Red, White, and Blue Sugar Cookie Bars

Red, White, and Blue Sugar Cookie Bars

Makes 15-18 bars
Recipe adapted from Cooking Classy
Ingredients:

Cookies:

• 2 & 1/2 cups bread flour {or all-purpose works fine}*
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 & 1/2 Tbsp. sour cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Several drops of red food coloring

Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup half and half
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• Several drops of blue food coloring

Directions:

1. COOKIES: Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside.
4. In a large bowl {I use my stand mixer}, beat butter until smooth.
5. Add the sugar and mix together with the butter until light and fluffy – about 3 minutes. {This step is important. If you don’t cream it long enough, your cookie will end up dry. Press on, friends!}
6. Add egg and mix until fully incorporated.
7. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix well.
8. Add the flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time until dough no longer sticks to the side.
9. Gather up all your dough and cut it in half.
10. Place one half back in the bowl and add a few drops of red food coloring.
11. Mix until food coloring is fully incorporated. {Add more if desired.}
12. Press red dough into baking dish until it covers the entire bottom.
13. Next, press non-colored dough on top of the red dough until the red is no longer visible. {I found that the non-colored dough was a little stiff to spread, so I put it back in the mixer and mixed it for a few seconds to kind of loosen it up. It seemed to do the trick. Just make sure you wash out all the red dye from the previous mixing! Otherwise you’ll be left with red and pink dough. :)}
14. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until the edges of the cookies just start to brown.
15. Let cool completely.
16. FROSTING: In a large bowl, {again, I use my stand mixer} beat butter until smooth.
17. Add powdered sugar and half and half and mix until light and fluffy.
18. Stir in salt, vanilla, and food coloring to your desired color.
19. Frost your cooled cookie bars evenly.
20. Cut into squares and serve.

*Note: We live at a 6,000+ ft. altitude, so it may be required that you use less flour to keep your cookies from becoming too dry. I recommend that you start with 1 & 3/4 cups and go up from there.