Sugar Cookie Bars

Mmmmm sugar cookie bars.  Full disclosure, I am not a huge sugar cookie person.  I often feel like they exist to be a vehicle for frosting and {gasp!} I am not a huge frosting person either.   If we're in the cone of trust: I scrape the cream out of Oreos. So how did I change my mind about sugar cookies?  Well it all started with a trip to the library. 

Do you go to the library?  We basically live there. We are fortunate to have a very nice public library a couple minutes down the street from us. When I say nice, I mean the cookbook section is out of this world.  5 and 6 copies of every cookbook you can imagine. It is glorious.

When my daughter goes to the library, she picks out a couple books for herself and then she picks a baking book for mom.  During the two week period, we flip through the cookbook, look very closely at all of the pictures and she decides which things she wants to make.   And when I say “make” I mean, she pulls up a chair to the kitchen counter and helps me measure the ingredients, pour things into the mixing bowls, and  make general supervisory comments “Mommy, not those sprinkles”, etc. She’s my mini Creative Director/Sous Chef.

This particular week she was in love with Sally’s Baking Addiction [Cookbook Title]  {because of the sprinkles} and that’s how we ended up making Sally’s Sugar Cookie Bars.  I’ve been following Sally’s blog since my working in Baltimore days, and it’s  been fun to watch her blog grow! 

Do you have an aspiring baker in your house?  Sugar Cookies Bars are a fantastic recipe for smaller hands.

1. No chill time.  How many three year olds do you know that have patience?  Have you also found a unicorn or won the lottery lately? I love cookies that chill overnight, but my three year old wants her “cookies from the oven” ASAP.
2. Simple ingredients.  While I appreciate recipes that call for exotic ingredients, baking with littles should be about them learning, so if you think you might freak out because your toddler dumped out the entire container {insert anything expensive}  onto the floor, then that’s probably not the recipe.
3. Sprinkles! Seriously sprinkles are hot with the under 4 set.
4. Simple instructions.   After you mix up the cookie dough, you press it into a pan and bake it.  Make some buttercream and decorate with sprinkles.  

The only catch: My tiny dictator creative director wanted them to look EXACTLY like the ones in the book.  Light purple frosting and rainbow sprinkles. I showed her every single color of food coloring in the house, but she stuck to her guns.  Purple (‘But not too much purple mom!’) frosting or bust.

And most importantly, she wanted to be in charge of the sprinkles. I’ve made the sprinkle mistake before -- the one where you hand the kid the entire container of sprinkles, turn your back and all of the sprinkles are on a single cookie.  Learn from me people. Give the kid a small container with sprinkles, and save yourself from having to sweep sprinkles off your floor for the rest of your life.