No, these aren’t lemon bars or lemon cookie bars…they’re sugar cookie bars. I realized a little too late that I should have colored the icing another color and picked a different plate…but…you live and you learn.
These sugar cookie bars seem to be making their rounds around the web lately and I thought I would give them a try. I really love sugar cookies…especially iced ones and I liked the idea that I could just press these in a pan, bake them, cool and ice and get on with my life quicker than several hours of refrigeration, rolling dough and cutting with cookie cutters (although I do love that around Christmas time).
These bars made a large jellyroll baking sheet and I cut them into 24 squares, which was about the size of an average homemade cookie. They are dense and cake-like and give great relief to a sugar cookie craving.
{ Check after 10 minutes…a few sticky crumbs on the toothpick is OK…you don’t want to over bake, they’ll taste dry. }
Sugar Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 5 cups flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Frosting
- 1/2 cup butter room temperature
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- ¼ tsp salt
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 5 Tbsp milk
- food coloring if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each egg. Add vanilla and almond extract, and mix well. In a separate bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda, cream of tartar, and stir with a whisk to combine. Add to butter mixture and mix just until combined. Spread onto a greased jellyroll pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 min, until light golden brown or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely and frost, if desired.
- For frosting: combine butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla, almond extract and salt. Add powdered sugar 1 to 2 cups at a time until well combined, then add milk a little at a time and mix until smooth and free of lumps. You may not need all the milk, just mix in enough to reach the desired consistency. Mix in food coloring if desired and mix well. Spread over cooled cookie bars.
I’m Jennifer Locklin, author and owner of Jennifer Cooks. I am a trained chef and passionate about good food, cooking for family and friends, and creating recipes that form lasting memories from one generation to the next.
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