143.0…Sugar Cookie Bars

Don’t you just love sugar cookies? The chewy cookie, the intoxicating frosting? Heck, what’s not to love!?! I know…sometimes I just don’t have the time or feel like making cookies. That’s where these fabulous bars come in.

You don’t have to drop each one on a cookie sheet. You just put the entire bowl of batter on the cookie sheet and bake. Easy peasy.

Sugar Cookie Bars

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each egg. Add vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl combine flour, salt and baking soda. Whisk to combine. Add to wet mixture and mix until just combined. Spread on a greased baking sheet. (use a 13x18 pan). Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until light golden brown or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely and frost.

Frosting:
½ cup butter, room temp
½ cup shortening
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
4 cups powdered sugar
5 Tbsp milk
food coloring (if desired)

For frosting, combine butter and shortening until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and salt. Add powdered sugar in 1-2 cup increments until combined, then add milk and mix until you achieve a smooth spreading consistency. Spread over cooled cookie.

This recipe makes a ton of bars. Here they are before I cut them:

I bet you want these huh? I can help you out! I am donating these to Steph’s online blog bake sale on May 13th to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Bid on them and they could be yours. :)

Of course I had to try one (or two) to make sure they were ok. I had to try the frosting a few times too. You know….to make sure I had the right consistency. So when dinner time rolled around, I wasn’t super hungry and had know idea what to eat. I actually had a dinner planned for my husband and I but I found out last minute that he wasn’t going to be home for dinner. I did not feel like making a full blown meal for just myself. Enter last night’s quick dinner:

“Pizza” and salad. I put some marinara sauce & cheese on a slice of bread and stuck in under the broiler. Voila. Dinner.

I knew what I wanted for breakfast this morning: egg sandwich.

Whole wheat English muffin, egg beaters, turkey slices  and a big piece of cheese. Strawberries were the fruit du jour.

Today I drove all over San Diego. First to drop the kids off at school. Then back home. I did some work before I hopped in the car and was off to an appointment by the airport. On the way I ate some lunch/snacks:

Peanut butter sandwich, an apple and almonds. Next it was over to Golden Spoon in Del Mar for a frozen yogurt (it was by my daughter’s school and I had a few minutes to kill).

After picking up my daughter, we ran some errands at the mall in La Jolla and then back to Del Mar for a playdate. Then home.

Too bad my day wasn’t over then. Next up: track practice in San Marcos.

Today’s track was the hardest one. I was glad when I was done. At least it was still a little light out when we finished. Usually it’s pitch black.

I was definitely hungry for dinner tonight. I heated up some of the leftover Baked Parmesan Spaghetti:

I am eating it as I type. Yes, I can multi-task. :)

I’m thinking about getting a second bowl.

Has gas prices affected how you drive? Today was a bad example but sometimes it just works out that way.

Sugar Cookie fan? Do you have a favorite recipe?

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