Sugar Cookie Bars

Note: As of 12 May 2018, the images in this post are nowhere to be seen. I’m currently debating whether to dig around in an external hard drive to find them or to surrender them to the universe. My photography was so bad at the time that the greater forces of my blog may be trying to do me a favor.

These will be my downfall.

I should seriously stop making cookies, bars, brownies and anything of the sort.

It’s just that these sugar cookie bars are so rich and dense and colorful and delicious and…and…

I honestly don’t have much to say about these. No quirky anecdotes or heartwarming family stories, just cookie and icing and yum. Although I did end up making them after a disastrous flank steak fiasco, but that’s a tale for another day….I need time to heal.

So, in the meantime, I suggest that you wrap your own kitchen-scarred heart in the soft, warm blankie of love that is these sugar cookie bars and leave the complicated stuff for another day.

To begin, place some butter and sugar in a medium-sized bowl.

These are the building blocks of deliciosity.

While you dream of owning a humongous KitchenAid stand mixer with all the fixin’s, use your eighties-era hand mixer to cream the butter and sugar.

This butter mixture looks radioactive.

In a separate, larger bowl, mix together flour, salt, and baking soda.

This recipe calls for a LOT of flour.

Then, because you forgot to take a picture of the combined dough, go ahead and spread the dough in a greased baking dish.

I just realized that it’s like a cookie cake! 

Bake for 15-20 minutes and let cool.

I baked mine for just over 15 minutes and it was pretty gooey, so if you want it a bit crunchier bake it for 20 minutes or a little more.

While the bars are still warm, cut off a little piece to…check the seasonings.

I’m all about quality control.

Don’t you believe me?!

Anyway, while the bars are cooling, it’s time to start working on the icing.

Start off by combining softened cream cheese and butter.

We’re off to a promising start.

Add vanilla and a teensy, tiny bit of salt.

It’s getting fluffier!

Then, cup by cup, add the powdered sugar.

By the time you get to that third cup, you also get a great arm workout.

Once it’s nice and fluffy, add a few splashes of milk to make it spreadable.

This is a pre-milk photo. The final icing will look creamier.

Now that the bars are nice and cooled, plop a huge dollop of icing in the center and spread around with a knife.

As you can see, more than just a nibble had disappeared by then. My mom and sister are sticklers for accuracy, like me.

If you want, save a little bit of icing and add some food coloring to pipe some lovely designs on the bars.

Like flowers!

The first picture looks different because, although the flowers looked pretty like this, they didn’t look so great cut up.

After seeing my incredible artistic endeavors, I’m sure you’re feeling very inspired and are just itching to make these for yourself, so I won’t keep you in suspense any longer…

You can find the recipe I tried over at The Girl Who Ate Everything.