Cranberry Magic Bars — A marriage of the famous Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars with Seven Layer Bars!! White chocolate, cranberries, coconut, and so good! Fast and super easy!!
I love Cranberry Bliss Bars. Actually anything with white chocolate and cranberries I’m bound to like.
And because I have a longstanding obsession with Seven Layer Bars — or Magic Bars, as they’re sometimes called — marrying two favorite bars into one had to happen.
A buttery graham cracker crust, topped with white chocolate chips, chocolate chips, walnuts, dried cranberries, coconut, and sweetened condensed milk.
It’s a fast, easy, one-bowl, no-mixer recipe that’s as easy as sprinkling and layering ingredients in a pan and the bars have everything going.
There’s a slightly crunchy graham cracker crust, extra crunch from the walnuts, with chewiness from the cranberries and coconut. So much texture and diverse but complimentary flavors in every bite.
The cranberries perfectly cut through the sweetness of the white chocolate, coconut, and creamy sweetened condensed milk while semi-sweet chocolate chips round things out.
If you need a holiday dessert that’s virtually effortless but that tastes like a million bucks, this is the one!
Cranberry Magic Bar Ingredients
To make the dried cranberry 7 layer bars, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Butter
- Graham cracker crumbs
- White chocolate chips
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Chopped walnuts
- Dried cranberries
- Sweetened shredded coconut
- Sweetened condensed milk
How to Make Cranberry Magic Bars
The dried cranberry bars are incredibly easy to make and require virtually no prep work. Here are the basic recipe steps:
- To a large, microwave-safe bowl add the butter and heat on high power to melt.
- Add the graham crackers crumbs and toss lightly with a fork to coat.
- Turn mixture out into a greased 8×8-inch pan, forming an even, smooth, flat crust layer by tapping crumbs into place with a spatula or your fingertips.
- Evenly sprinkle with the white chocolate chips, chocolate chips, walnuts, cranberries, and coconut (in that order).
- Evenly drizzle sweetened condensed milk over the top.
- Bake until lightly golden brown around edges and the center is mostly set.
Can This Recipe Be Doubled?
Absolutely! Simply double the ingredients and bake in a 9×13-inch pan.
Can the Recipe Be Made in Advance?
Yes, the sweetened condensed milk prevents the bars from drying out so they keep well for up to 1 week at room temperature. Wrap the pan tightly with foil to keep them fresh.
Tips for Making 7 Layer Bars with Cranberries
The crust will look skimpy in the pan, but that’s okay. The bars are very rich so you don’t want a super thick crust.
Note that the recipe calls for sweetened condensed milk, NOT evaporated milk. They’re two different products; do not try to substitute one for the other.
Keep an extremely close eye on bars in the final minutes of baking because coconut can go from raw-looking to burnt in one minute. I’ve baked the bars in different ovens and have baked for as long as 27 minutes and as short as 20 minutes; watch your bars and not the clock.
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Cranberry Magic Bars
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter, melted (I use unsalted, but salted tames some of the sweetness)
- scant 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
- ¾ cup white chocolate chips
- ¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts
- 1 cup dried cranberries, I use orange-flavored dried cranberries
- 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut flakes, measured loosely and not packed
- about two-thirds can, 14-ounce sweetened condensed milk (eyeball it)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- To a large, microwave-safe bowl add the butter and heat on high power to melt, about 1 minute.
- Add the graham crackers crumbs and toss lightly with a fork to coat crumbs evenly.
- Turn mixture out into prepared pan, forming an even, smooth, flat crust layer by tapping crumbs into place with a spatula or your fingertips. The amount of crust is skimpy and barely covers the pan, but it’s okay.
- Evenly sprinkle with the white chocolate chips, chocolate chips, walnuts, cranberries, and coconut (in that order).
- Evenly drizzle sweetened condensed milk over the top.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown around edges and the center is mostly set. Keep an extremely close eye on bars in the final minutes of baking because coconut can go from raw-looking to burnt in one minute. I’ve baked the bars in different ovens and have baked for as long as 27 minutes and as short as 20 minutes; watch your bars and not the clock.
- Place pan on a wire rack and allow bars to cool in pan for at least 2 hours, or overnight, before slicing and serving. Bars firm up as they cool.
- Adapted from Seven Layer Bars
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Dried Cranberry Desserts:
Cranberry Bliss Bars {Starbucks Copycat Recipe} — They taste just like the real thing and you can make them at home, year-round! Think of all the $ you’ll save. Spot-on, easy recipe!
Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies — Soft, chewy, buttery, perfectly sweetened with white chocolate, and so much texture from the cranberries!
Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cake — The flavors of Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars in a soft, easy, no-mixer cake!
Cranberry Chocolate Chip Bars — Super soft, buttery bars packed with chewy cranberries! And there’s a chocolate overload in every bite!
The Easiest Foolproof Fudge Recipe — Look no further than this recipe for the EASIEST and most FOOLPROOF fudge that takes less than 3 minutes to make!! Customize it with your favorite add-ins like cranberries and walnuts!
My family went crazy over these bars. They disappeared quickly, and everyone want more. I doubled the recipe, and was was happy I did. I will make them again very soon.
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad everyone went crazy over these and you will make them again!
My family went crazy over these bars. They disappeared quickly, and everyone want more. I doubled the recipe, and was was happy I did. I will make them again very soon.
Hi there well I’m not sure if these will turn out cause I changed them so my vegan daughter can enjoy as well. So I used sweetened condensed coconut milk instead of the regular eagle brand and I used the vegan graham wafers which was a bit different as well the texture that is after adding the vegan margarine to it and I also didn’t have any vegan white chocolate chips so I just added a bit extra of the vegan chocolate chips instead so I just took it out of the oven and we will see if it turned out or not and I baked it for 27 minutes since the coconut milk is a bit different from the eagle brand. Hope it turns out. Will keep you posted and thanks for sharing this recipe. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Great job taking a recipe with lots of non-vegan ingredients and trying to make it vegan! Hope it came out wonderfully!
Made this for my nieces baby shower and it was a big hit. I have always made what I called hello dolly squares which is very similar but I would have never thought of this combo. Yummmm two thumbs up
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
The cranberry bliss bars were amazing. I needed a quick dessert and came to your site looking for a great choice. Oh my, when I saw coconut and dried cranberries with white chocolate, I looked no further. They came together so quickly, the only ingredient I didn’t have were the nuts so I used some semi-sweet chips in their place. They cut beautifully after cooling for two hours. And, were such a hit at our club meeting on a frigid winter evening. I really count on all your bar recipes, thank you.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Thanks for the compliment that you always count on my bar recipes!
Very good! We tried these a couple of days ago. Any suggestions for the leftover sweetened condensed milk? Other than a spoon …
With just 1/3 of a can left, a quarter cup or so, hmmm not really enough to make much else. Use it in your coffee! So good :)
Glad the bars came out great!
Great idea!! Combining two of my favorites. My fat pants thank you ;)
Your recipes look so good, but so much sugar!! Can you please make some yummy holiday bar or bread sweetened only with fruit, or super low in sugar? We low or no sugar types would appreciate it.
Averie,
Stopping by to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.
Annamaria
Thanks! And same to you! :)
I must thank you!! Before finding your site I never knew about magic bars or layer bars. In Australia we’d probably call it something boring like a slice! This certainly doe not look boring..and it sounds so simple too!
These look like heaven!!
This looks like a great riff on the classic 7 layer bar. My favorite part is being able to eat the scrapings from the sweetened condensed milk can. ;)
We twins on that one!
These were so easy to make and turned out delicious! I love the chewy cranberries with the crunch from the nuts and coconut and sweetness from the chocolate chips. I will definitely be making these again!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad to hear they turned out delicious! One of my personal faves too!
Classic Averie Cooks recipe!
HELLLLLLOOOOOOO DOLLY! You are looking like a tart today! :-) These are the most beautiful fusion I could imagine, Averie. :-)
A cranberry bliss meets 7 layer Magic bar is brilliant!! Lots of crunchy, sweet, tangy, gooey, coconutty goodness! Speaking of cranberries, Jon and I are having our own little Thanksgiving for 2 tomorrow and your cranberry blueberry cabernet sauce is making an appearance on our table. Love that stuff! Have a nice Thanksgiving!
We celebrated early as well and I made that cranberry sauce and love it every year and glad to hear you’re making it, too! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy!!
Magic bars are really the best. Those explosive sugary bites are never too much for me! Happy Thanksgiving, Averie!
Happy Thanksgiving, Mir!