I love a good sugar cookie! But they can be time consuming to make so when I saw this recipe on a blog called “I Heart Nap Time”, I knew I had to try it and they are divine, taste just like a really good sugar cookie, only in bar form.  The Young Women came over to my house last night so I made these as a treat for them, after our activity which involved making some Thanksgiving themed treats (see next post) and writing some thank you notes to some people who provide service for us on a regular basis.  So, if you love sugar cookies too, then I highly recommend giving this recipe a try!

bars:

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup salted butter, softened

1/4 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg white

1 egg

1  Preheat oven to 350.  Combine flour, salt and baking powder and set aside.

2  Combine butter and sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add vanilla, eggs and sour cream and beat until combined.  Pour in dry ingredients and mix until combined.

3  Place mixture in a buttered 9 x 13″ glass pan.  (The dough was pretty thick and sticky so I sprayed my hands with cooking spray and flattened it out evenly in the pan that way.)  Bake 20 minutes or until lightly browned.  Do not overcook.

frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons half and half

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon orange extract (I didn’t want orange flavored frosting so I omitted this and upped the vanilla to 1 teaspoon, to be honest, I might have added 2 teaspoons!)

orange food coloring (I went with blue, just cause I love blue!)

Combine ingredients and beat for 2 minutes or until fluffy.