Thursday, October 27, 2011

Vanilla Glazed Sugar Cookie Bars

Sometimes, life just needs sprinkles.

This was one of those times.  I had exactly one cup of butter left in my entire apartment, I had leftover glaze in my fridge from the Bundt cake I made a couple weeks earlier, and I just wanted to make something simple and sprinkle-y to share with the dancers before we went into tech for the concert.  I found this recipe and declared it a winner.


The original recipe calls for a frosting, which I ordinarily would've made without batting an eyelash...duh.  Of course, ordinarily I would've made cupcakes instead of cookies...I guess it wasn't an ordinary day.  Anyway, considering the complete lack of butter and the presence of tasty glaze, I gave up on the frosting.  And the glaze was perfect!  It added just enough sweetness to the bars to make them thoroughly addictive without being cloying.

Plus, glaze = perfect sprinkle adhesive.  Truth.

These sugar cookie bars came together so quickly, made my kitchen smell incredible...and I may or may not have had three of them while I was making a plate for the dancers.
Hey - I cut them small!  Three is...a totally justifiable number...

I'll just...give you the recipe now...

Vanilla Glazed Sugar Cookie Bars
Source: lightly adapted from Annie's Eats ; original recipe from The Repressed Pastry Chef

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 recipe vanilla glaze, found here
Multicolored sprinkles (optional but highly encouraged) 

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350˚F with a rack placed at the center position.  Grease a 13x18" rimmed baking sheet and set aside. [Side note: I used the medium baking sheet from my set of three - I eyeballed it and it looked right.]
Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl.  Set aside.
In a large bowl with a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed till pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add the seeds and extract to the butter mixture, beating until well incorporated.  Switch to low speed and add the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.
Transfer the cookie dough to the prepared baking sheet and press it into an even layer.  Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, until light golden brown in color and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool to room temperature in the pan on a rack.
Once the bars are at room temperature, poke holes all over the surface with the tines of a fork or a toothpick.  Pour the vanilla glaze over the bars and spread as evenly as possible.  If using sprinkles (which you should!) add them to the top of the bars now so they set with the glaze.   Allow the glaze to set and harden before slicing into 1.5-2" square bars and serving.  Enjoy!

1 comment:

  1. just found your blog! love it, can't wait to browse around :)
    love the cookie bar recipe!

    ReplyDelete