Sugar Cookie Bars?!?!?

Here's a major first and maybe last for this blog. I'm posting about food. What can I say, I like to bake occasionally...

This morning when I got onto Facebook I saw a post staring me back in the face that had me intrigued, I had to take another look. The title was Sugar Cookie Bars.

I'll admit, I'm a bit of a sugar cookie snob. I like most sugar cookies, but the best by far has always been and will always be my late Grandma's recipe. She gave it to me a few years before she died and I try my best to do her justice, but I always fall just a bit short. That being said, I do make them for each of my kids birthdays and at select other times during the year. But as mentioned in the Facebook post above, they take so much time.

My Grandma's recipe, for instance, takes about 5 to 10 minutes to make, 2 hours to refrigerate, 1 hour to warm up so that it's pliable, then probably 30 to 40 minutes cutting them out and baking them. I then let them cool off for another half hour or so and then depending on the look I want, it can take upwards of an hour to frost. It's literally an all day project - ask the hubby, he'll vouch for it.

So, they really don't get made as often as I want them. (Probably a good thing for the waist line) Seeing that this took maybe an hour from start to finish - I decided to try it.

I followed the recipe provided by Pretty Providence, which you can find here. If you're too lazy to click that link, I provided the recipe below:

SUGAR COOKIE BARS

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 egg white

1 Tablespoon sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375*. Butter a 9x13 baking dish well. In a large bowl whip together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Stir in egg and egg white, then add sour cream and vanilla and mix until well blended. Slowly add in dry ingredients. (I did 1 cup of flour at a time, then the 1/2 cup flour along with the baking powder and salt) Butter your hands and gently press into your buttered pan. Bake 16-19 minutes - until fork comes out clean and edges are slightly brown. After 'cookies' are cooled completely, frost and cut into squares.

SUGAR COOKIE BARS FROSTING

1/4 cup unsalted butter

2 cups powdered sugar

2 or 3 Tablespoons, half & half

1 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

food coloring

In a mixing bowl, mix together butter, powdered sugar and half & half. Stir in vanilla and salt. Add food coloring if desired.

I chose a nice purple for our frosting. I was going to do green, but decided I was in a purple mood. I also added silver slivers for a fun look.

Results...

I was worried when I first put my dough in the pan and pushed it around. It was very thin and I was worried it wouldn't turn out correctly. However, as you can see above - it came out as thick as it was supposed to.

The cook time only took 16 minutes in my oven and it was done. The edges were nice and brown and the inside was nice and soft, just like I like it.

A downside for me was the sour cream. I don't really like sour cream and figured it wouldn't be that recognizable in such a small amount. I noticed it.

They're still sugar cookies and I like them okay, but they're definitely not a favorite. The kids all seemed to like them and didn't complain about them tasting funny or anything and they're all begging for more - so I guess it's a hit for them.

I'm going to do what the original post suggested and keep it in the fridge. Wonder if that'll do anything for the taste.

Overall, I'm sure I'll make them again. They were quick and like I said the kids enjoyed them.