Sugar Cookie Bars
In addition to the Oreo truffles, I wanted to make my signature sugar cookie. But rolling out cookies kind of seemed like a pain in the butt I didn't feel like dealing with. So basically I dumped sugar cookie dough into 13"x9" pan and baked them. It worked out nicely.
I expected these to be more like the texture of a Lofthouse cookie and with the frosting on top, I expected them to be reminiscent of them. However these were much more dense and blondie-like, which I guess shouldn't be so surprising in hindsight given how they were baked.
I intended for the icing on these bars to be red. I figured red frosting and red sprinkled would make them a little more festive and seasonally appropriate. I added quite a bit of red food coloring and it turned this shade of pink (made brighter by poor lighting conditions and an iPhone camera— sorry once again). I've always been told that red food coloring is bitter and tastes bad, and I have no idea whether that's true or maybe if it was true at one point but not anymore. Nonetheless I was too scared to add any more because at this point the frosting was not-to-thick and not-too-thin and tasted absolutely perfect, like the aforementioned Lofthouse cookie frosting. I decided to quit while I was ahead and ended up with pink frosting, not very Christmasy, but perfect for Valentine's Day in February!
Here's me and my Grandpa baking sugar cookies (well I guess he is doing the baking and I'm licking the beaters, as was usual) when I was a kid. It's my absolute favorite picture of us!
One last tip before you bake these...you probably want to use a stand mixer or a heavy duty hand mixer because this dough is thick and there is a lot of it!
Sugar Cookie Bars
yields 1 13" x 9" pan
Bars
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- Preheat the oven to 375º. Line a 13"x9" pan with foil, leaving foil handles over the edge.
- Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl for several minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add in each egg one at a time, and beat after each addition.
- Add in the vanilla extract and mix.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
- Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet while mixing.
- Spread the dough evenly in the pan.
- Bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out cleanly.
- Allow to cool completely in the pan before frosting.
Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons milk
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- food coloring, if desired
- sprinkles, if desired
- Cream the butter until smooth in a medium sized bowl.
- Add the vanilla extract, salt, and milk.
- Slowly add in the powdered sugar and mix.
- Add in food coloring if desired.
- Spread frosting over cooled bars.
- Top with sprinkles if desired.
- Place bars in the fridge to allow the frosting to harden before slicing and removing from the pan.
recipe slightly adapted from Recipe Girl
Here's a picture of the Christmas tree in Indiana, starring my furry sibling, Ty. I tried to get Ava in the picture as well, but she was being a stubborn brat...
