Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars

 This is one of my new favorite recipes.

Not only is the recipe easier than regular sugar cookies, they taste better (in my opinion) too!

I got this recipe from one of my favorite blogs: http://ourbestbites.com/. I love making desserts especially... and their website has plenty of sugary confections!

So first you are going to mix together the butter mixture in a mixer. In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients and then combine with the butter mixture. Plop the dough onto that big old pan there,

and press the dough evenly on the pan with your clean hands. Then, you smooth it out with a rolling pin (mine was too long to fit, it kept hitting the top of the pan and it couldn't touch the dough) or a drinking glass.

Pop in the oven and bake from 20-30 minutes.

While the cookies are cooling, mix up the frosting. 

Once the cookies are completely cool, (really-- if the pan or the dough is even a little warm the frosting will melt and drip all over the place) plunk that glob (fun words!) of frosting on the pan.

Spread it allll around until it's nice and even. 

Grab some sprinkles and scatter them all over. I used blue sugar.

And there you have it! Super delicious-buttery-sugary-fluffy sugar cookie bars. 

I like this recipe because it's customizable for whatever holidays are near. I made the frosting pink for Valentine's Day, but you could do green frosting with red sprinkles for Christmas, or purple frosting with orange sprinkles for Halloween. The possibilities are endless!

Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars {with Fluffy Buttercream Frosting}

Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups real butter (no substitutions!), softened to room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon almond extract
6 cups flour, spooned lightly into the measuring cup and leveled with a knife. This is very important! If you scoop it straight from the bag, the dough will be too dry!1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt

Frosting

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
2-3 tablespoons milk (or more, if needed milk; whole or evaporated if you have it handy)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a half sheet-sized baking sheet (13x18x1″) with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a bowl of a heavy-duty mixer or in a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and extracts and beat until combined.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the creamed butter mixture and mix to combine.

Press the dough evenly into the prepared baking sheet. If desired, you can smooth it out with a rolling pin or a smooth drinking glass. Bake for 20-30 minutes (mine was done right at 25 minutes, but every oven is different) or until the top is lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

While the cookie bars are cooling, prepare the frosting. In a large mixing bowl, whip together the powdered sugar and softened butter until combined. Very slowly, add a little bit of milk at a time until desired consistency is reached. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring.

When the pan of cookies is cool, spread with frosting and sprinkle with colored sprinkles. Cut into squares. The number of bars this makes will depend on how big you cut the squares, but these are VERY rich and you could probably get away with cutting these into 40+ squares.