Cranberry Almond Blondies

November 16, 2025Teresa Ambra

Cranberries, almonds and vanilla baking chips star in these delicious bar-type cookies. Cranberry Almond Blondies are rich, decadent and divine! The butter is browned before using in the cookie or the icing. Bananas add wonderful moistness and sweetness to the bar. Almond flavoring and sliced almonds provide a spectacular one-two punch that make these brownies over the top. All you’ll be able to think about is: “yes, please!”

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Cranberry Almond Blondies are a little bit more involved than most brownie type recipes with icing. Browning the butter and allowing it to cool takes extra time. But the flavor it adds to the cookie base as well as the icing is spectacular. There are many steps to the recipe so take your time, read the recipe thoroughly, and take it slowly so you don’t get anything out of sequence and make sure you have enough time to make them.

I’ve found when making this recipe that it’s better to refrigerate the bars (after they cool completely!) for about an hour. Then cut the blondies into bars before serving. The blondies really do not need to be refrigerated for a few days, but the bars sure are a lot easier to cut if you do this step. You’ll also get nice even cuts without tearing up the blondies while trying to cut into them.

If you’re looking for a dessert to wow your family, friends or co-workers during the holidays, this one will knock their socks off! And, everyone will want the recipe!

SPECIAL NOTE: I made eight batches of these blondies for our Christmas Cookie Extravaganza this year. Most of my pictures will reflect a double batch baked into an 18×26″ cookie sheet pan.

Cranberry Almond Blondies are rich, decadent and irresistible!

Cranberries, almonds, vanilla chips, bananas and browned butter make superb brownies!

These festive, beautiful cookies are terrific for holiday parties.

Cranberry Almond Blondies are nice and crunchy. These sweet treats are fabulous!

Here’s what I did.

I used these ingredients for the blondie. I doubled this recipe for the following pictures.

Place butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil.

Once the butter starts to boil, boil and stir frequently for five to ten minutes until the butter browns.

As you continue stirring the butter, it will start getting browner after 5-10 minutes.

Once the butter browns, remove from stove top and pour into a large mixing bowl.

Add brown sugar.

Mix with beaters, then allow mixture to cool 5 minutes.

While mixture is cooling, dice up sliced almonds into smaller pieces. Set aside.

Mash bananas on a plate with a fork; set aside.

To the cooled, brown sugar mixture, add bananas, eggs and almond extract.

Mix ingredients again with an electric mixer.

Add unbleached flour (bleached flour toughens baked goods). Add dried cranberries, vanilla chips and diced almonds.

Stir to combine.

Spread mixture into a greased 9×13″ baking dish. This is double batch so I spread it into an 18×26″ cookie sheet pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until done. Cool in pans until completely before adding icing.

I used these ingredients for the icing. All the remaining pictures will show a double batch of icing.

Melt butter in saucepan over low to medium heat.

Here, the mixture is completely melted.

Add brown sugar and half-and-half.

Bring ingredients to a boil.

Continue stirring until mixture boils; remove from heat.

Add almond extract and stir to combine. Cool icing 5 minutes.

Add powdered sugar.

Either whisk or use an electric mixer until powdered sugar is worked into the icing and no lumps remain.

Spread icing over cooled blondies.

Sprinkle vanilla chips over top and press into the icing slightly.

Sprinkle with sliced almonds and also press the almonds into the icing slightly. Refrigerate for one hour before cutting into bars.

Cranberry Almond Blondies are heavenly.

The appealing color and contents makes these blondies marvelous for holiday parties.

Every bite will have you swooning. 🙂

The nice thing about these Cranberry Almond Blondies is you can enjoy them all year long since dried cranberries are available throughout the year.

Here’s the recipe.

CRANBERRY ALMOND BLONDIES

(My own concoction)

Cranberry Almond Blondies

Teresa Ambra

You'll be swooning over every rich, decadent bite of these luscious Cranberry Almond Blondies. Dried cranberries, bananas, vanilla chips, almonds and almond extract along with browned butter in the blondie and icing makes these brownies incredibly irresistible. Perfect for holiday parties, Christmas Cookie Exchanges and tailgating parties.

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Prep Time 30

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 30

Course Cookies, Brownies and Bars, Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings

Calories 443 kcal

Equipment

1 9×13" glass baking dish
2 large mixing bowls
1 electric mixer
1 whisk
1 nut chopper or knife to dice almonds
measuring cups
measuring spoons
2 medium saucepans
2 wooden spoons
1 plate
1 fork

Ingredients

BLONDIE:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (bleached flour toughens baked goods)
2 cups light brown sugar packed
2 large eggs
1 cup salted butter (2 sticks)
2 tsp. almond extract
1 cup ripe bananas mashed on a plate with a fork
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 cups dried cranberries
1 cup vanilla chips or premiere white baking chips
1 cup almonds (I diced up sliced almonds)

ALMOND ICING:

1/2 cup salted butter (1 stick)
1 cup light brown sugar packed
2 cups powdered sugar
4 tbsp. half-and-half cream
1 tsp. almond extract
1/2 cup vanilla chips or premiere white baking chips
1/2 cup almonds sliced

Instructions

BLONDIE:

To brown the butter: Place butter in saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil.
Boil, stirring constantly until lightly browned.
This may take five or ten minutes.
Once butter has browned, place browned butter in a mixing bowl.
Add brown sugar and mix thoroughly with an electric mixer.
Allow mixture to cool about five minutes.
Meanwhile, place bananas on a plate and mash with a fork; set aside.
If the mixture still has not cooled sufficiently, wait a few more minutes before adding eggs, almond extract, mashed bananas and salt.
(So the egg doesn’t scramble!).
Mix again with electric mixer until thoroughly mixed.
Stir in flour, cranberries, vanilla chips and almonds.
Stir mixture until well combined.
Pour mixture into a greased 9×13” glass baking dish.
Bake at 350° for about 45-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Allow blondies to cool completely before icing with Almond icing.

ALMOND ICING:

Melt butter over medium heat in medium-sized saucepan.
Add brown sugar and half-and-half and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat.
Add almond extract.
Cool icing 5 minutes.
Add powdered sugar and whisk until smooth.
This may take three to five minutes to get all the lumps out.
(Or use an electric mixer).
Spread over cooled blondies.
Sprinkle top of icing with almonds and then vanilla chips as evenly as possible.
Press vanilla chips and sliced almonds very lightly and gently into the icing to adhere.
Refrigerate blondies about an hour before cutting into bars, for easier cutting.

Notes

NOTE: Refrigerate blondies about one hour before cutting into bars, for easier cutting.

NOTE: I doubled the recipe and put it in an 18×26” cookie sheet pan. The blondies took about 55 minutes to bake in that large pan. I cut each pan 8×8 or 64 pieces.

NOTE: This recipe does not use baking powder or baking soda in the blondie.

Nutrition

Calories: 443kcalCarbohydrates: 64gProtein: 4gFat: 20gSaturated Fat: 10gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0.5gCholesterol: 49mgSodium: 157mgPotassium: 186mgFiber: 2gSugar: 52gVitamin A: 393IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 81mgIron: 1mg

Keyword almonds, bananas, brownie, dessert, dried cranberries, vanilla chips

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

It’s time to try a bite!

We made these lovely cookies for our annual Christmas Cookie Extravaganza. I baked 4 large 18×26″ cookie sheet pans and cut each pan down in 8×8 pieces equaling 64 pieces for each large pan.