Thick, soft sugar cookie bars slathered with vanilla buttercream frosting, with a secret ingredient. These melt in your mouth.
Prep Time 15 minutesmins
Cook Time 10 minutesmins
Servings 16bars
Ingredients
For the sugar cookie bars:
½cupunsalted buttersoftened
½cupgranulated sugar
1egg
¼tspvanilla extract
¼tspalmond extract
1 ½cupsall-purpose flour
¼tspbaking powder
¼tspbaking soda
¼tspsalt
For the vanilla buttercream frosting:
¼cupunsalted buttersoftened
1cupconfectioners’ sugar
½tspvanilla extract
1-2tbspmilk
1-2drops pink food coloringoptional
1-2tbspsprinklesoptional
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 F or 180 C and line an 8×8 or 9×9 square baking pan with parchment paper (or grease with butter).
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and extracts and continue to mix until combined.
In a small bowl, stir together the baking powder, soda, salt and flour.
Add the dry ingredients into the butter/egg mixture and whisk until incorporated. Switch to a spatula or wooden spoon once the dough becomes too tough to mix by hand.
Spread the dough evenly onto the prepared pan, it will be quite thick.
Bake until the top is golden brown, about 8-10 minutes and cool completely before cutting.
To make the frosting:
Beat the butter slightly to loosen.
Gradually add in the confectioners’ sugar, alternating with the milk and beating vigorously until you get a thick, smooth texture. Adjust the consistency by adding more milk if it is too thick or more sugar if it is too thin.
Add the food coloring if using.
Putting it together:
Take the cookie slab out of the pan using the parchment paper as handles.
Spread the frosting evenly on top and evenly distribute the sprinkles, if using.