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Saturday, February 27, 2016

Sugar Cookie Bars (for a crowd)


Everyone knows sugar cookies are awesome. They are all soft and squishy and just super cute. 
But.... the down side to making sugar cookie for a crowd is the time it takes to make a million cookies. One cookie sheet at a time, 10 minutes per sheet equals a million hours in the kitchen. 
Enter these soft and squishy and Oh-So-Cute sugar cookies in a bar. 
Make up the recipe, press it in a pan, one turn in the oven and *boom* - done. Just like that. 
P.S. - these freeze very well too.


Sugar Cookie Bars (for a crowd)

Ingredients
1 cup butter, room temp
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour
pinch salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Frosting
1 cup butter, room temp
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups icing sugar
pinch salt
3 Tbsp milk

Decorations
Sprinkles

Directions
Preheat oven to 375. Line a 10 X 15 jelly roll pan with parchment paper, set aside.
In a large bowl, Beat the butter until creamy. Beat in the 2 cups of sugar, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary, until well combined.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well mixed. Beat in vanilla. 
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. 
Gradually beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Dough will be very stiff!
Crumble the dough into the prepared pan and press down firmly and evenly.


Bake at 375 until top looks dry and edges are lightly browned, about 15 minutes or so. Keep an eye on it - if you over bake it it will be dry.


Let cool to room temp and then very carefully use the edges of the parchment paper to lift the bar out of the pan. If the parchment paper is not long enough - you can invert the bar onto a wire rack and then invert back onto another rack or cutting board.. 


Prepare frosting - beat butter until smooth. Beat in vanilla. Gradually beat in icing sugar and pinch of salt. Beat in the milk until spreadable consistency. (You may need to add 1 more tablespoon)
Spread on the cooled bar.


Sprinkle generously with sprinkles. Cut into desired sizes.


Store in airtight container. Freezes very well.


These are kind of like a vanilla cake crossed with a sugar cookie. You could easily tint the frosting any color to match your event. (I've even made cream cheese frosting for these and it is really tasty!)
So many possibilities. 
So much faster than baking a million cookies. 

9 comments:

  1. Does the frosting set up or does it stay soft? I am wondering if it would work to wrap individually in plastic wrap? Looking to bake & sell at a concession stand.

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    Replies
    1. It sets up quite well. Just chill it before you wrap it. :)

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  2. salted butter or unsalted

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    Replies
    1. I used salted but you can certainly use unsalted if you prefer.

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  3. Hi,
    I am serving 60 people. How many pans would you recommend I make? Thank you!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Leslie - I would say 2 pans would very easily serve 60+ people with generous sized pieces. Depending on the size you cut the bars, 1 pan could yield 60 small pieces.

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  4. In my experience, there's no way a frosting with that much butter is going to set up enough to be wrappable, or even to be reliably finger food at room temperature. At the very least, I'd add at least a tablespoon or two of white corn syrup to give it a fighting chance...

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  5. What do I do if I don't have parchment paper?

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    Replies
    1. I would recommend getting parchment paper. It is an incredible aid in baking. That being said, you could try tinfoil sprayed with cooking spray.

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