Sugar Cookie Bars
From the second I saw these bars pop up in my Google Reader, I knew I had to make them. I love the taste of sugar cookies, but sometimes it’s just not worth the time and effort. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed doing the sugar cookie comparison last December. I also really enjoyed trying royal icing for the first time this St Patty’s Day. But, sometimes I want a sugar cookie without all the fuss.
This recipe is perfect for those times. It consists of a delicious sugar cookie based topped with a super sweet buttercream frosting. These bars could be made for any occasion and come together so quickly. It was also fun to bust out my large offset spatula. I’m so used to frosting with a piping bag, but I managed alright.
The next time I make these (and I have a feeling it will be soon), I will definitely cut them smaller. For some reason I had in my head that these needed to be cut into 30 bars. I was likely thinking of a different bar recipe, but I just cut them into 30 bars without thinking. Let me tell you, when you make a jelly roll worth of cookie bars, it makes 30 big bars. Of course the size of these bars didn’t have an impact on how quickly they disappeared. I took these to a weekly get-together and everyone loved them.
Sugar Cookie Bars – from The Repressed Pasty Chef
1 cup butter; room temp.
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each egg. Add vanilla & mix well.
In a separate bowl combine flour, salt & soda & stir with a whisk to combine. Add to wet mixture and mix just until combined.
Spread on a greased baking sheet (I lined my 11×17 jelly roll pan with parchment paper).
Bake for 10-15 min, until light golden brown or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely and frost.
Frosting1/2 cup butter at room temp
1/2 cup shortening
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
4 cups powdered sugar
5 Tbsp milk
food coloring (optional)
For frosting combine butter and shortening until smooth and creamy.
Add vanilla and salt.
Add powdered sugar in 1-2 cup increments until combined, then add milk & mix until smooth and spreading consistency.
Spread over cooled cookie (and add sprinkles), then cut into bars.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
This is the perfect recipe for all of the leftover ingredients I have! Hubby made me buy a 3-pound bag of cranberries because he loves them, but you only use 12 ounces for cranberry sauce so I’ve got about 2 pounds of cranberries left to use, plus lots of pumpkins and pecans. This is definitely being made this weekend!
Oh man. That does sound good. And I know it must be if you’re repeating it because I am the same way. I’m going to make a cranberry maple pecan cake on Friday… but this is really tempting too.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Oh, man! If I only had more time for Thanksgiving dessert table – this is certainly one I would try.
Oooh this cake looks so ooey gooey and delicious! I wish there weren’t already so many desserts coming to my Thanksgiving table because I’d totally make this!
Sues
This looks super delicious and your photos look great too! Happy Thanksgiving to you and hubby!
ooooh, my, i must try this 🙂 happy thanksgiving!!
What a fabulous recipe! All the flavors sound delicious to me.
This looks amazing! It looks so moisty yum, I should try to make this sometime, Love your blog! this is my first comment for you so I thought I’d show some appreciation for your blog, because I’ve been drooling over all your recipes for a while
Shandra-http://shandrita.tumblr.com/
Your photos are beautiful! The pictures I took of the actual cake didn’t look to appealing, the photos I took of the bite sized cake bites looked pretty though lol
Good job!!
What a great recipe! You totally had me at caramel/pecan/cranberry topping.
Just finally made this cake and it is astoundingly good! Truly the best dessert I’ve had in…oh, a very long time. Thank you for your post!
I tried to be good, I really did! This cake was so delicious, I not only had seconds, I had a piece for breakfast the next day and for a snack later that day. This one goes on my Christmas menu!
beantownbaker — December 1st, 2013 @ 6:52 pm
I doubled the recipe this time and you’ll remember the middle didn’t quite bake through. It also spilled over a bit, so next time, I’ll put a pan under the cake in the oven.