Cranberry Bliss Baked Oat Bars - a healthier guilt-free version of the ever so popular Starbucks treat.
This time of year sees one of my favourite treats appear in Starbucks - the ever so delicious Cranberry Bliss Bars, which are a blondie cookie base topped with a sweet cream cheese and white chocolate drizzle. Heavenly!!
Just one small triangle of this popular dessert item at Starbucks will cost you 300 calories (yikes). Totally doable if you want to save your cals to enjoy the real deal and believe me, I've done it. However, that leaves you zero calories for the rest of the day.
With that in mind, I just had to create a healthier low calorie version I could enjoy with a nice cup of tea or coffee in the afternoon or evening.
Baked Oats are such a popular choice for a treat and I have already given you quite the selection to choose from:
- Cherry Almond Baked Oats
- White Chocolate Raspberry Baked Oats
- Smore's Baked Oats
- Banana Baked Oats
- Apple Cinnamon Baked Oats
- Pina Colada Baked Oats
- Peanut Butter and Jelly Baked Oats
- Gingerbread Baked Oats
- Blueberry and Lemon Baked Oats
- Mince Pie Baked Oats
- Pear and Chocolate Baked Oats
- Cinnamon Roll Baked Oats
as well as
So I figured why can't I do the same and create these yummy Cranberry Bliss Bake Oat Bars - and I am so glad I did. These are delicious!!!
A yummy baked oat base with cranberries and white chocolate chips, topped with an orange/vanilla infused quark topping and white chocolate drizzle as well as some more dried cranberries of course.
You will need either a Food Processor or a Mini blender, to pulse the oats until fine.
For baking the oat base I use a 13x9.5 inch baking tray, so you will need one of similar size to make this, even a baking dish will work. Don't worry if it is slightly smaller, it should work fine.
Then you can choose to use either honey or if you for an even more white chocolate taste some Options White Chocolate Drink Powder to mix into the quark. The amounts mentioned as per the recipe box are equal in value, so you can choose what you prefer.
In the USA you can use Elli Quark or in Canada use Liberte Quark
I'll still enjoy the regular 300 calories ones occasionally, but when I don't want to use all my calories like that in one go, these Cranberry Bliss Baked Oat Bars are going to be perfect.
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What kitchen items do I need to make these Cranberry Bliss Baked Oats Bars?
- Mini Blender or Food Processor
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Mixing Bowl
- Spatula
- Whisk
- Chopping Board
- Measuring Jug
- Santoku Knife
- Parchment Paper
- Baking Tray
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Recipe Card
Cranberry Bliss Baked Oat Bars
Cranberry Bliss Baked Oat Bars - a healthier guilt-free version of the ever so popular Starbucks treat.
Ingredients
- 160g (5.6oz) of oats
- 1.5 teaspoon of baking powder
- pinch of salt
- ¼ teaspoon of ginger
- ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup (120ml) of unsweetened applesauce
- 4 tablespoons of brown granulated sweetener
- 30g (1oz) of white chocolate
- 40g (1.5oz) of dried cranberries
- 1 cup of quark (or you can use fat free cream cheese as a substitute)
- 2 tablespoons of honey
- little zest of the juice of an orange
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180c/350f (gas mark 4)
- Add the oat to a blender or food processor and pulse until fine.
- Add to a bowl along with the baking powder, pinch of salt, cinnamon and ginger and mix to combine.
- Chop half of the cranberries and half of the white chocolate into smaller pieces, stir into the mix.
- In a separate bowl mix together the apple sauce, Sukrin (or sweetener of choice)m vanilla extract and eggs
- Add this into the oats and fold until all combined
- line a 13x9.5 inch baking tray with parchment paper.
- Add the mixture to the tray and spread out in an even layer.
- Place in the oven and bake for approx 30 mins (skewer entered into the middle should come out clear.
- Allow to cool and then carefully remove to a rack.
- Mix together the quark, honey and orange juice/zest
- Once oat base has cooled, carefully spread over the top.
- Add the remaining white chocolate to a bowl and melt at 10 sec intervals in the microwave until melted. Then add to a small ziplock bag, push the melted chocolate to one corner of the bag, snip of the edge and drizzle all over the top of the quark.
- Chop into smaller pieces the remaining dried cranberries and sprinkle these over the top.
- Slice into 4 equal size rectangles, then slice each rectangle in half again, and then those halves into triangles, so you have 16 triangles in total.
- These are then ready to enjoy!!
- I recommend refrigerating or freezing on a tray if not eating within 2 days.
Notes
Please see below for full nutritional info and additional details about recipe:
- Calories - scroll down to nutritional info box
- WW Points and other Slimming or Weight Loss programs - due to plans regularly changing and updating, we recommend calculating with the official tools you get as a member to those plans to ensure accuracy of values.
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Nutrition Information
Yield
16Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 88Total Fat 2.4gSaturated Fat 0.9gCholesterol 34.9mgSodium 60.8mgCarbohydrates 13.1gFiber 1.2gSugar 6.5gProtein 3.8g
Nina says
Thanks for the recipe. If not using sweetener, any idea how much sugar Inwould need to replace it? I use organic brown sugar. I was wondering if I could use Agave Syrup to replace the honey? Christmas Greetings from the UK
Shelly says
When do you add vanilla extract?
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
Thanks for that, I’ve updated
Alison says
Can’t find unsweetened apple sauce, is there an alternative to use please, or can I leave it out?