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I have this bloggy friend and she is totally adorable.
And funny. OMG, she is funny.
We’ve sorta been reading each other’s blogs forever now and this probably isn’t the first recipe I’ve snagged from her site to share on my own. It’s not stealing if you’re friends. It’s borrowing, people. Borrowing.
Even if it was stealing, and it’s not, some recipes are just plain good enough to warrant a little theft. I admit to nothing, though.
Y’all know how I like to get bossy, so let me plan your day for you.
First, head to the kitchen and whip these soft, chewy sugar cookie bars up. They’re super easy and taste like those yummy Lofthouse sugar cookies without the weird chemical after taste. (Am I the only one who tastes that? I just can’t eat those things. It’s like chewing on something soaked in toilet bowl cleaner.)
Second, while your cookie bars are baking, head over to Shelly’s blog and waste your day reading her hilarious stories and drooling over her amazing recipes. Just don’t get so caught up in her little world that you burn your cookie bars. That’d be sad.
Third, spend the rest of the day eating cookies. No laundry. No dishes. No cooking dinner.
And that’s an order!
I topped my cookie bars with a simple chocolate frosting this time around, but I’ve also topped them with buttercream (Here is a link to Shelly’s favorite buttercream recipe. It’s also delicious. Much like her cute little face.). Either way, they are delicious and absolutely perfect for large get togethers. Just be sure to have a copy of the recipe ready, because people will totally want to steal borrow it from you.
Lofthouse Sugar Cookie Bars
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
For the chocolate frosting:
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips milk chocolate or semi-sweet
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- Up to 1/4 cup milk or heavy cream as needed
Instructions
To make the cookie bars:
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Line a jelly roll pan (15x10x1) with aluminum foil or parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well incorporated.
- With your mixer turned to low, add in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda, mixing until just combined.
- Press the dough evenly into your prepared pan. The dough is sticky and it will look too thin, but it all works out. Just keep pressing it until you have an even layer over the entire baking sheet.
- Bake for 20 minutes until edges begin to turn golden.
- Cool completely before frosting.
For the frosting:
- While the cookies are baking, prepare the frosting.
- Add sugar, butter, and milk to a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Boil for exactly 60 seconds and remove from heat. Stir in chocolate chips and continue stirring until the chocolate has melted.
- Place the mixture in the bowl of your stand mixer and place in the refrigerator to cool.
- When the mixture is mostly cool (it can still be a little warm, but not too hot or it won't whip - just return to the fridge if you find it not whipping good), place the bowl on the mixer and, using the wire whisk, whip the mixture with the powdered sugar until soft and fluffy. If needed add a bit of milk or heavy cream (up to 1/4 cup).
- Spread over the cookie bars.
Nutrition Information:
recipe from Cookies and Cups
Audrey says
Made these for Easter. Made one batch, but didn’t realize the oven wasn’t hot enough. When they were barely brown I took them out and found out the next day the whole pan wasn’t cooked enough… The whole thing went in the trash. 🙁 Tried it again the next day, adjusted the temp, (yes I have an oven thermometer, just forgot to check before), and this time set it for 20 miinutes before I checked. Should have checked 2 minutes sooner! They were already getting brown. Thankfully they are thick enough that they were still soft, just slightly overdone. I will definitely check sooner next time. ( I also used a thin aluminum pan the first time and then used a dark one the next time. Do you think think that made a big difference? I usually use aluminum for baking but don’t have a good one that’s jellyroll size!) Oh, and for some reason I also added 2 extra tbsp of flour the second time. Probably shouldn’t have!
I also used a half teapoon lemon extract and 1.5 tsp vanilla, (next time may do a whole teaspoon of lemon!) Gave it a nice fresh, light taste. Used Shelly’s butter cream recipe, but halved it and it made plenty for the bars. Added one tsp lemon extract to that. Soo good! Colored it yellow and put pink, purple, and green sprinkles on it! Such a great recipe! I gave most of them away today after eating 2 for breakfast! Sugar cookies are my weekness! I love that you don’t have to roll them out! This is definitely going into my go- to list! Thanks!!
Ashley says
Yum these look amazing! I’ve made something similar before and actually have recently been thinking a lot about making them again!