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 9x13" 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 9x13” 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 18x26” cookie sheet pan. The blondies took about 55 minutes to bake in that large pan. I cut each pan 8x8 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

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