Cranberry Pistachio Bars

For years my dad has said we should only make two kinds of cookies for Christmas; Chocolate Pinwheels and his favorite, Chocolate Chip. For some reason I just can't wrap my head around chocolate chip cookies for Christmas. I know many will argue with me and say you can use red and green chips (which, in my humble opinion, are AWFUL) or use something like red and green M&Ms. I could possibly go with the M&Ms if they were dairy-free but I'm still not sold.

This year I decided to play around with the idea of a Christmas chocolate chip cookie and came up with this combination. The batter is the Original Nestle´ Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe substituting dairy-free margarine for the butter. Instead of adding the chips to the batter I spread them on top of the bars after they came out of the oven so there would be a thick chocolate layer on top showing off the chopped pistachios. I folded 11/2 cups of dried cranberries into the batter but it could easily hold another 1/2 to 1 cup more if you really love cranberries.

Cranberry-Pistachio Bars

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup dairy-free stick margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) dairy-free chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pistachios

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat margarine, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in cranberries and spread into prepared pan.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle chocolate chips on top in an even layer and let stand 5 minutes or until chocolate chips are shiny and soft. Spread in an even layer and sprinkle with pistachios. Cool in the pan on a wire rack 1 hour. Cut into bars.

Makes 4 dozen.

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Dairy Freed