Sugar Cookie Bars

I'm not sure if you recall or not, but my last post mentioned how this past weekend was my daughters birthday Ice Cream Social.  Well, she's not a huge fan of cake, frosting yes, cake not so much.  So I decided to make her these sugar cookie bars and frost them and decorate them just like I would have if I made a cake.  Well, I'm not sure I'm brave enough to show the decorated cookie…it was pretty bad.  I can't decorate to save my life!  But on the positive side, the cookie tasted amazing!

In addition to the cookie bars we also had ice cream obviously.  I got three different flavors and got those plastic sundae cups for the kids to take home with them. I had every topping you can think of and we just let the kids top them as they wanted.  It was a success!

OK, back to the cookie bars.  When baking them, it's important to not over cook them.  I cooked them until the middle wasn't shiny anymore but it didn't look done.  I still took them out and followed the instructions from the original recipe.  It worked.  They were done in the middle and they have great flavor!  The frosting I used was a perfect accompaniment to the cookie.  Nice buttery flavor.

This would be a great dessert for the non-cake lovers in your life.  All the kids loved them!

Sugar Cookie Bars

Recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest (optional)
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375º
2. Spray a 9x13 inch dish with non-stick cooking spray
3. In a medium bowl (or your mixing bowl), cream together the butter and both sugars. Add the eggs, zest and the vanilla extract and mix for 1-2 minutes. 
4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  Slowly add the dry mix to the wet mix. Mix until combined. 
5. Pour/press the mixture into the dish.  I found that your hands work best. 
6. Bake for 10-13 minutes.  Do not over bake. The color will remain pale, the sides will not be golden and the middle will just barely be set. 
7. Remove from the oven and let cool before frosting. 

Decorator Frosting

Recipe from AllRecipes

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup butter, at room temperature
• 4 cups confectioners sugar
• 4 Tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• food coloring of your choice

Cooking Directions

1. Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the milk and vanilla extract and cream. Add the color of your choice.