Ingredients

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 stick plus 6 Tbsp. (14 Tbsp. total) unsalted butter,, plus more for greasing

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. baking soda

1 ¼ cups dried cranberries, divided

1 ¼ cups shelled raw pistachios,chopped, divided

1 ½ cups white chocolate chips, divided

Preheat oven to 350°.

One of the best ways to ensure that baked goods will come out of a pan, especially sweet treats that tend to have sticky edges, is to line a baking pan with aluminum foil. Bar cookies and brownies/blondies are very good candidates for baking in foil-lined pans. I recommend using the heaviest aluminum foil you can find as the flimsy stuff tears easily. Find the pan that the recipe calls for. Tear off a sheet of aluminum foil that’s large enough, that it will allow for the foil to go up the sides and leave a good-sized overhang, enough to grab when the baked item is finished. So you can use the overhang as handles, to lift the baked item from the pan with.

Grease the 9- x 13-inch foil-lined baking dish with butter.

In a large bowl, mix sugars, butter and salt until combined. Stir in vanilla extract, then eggs, one at a time, until combined. Add flour, baking powder and baking soda, then stir until almost combined. Fold in 1 cup cranberries, 3/4 cup pistachios and 1 cup chocolate chips until combined.

Spread batter into dish and smooth top. Scatter remaining ¼ cup cranberries and ½ cup pistachios on top. Bake until center is just set and a toothpick inserted into center comes out with very moist crumbs, about 25 minutes.

Just before removing from oven, sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips over top and continue baking briefly to soften, about 30 seconds. Cool on a wire rack and cut into bars (6 rows x 4 rows) or bites ( 9 rows x 4/5 rows).