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–+ servings
Ugly Christmas Sweater Sugar Cookie Bars are the quickest way to make soft frosted sugar cookies for a crowd. No chilling, no cutting, no mess!

Ugly Christmas Sweater Sugar Cookie Bars

Yield: 24 bars
Prep Time: 40 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 1 hr
Ugly Christmas Sweater Sugar Cookie Bars are the quickest way to make soft frosted sugar cookies for a crowd. No chilling, no cutting, no mess!

Ingredients
  

Cookies

  • 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract see notes
  • 3 cups flour all purpose
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • candies for decorating

Frosting

  • 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
  • 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract see notes
  • 1/4 cup milk or whipping cream

Instructions
 

For the Cookies

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 baking dish (or use parchment paper), set aside.
  • In the bowl of your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and sugar for 2 minutes.
  • Add the eggs, vanilla, and almond extract.
  • In a separate bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add to wet ingredients 1 cup at a time until incorporated. A dough will form and pull away from the sides of the mixer bowl when ready.
  • Drop by heaping tablespoons onto a greased baking dish, and press down with your fingers to flatten evenly.
  • Bake for 20 minutes until golden in color. Remove and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the Frosting

  • In the bowl of your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter for 2 minutes. Slowly add powdered sugar, salt, and extracts. Use milk or cream (more or less) to thin the frosting to the desired consistency.
  • Separate any frosting you would like to color (I only used a small amount of green in this design).
  • Pipe over cooled sugar cookie bars in different patterns.
  • Decorate with sprinkles, sugar transfers, etc.

Notes

  • For the cookie bars, you can omit the almond extract. Substitute with vanilla if desired.
  • For the frosting, vanilla extract will give a slight tint to the frosting so use clear vanilla if you want a brighter frosting.

Nutrition

Calories: 282kcalCarbohydrates: 33gProtein: 2gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 56mgFiber: 1gSugar: 21gCalcium: 22mg