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Thursday, February 18, 2010

Sugar Cookie Bars

**Guest Post on Eating Bender now up....check it out here!

Remember these adorable cupcakes? After Julia finished her decorating, there was quite a bit of leftover frosting. Since she'd used multiple colors on the cupcakes, there were multiple colors left over, which I combined in a large bowl and stuck in the fridge, determined not to let it go to waste. A few days passed and I opted to make sugar cookie bars for our weekly community group. I pulled the frosting out of the fridge, popped it open, and was a little disappointed when I saw what I'd forgotten--the mixture of frosting colors was nasty!! I did my best to doctor it up, adding red and blue food coloring until I got the half-ugly but at least bearable purple color you see above :)

Ugliness aside (I only have Christmas sprinkles these days, ha), these sugar cookie bars were still delightful, and much easier than the usual rolling and cutting associated with sugar cookies. They were so good, in fact, that Julia and Ryan both emailed me while I was in Seattle to herald their excellence. The night I returned home I was able to see for myself--they were both sick to their stomachs from eating so much sugar cookie and I happily took some of the task off of their hands. Soon I joined the tummy ache club; these are irresistible. Don't waste any more time reading--go make these!

FYI, I halved the recipe (from Baking Bites...can't link because the link is broken?) and made it in a 10-inch springform pan. Anyone else obsessed with those pans? They make cutting and removing so much easier-love it!


Sugar Cookie Bars
**double and make in a 13 x 18 baking pan if desired

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
-1 cup sugar
-2 eggs
-1 tsp vanilla
-2 1/2 cups flour
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp baking soda

Directions:
1. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Mix in vanilla extract.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to wet ingredients and mix until combined and crumbly.
3. Spread into a greased 10-inch springform pan, pressing down gently to evenly fill the pan.
4. Bake at 375F for 10-15 minutes until light brown.

**After cooled, frost with your favorite buttercream frosting (the frosting from the cupcakes was seriously my favorite homemade frosting ever!)