Sugar Cookie Bars

I was looking for something quick to make this week and I came across this recipe for sugar cookie bars. There were a couple of different varieties posted on Taste Spotting, but I picked this one from the Repressed Pastry Chef blog.

For Christmas I got a big basket of different baking goodies from my sister in law. Isn’t that great? One of the things in the basket was a jar of different icing flavorings. It’s basically a jar of different flavored powders that you add to a standard frosting recipe. I used the fluffy frosting recipe that came on the package. You can also use the flavoring in a glaze icing. I was going to use different flavors and frost with two different colors, but I decided to just use the raspberry flavoring. The frosting was a bit stiffer than I would have liked. I added some milk to thin it somewhat but I think I should have thinned it some more.

The cookies baked very quickly, in just about 15 minutes which was really great since I didn’t have very much time. With the raspberry-flavored and –colored frosting, these look a lot like the pink-frosted sugar cookies that are popular at local coffee shops. I’m not sure if that is regional or not! These look a lot like cake, and I keep forgetting that they are sugar cookies. They are crisp like a sugar cookie and the frosting adds the perfect sweetness. I think that the icing flavoring worked well. I just used the raspberry flavor, I’ve also got lemon, orange, blueberry, strawberry and green apple left to try!

Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda

Frosting
½ cup butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons icing flavoring
Milk, if needed

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 (13” x 18”, a half sheet pan). Bake for 10-15 min, until light golden brown or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely and frost.

Combine all frosting ingredients (except milk) in a large mixer bowl and stir until smooth. Add milk to thin to spreading consistency if needed. Spread frosting on cookies and cut cookies into bars.

Recipe from the Repressed Pastry Chef