drink enough water. Among other things. Add in holiday baking? Well, thankfully these cranberry white chocolate cookie bars make SOMETHING on the to-do list a little easier!
- To make these cookie bars, you only need 4 ingredients (5 if you want sugar pearls on top). Even better – one of those ingredients is store-bought sugar cookie dough. Not even sugar cookie mix!! Refrigerated, fully-prepared, ready-to-bake, sugar cookie dough. Go ahead, give the stand mixer the night off.
- Cranberry cookie bars are sweet and rich, yes, but also light and winter-wonderlandy, with bursts of chewy dried cranberries and a decadent layer of white chocolate ganache. The cookie layer is beautifully simple, the perfect go-between for tart and sugary. I used sugar pearls on top to add a little crunch to the otherwise melt-in-your-mouth goodness happening here, but those are totally optional, so leave them out if that’s not your jam.
Recipe Variations
- For Chocolate-ier Cookies: Mix ½ cup of white chocolate chips into the sugar cookie dough along with the dried cranberries. You’ll have morsels of white chocolate throughout the cookie layer, in addition to the white chocolate ganache on top!
- Sugar Cookie Dough: The ready-to-bake refrigerated dough makes these cookie bars SO, SO, SO easy. You’re not required to use it, though! Feel free to make your own dough either from a store-bought mix or from your favorite homemade sugar cookie recipe. Just make sure you end up with enough dough to form the thick base of the bars!
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions or variations listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
Easy 4-Ingredient Cranberry White Chocolate Cookie Bars
Equipment
- Oven
- 9×13 baking pan metal preferred
- parchment paper
- large mixing bowl
- large silicone spatula
- wire cooling rack
- Medium microwave-safe bowl clean, completely dry
- Silicone spatula clean, completely dry
- Sharp chef's knife
Ingredients
For the Cranberry Sugar Cookie Layer
- 2 16-ounce packages refrigerated sugar cookie dough at room temperature, see Notes
- ¾ cup dried cranberries
For the White Chocolate Ganache
- 12 ounces white chocolate chips or chopped white baking chocolate
- ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
To Decorate (Optional)
- white sugar pearls
Instructions
For the Cranberry Sugar Cookie Layer
- Preheat oven to 375° Fahrenheit. Line 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper, leaving excess parchment paper hanging over sides of pan. Excess paper will act as "handles" to help remove cookies from pan after baking.
- Add 2 16-ounce packages refrigerated sugar cookie dough and ¾ cup dried cranberries to large mixing bowl. Gently fold cranberries into cookie dough until fully incorporated and evenly distributed.
- Transfer cranberry sugar cookie dough to prepared pan. Spread and/or press dough out into flat layer covering parchment paper, making sure dough layer is evenly thick across entire pan.
- Place pan in preheated oven. Bake cookie dough 20 minutes, then begin checking doneness. Continue baking cookie dough as needed until edges of dough layer are set and center of cookie dough surface is lightly golden-brown. Note: be very careful not to over-bake cookie dough. If unsure, remove pan from oven.
- When cookie dough layer is ready, remove pan from oven and place on top of wire cooling rack. Let cookie layer cool in pan until room temperature.
For the White Chocolate Ganache
- Once cookie dough layer is cooled, add 12 ounces white chocolate chips and ½ cup unsalted butter to microwave-safe bowl. Microwave chocolate and butter on 50% power in 20-second increments, stirring mixture after each increment, until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth. Note: do not over-heat chocolate and be very careful not to get any water in mixture.
- Once chocolate mixture is smooth, pour mixture directly on top of cookie dough layer in baking pan. Spread chocolate mixture out across surface of cookie dough layer and into corners in one even layer, covering cookie dough completely.
To Decorate (Optional)
- Once chocolate ganache layer is smooth, sprinkle white sugar pearls across surface as desired.
To Serve
- Place baking pan in refrigerator and chill cookie bars, uncovered, 30 minutes or until chocolate layer has hardened.
- Once chocolate layer has hardened, remove baking pan from refrigerator. Carefully loosen cookie bar sheet from pan, using excess parchment paper as "handles" to lift cookie bars out of pan as needed. Set parchment paper and cookie bar sheet on counter, cutting board, or other flat work surface.
- If desired, use knife to carefully trim away outer edges of cookie bar sheet. Slice sheet into 4 rows of 4 cookie bars per row. Serve as desired.
- Sugar Cookie Dough: Use your favorite ready-to-bake refrigerated dough! I used Pillsbury sugar cookie dough, but any brand will work fine. You can even use your favorite homemade sugar cookie recipe – just prepare the dough in advance and jump in with this recipe once it’s ready.
- Servings: The number of cookie bars you get from this recipe depends entirely on the size of the cookie bars you cut. You’re welcome to make them as small or as large as you like.
- Bake Time: Times will vary from one oven to another based on a number of factors. Keep an eye on the cookie dough and go by visual cues rather than an exact time. Your total bake time could range anywhere from 20 to 35 minutes.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
Did You Make This Recipe?
Tag @40aprons on Instagram and be sure to leave a review on the blog post!
Holiday Treats You Have to Try
- Cranberry Bliss Bars
- Christmas Dessert Grazing Board
- Taylor Swift Chai Cookies
- Keto White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake (Sugar-Free)
- Christmas Confetti Cookies
- Hot Cocoa Dip
- Easy Cranberry Cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Caramel Sauce
- Gluten-Free Gingerbread Cookies
- Keto Peppermint Layer Brownies
- Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies
The Sweetest Season
This recipe is part of The Sweetest Season, an annual virtual cookie swap co-hosted by Erin of The Speckled Palate and Susannah of Feast + West. Every year, food bloggers get together to share new holiday cookie recipes to make and give.
This year we are raising money for Cookies 4 Kids’ Cancer, which is a recognized 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to funding research for new, innovative and less-toxic treatments for childhood cancer.
Help us raise money for this important cause! Donate through our fundraising page. Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is in a matching window with their friends at OXO, meaning OXO will be matching every dollar raised through the end of 2024, up to $100,000. Whatever money we raise will automatically double on our fundraising page!
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These cookie bars sound like the perfect recipe for a last minute sweet to take and share! Adding cranberries makes them ideal for the holidays, too.
They really are! Be sure to let us know if you try them! 😊
Gosh, I love anything involving cranberries this time of year, and these cookie bars sound and look delicious! Also, I love that they call for storebought cookie dough because sometimes, you need an awesome treat without needing to make it totally from scratch. I have no doubt these will be enjoyed in our household.
Thank you for your support and enthusiasm for The Sweetest Season! I always love seeing what you bake and am so appreciative you joined us for another year of fun.
Thank you so much for including us, Erin! We’re already looking forward to this year!
Great way to whip up a festive treat!
We totally agree! 😊
These cookie bars look like the perfect blend of sweet and tart — what a fantastic addition to holiday cookie boxes! Thank you so much for participating in The Sweetest Season this year!
Thank you so much, Susannah! We love being a part of The Sweetest Season!
I love how the tart cranberries pair beautifully with the white chocolate and sugar cookies dough!
Aren’t they lovely? Thank you so much, Nicoletta!
I love the white chocolate ganache layer – what a great twist!
It’s my favorite part, too!
I love how quick and easy they are! I am feeling the time crunch this year and have been searching for some quick recipes to add to my trays to get me ahead. Thank you!
Happy to help, Michaela!
Um, hello delicious and easy! I so totally want to eat that whole pan. Thank goodness they aren’t here in my house or I would.