Once upon a time, I used to spend time in small cafe enjoying a good book, a cup of coffee (I gave up drinking it meanwhile) and a sweet treat, sometimes even too. I’d still love to do it and from time to time I still do but with a 16 month old noisy girl is a little hard.
One of my favorite cafe would be Starbucks and my favorite treats would be carrot cake and around the holiday the beloved cranberry bliss bar.
Now, since cranberry are not available year round, what’s a girl to do? Freeze couple of bags but not enough for all the cranberry desserts my sweet tooth craves for. This year I did freeze some bags but making this recipe a couple of times plus other treats I only have one bag left 
(
(
Today was my turn to bring food to our MOPS meeting. What a better way to start the day if not nibbling on a sweet gluten-free bar? The original recipe called for cranberry and walnuts but today I used blueberry. Turned out perfect.
The recipe also called for granulated erythritol and stevia extract but instead I used 3/4 cup granulated sugar. I skipped the cream cheese topping this time also and wrote MOPS with some royal icing
Since I don’t have a deep 8X8 baking dish I bake it in my 9X11 brownie dish and reduce the baking time by 5 minutes.
The recipe for these delicious bars belongs to Carolyn. As I was telling you yesterday this month I’m going to show my appreciation to some wonderful Ladies who helped me along the way.
Thank you Carolyn, thank you for all the wonderful recipes you post on your blog and thank you for the encouraging comments left on my blog. Even since I start reading your blog I admired you as a person and also as a baker. Through your recipes you made me try new flours and cut down on my sugar intake.
No matter if you’re a cranberry lover or not, on Carolyn’s blog will find all kinds of sweet treats, lots of chocolate ones even a recipe for delicious gluten free thin mints.
No matter what you decide to make, most of them are gluten and sugar free and Carolyn is nice enough to tell you the quantity of sugar needed if you don’t have granulated erythritol and stevia extract.
Thank you all for reading, hope you’re having a wonderful time.
As usual,
As usual,
Roxana
Hi! I'm Roxana, busy mom and wife. I'm a self-taught baker, wanna-be photographer and the writer behind this blog. Keep up with my baking adventures by
subscribing via email
These bars are calling my name! I love the idea of using blueberries! And your photos are scrumptious…
Those are some yum-delicious squares – I love blueberries! and I agree with urmomcooks – I hear my name being called
Love the color! WOW! Those looks mighty delicious!!
Great blog; happy I found you!
Mary xo
Delightful Bitefuls
I can't stop looking @ your photos! Stunning!
What a fantastic treat. I love the substitutions you've made. I hope you have a great day. Blessings…Mary
The day you described sounds like the perfect day for me too! I absolutely love coffee, book, and cranberry bliss bar. I'm so glad you found us a solution!!
i should say bravo!! looks wonderful. i have seen carolyn's blog and have always wanted to scour it but keep getting caught up in something. i remember her coz i know she has three kids! congrats on making and sharing these…
Fantastic effort and love ur bzking.Clear pictures.
Oh, Roxana, you are such a sweetheart! I am glad you made the bars in a way that suited you and replaced my low carb sweeteners with sugar. I'd go with sugar too, if I could! I have made such great connections in the foodblogging world, and I just love seeing everyone's creations and see them trying new things and experimenting. Blueberries would be such a great addition to these bars, I am glad you thought of it.
Love ya!
I remember those quiet Starbucks days too:)Your bars are gorgeous! Carolyn is fabulous and so are you:)Lovely photos (as usual:)
Blueberry bars… totally my kind of thing!
and your pictures are phenomenal! that deep blue shade of blueberries looks fantastic!
They look incredible!
I don't even have children…and for some reason have had to give up on going to sit in my favourite cafe to read also!!! I'll at least make sure to make time to smell those blueberries in your blissful bars ;o)
Ciao for now,
Claudia
Those look delicious. I'm sure your group really enjoyed them.
The bars look amazing with blueberry, lucky day when you are in charge of bringing snacks…
I wouldn't mind swapping some of my ricotta cake for some of your bliss bars… ;o) hmmmm… sounds delicious!
You too, have a wonderful weekend!
I've never had Starbuck's cranberry bliss bars. I usually head straight for the chocolate chip banana bread. Your look delicious though!
I really like that you changed it up a bit and added blueberries. Actually I think I prefer the blueberries…lol. Carolyn has given me some great recipes to make for my Mom. My Mom isn't a diabetic yet but she has to control it right now with diet and so far Carolyn's dessert recipes have all been winners so I know this one will be too. Thanks so much. Your pictures are absolutely beautiful. I bet the MOPS gals loved them!
Yum….what a great snack and the blueberries give it such great color.
I've made a couple yummy versions of cranberry bliss bars, but never thought of substituting blueberries! Now I can enjoy these delicious bars all year round! Thanks to you, and Carolyn…I love BOTH your blogs
This looks magnificent! What great texture. Your pics are stunning!!
US Masala
this looks fantastic! gorgeous photos as always:) thank you for sharing this and have a great weekend.
What a delicious treat these are made with blueberries! I've made the cranberry ones before and love them. Can't wait to try this version!
I've been thinking of giving up my morning coffee these days too. This treat would be just as good with a cup of tea though, so I wouldn't feel like I was missing out.
Kristi
{ 2 trackbacks }