Other Great Cookie Bar Recipes
If you love how easy it is to make cookie bars, here are some others you should try: Back when I was at the end of my pregnancy with my first kiddo, my mom was really sick and near the end of her life. I felt overwhelmed with anxiety, sadness, and fear. One way I dealt with it? Baking sugar cookies. I baked this sugar cookie recipe probably 80 times in those difficult months. It was such a great way to focus that energy. If you need a way to channel your energy or just want something really tasty for a treat, make this amazing sugar cookie bar recipe! It is that sugar cookie recipe that I loved turned into cookie bars with my perfect vanilla buttercream frosting. It is a matter of just beating together butter and powdered sugar. This frosting recipe typically sets pretty stiff, and I wanted this to be softer, so we are using 1/2 cup less powdered sugar than in the original recipe. We are also adding some red food coloring and sprinkles on top so that they look as happy and joyful as they make me feel. Of course these are optional, and you could frost these any color that fits what you are celebrating. These would be great in green with red and white sprinkles for Christmas.
Baking is a science and changing one little thing can result in disaster. So read the whole recipe through before you start, use fresh ingredients, and do not make swaps or leave out ingredients.Use room-temperature butter. This means you should be able to dent the butter with your finger, but not push all the way through. It will feel cold to the touch.Ensure that you are using baking powder, not baking soda. They are not the same thing.Make sure that your baking powder is fresh. Baking powder should be replaced every six months. You can test its freshness by putting a little in water. It should bubble and react vigorously right away.Properly measure your flour. Scoop the flour out of the container with a spoon and into your measuring cup. Then level it off. Scooping with the measuring cup can lead to 25% more flour and mess up your recipe.Beat together the sugar and butter for at least three minutes. To really ensure a light cookie bar, the sugar needs to beat air into the butter. Make sure it is light and fluffy before you move on to the next step.Use room-temperature eggs. To achieve this, get a bowl of lukewarm water and let your eggs sit in it for at least five minutes.
While the best way to measure flour for baked goods is to weigh it, I know that not everyone has a kitchen scale. If you follow these steps for this recipe, you will end up with the proper amount of flour for these perfect bars. Start by adding the flour all at once to the wet ingredients. Beat it in on low just long enough so the flour is folded in. This way it won’t fly out of the bowl in the next step. Now turn the mixer up to the highest speed and beat just until it is fully incorporated. You may need to scrape down the sides and beat for another few seconds. When using the pan linked below, I like to cut two pieces of parchment paper: one will go the length of the pan and one will go the width of the pan. Then I hold them in place with alligator clips from my office drawer, as you can see in the photo above. The parchment paper keeps my bars from sticking to the pan and it makes for easy lifting of the bars out of the pan so that I can frost and cut them evenly. These bars can be frozen (even after you have frosted them) by being placed in the freezer in a single layer for one hour. Then transfer them to an airtight container. Freeze for up to three months.
Monster Cookie BarsMagic BarsOatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
If you make this Sugar Cookie Bar recipe or any of my other recipes, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
