Don't Forget to Refill

This is my inaugural post and for the occasion I baked something sweet!  Inspired by Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars, I decided to make Cranberry Almond Cookie Bars.  There are a few reasons I didn't actually make Cranberry Bliss Bars.  The foremost being that I like trying out things that I come up with in my head.  But that rule can easily be overridden by my tendency to be lazy.  However, laziness is the other reason I tried my own recipe.

I looked up a recipe for the Starbucks treat and discovered that they took brown sugar.  Last time I made some kind of tasty cake I used all the brown sugar and was too lazy to write it on the list.  Hence, no brown sugar for Cranberry Bliss Bars.  So after the initial laziness to write the brown sugar my general forgetfulness took over and I have yet to purchase or write brown sugar on the shopping list.  And it's not the only ingredient I'm lacking in my pantry.

I like to keep a rough mental list of what is in my pantry and what is not.  When I decided on what to put in my Cranberry Almond Bars I was pretty sure I had everything I needed.  Unfortunately, (or maybe fortunately), the list in my head was a little rougher than I thought.  I had everything I needed EXCEPT one of the title ingredients.  See, we had had a bag of Craisins in the pantry forever so I was pretty sure they were still there.  I was wrong.  Upon assembling my list of ingredients I came up short in the cranberry department.  Lucky for me I had a bag of mixed dried fruits (cherries, cranberries, raisins and plums) marketed as an Antioxidant Blend by Sunsweet.  I figured they'd work so I threw them in the pile and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

 

Get it:

1/2 cup salted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
*3/4 cup almond bark, rough chopped (can use white chocolate chips as substitute)
*3/4 cup Craisins (or your preference of dried fruit, chopped to 1/4 in. pieces)
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup slivered almonds
1 bottle Wilton ready to use cookie icing, white (that's right, I cheated on this part)

* if you're feeling froggy, throw in a whole cup instead


Do it:

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition.  Add almond extract and mix well.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda; stir with a whisk to combine.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until you have about 1/2 cup of the dry ingredients left.  Add the almond bark and Craisins and mix until just combined.  Spread into a greased 9x13 baking dish.  Top with a thin, but complete, layer of slivered almonds  Bake at 375 degrees for 25-28 minutes, or until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.  Immediately after you remove the pan from the oven, string the frosting on in a patter of your choice.  Cool completely, enjoy!