Sugar Cookie Bars
All the flavor and fun of sugar cookies, without the work of rolling and cutting shapes! This recipe yields an entire half sheet pan of thick and chewy sugar cookie bars topped with a pillowy vanilla almond buttercream.
Ingredients
- 12 oz salted butter still cold, but just soft enough to make small dent when pressing firmly on it (24 tbsp)
- 4 oz cream cheese cold (8 tbsp)
- 21 oz granulated sugar 3 cups
- 3 eggs
- 4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp almond extract
- 1 lb 14 oz all purpose flour (7 cups)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookie Buttercream
- 12 oz softened salted butter 1 ½ cups
- 17 oz powdered sugar 4 cups
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1 pinch salt 1/8 tsp ish
- 1 tbsp french vanilla coffee creamer Optional sub. heavy cream and add extra vanilla and almond extract to taste
Instructions
Sugar Cookie Bar
- Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit, and line one baking sheet with parchment paper. (If you plan on frosting and serving the bars in pan, you can skip the parchment and grease the pan instead.)
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Cream the butter and cream cheese together in a large sized bowl using an electric mixer until well combined. Scrape down the bowl, and repeat.
- Add in granulated sugar, and continue creaming ingredients together until light and fluffy.
- Mix in the eggs one at a time, and beat until incorporated. Add in extracts and mix them in as well, once again scraping the bowl to ensure even mixing.
- With the mixer on a low speed, slowly add in the flour mixture, and allow dough to come together until no dry ingredient streaks are remaining. Stop the mixer, scrape down the bowl and beater, and beat for another several seconds on medium speed.
- Press dough in an even layer on to the prepared baking sheet. (Optional: Use an offset spatula to smooth out the top layer further)
- Bake tray on the center rack for 22-25 minutes rotating halfway through. Bake until the center of the bar feels set and no longer squishy or doughy. Make sure to rotate tray around halfway through the bake time.
- Allow the cookie bar to cool completely before frosting.
Vanilla Almond Buttercream
- Beat room temperature butter in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium high for 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl and add vanilla and almond extract, and beat for another 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
- With the mixer on a low speed, slowly pour in the powdered sugar along with the pinch of salt. Once the dry ingredients have been incorporated, turn the mixer up to medium high and beat for 5 more minutes.
- Turn the mixer on low, pour in the coffee creamer (or heavy cream). Stir until combined, and then allow the mixer to run on a low speed for another few minutes remove the majority of the air bubbles.
- Frost the cookie bar in an even layer in your preferred method, and eat within 3-5 days. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy!