Cranberry Almond Ecstasy Bars

Bar Cookies: Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees, and spray a 9x13 pan with nonstick spray. In Medium Bowl, sift together flour, ginger, and salt, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mix on medium high speed, beat the butter until creamy, about 1 minute. Add brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. add eggs and almond extract. Beat untl fully combined. Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture and mix just until combined. Fold in cranberries, white chocolate, and crystallized ginger by hand with a spoon. Spread batter in prepared baking pan and bake until golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. remove pan from oven. transfer to wire rack and cool completely. Frosting: In the bowl of an electric mixer on the medium -low speed, combine cream cheese , butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, lemon or orange zest, and mix until creamy about 2 to 3 minutes. Using an offset spatula spread the frosting uniformly across the cake. Sprinkle the dried cranberries on top of frosting. Sprinkle the minced ginger across the frosting if you are using this optional topping. Refrigerate 1 hour. White Chocolate Drizzle: In either a double boiler in a bowl over gently simmer water, or in a bowl in a microwave melt the white chocolate. Remove from heat. Add powdered sugar and milk. whisk until fully combined.Scrape chocolate into a small plastic bag and cut a tiny corner from the bag . squeeze bag to drizzle the chocolate across the bars in a decorative drizzle. To slice the bars: Cut the cake lengthwise down the center. creating two long rectangles. Cut each rectangle into 4 equal portions; ten slice each of these in half diagonally, to create 16 triangle pieces.