My son came home from scouts the other day and in a very off hand, totally routine way, said, "Mom I told everyone that you would be bring cookies for the Court of Honor on Wednesday."
Oh really!!
Good thing he said this several days before because he is notorious for forgetting till right before we are to leave somewhere.
And I am so glad that he thinks my cookies are good (remember this post--I think we've come a long ways), enough even to brag to his friends.
But because he did volunteer me and because I have been meaning to teach him how to be more proficient in the kitchen, I told him that it was up to him to make the cookies. He chose this recipe because he said it "would be easy" (total boy) and it "looked good" (his stomach rules his life I think already :).
I had to help a little bit but he did all the measuring, mixing, and scraping. He even made the frosting. The only hard part was smoothing out the dough--which who cares, it will be covered in frosting. It was a lot of fun to spend some time with him in the kitchen and if you have a child who wants to help you bake, this is a great recipe to start on.
And by the way, all the boys at the Court of Honor loved these bars. Very moist and delicious, and everything looks better with sprinkles, right?
Sugar Cookie Bars
(click here for printable version)
Bars:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups flour
Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 - 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3-5 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
food coloring, your choice
sprinkles
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease large jelly-roll pan with non-stick spray and set aside.
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter, sugar, egg, cream cheese until well blended and a bit frothy. Add the vanilla and almond extract and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat for two minutes. Pour into prepared pan and bake 20 minutes. Remove and cool completely.
4. To make frosting, beat butter and cream cheese until well mixed and smooth. Add powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and food coloring (adjust powdered sugar to reach your desired consistency). Spread on top of cooled bar, decorate with sprinkles and serve. Enjoy!
Source: Lil Luna
