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Lofthouse Cookie Bars are soft and sweet and easy to bake up all at once. You can customise the frosting color and sprinkles to suit any occasion. This recipe is super easy. You'll love it.
I've lived in Scotland for over five years now, and I'm on the verge of receiving my indefinite leave to remain in the UK. There are so many things I love about living here. The National Health Service is high on the list, but I also love our wonky historic tenement flat, Victorian fountains, pub culture, and so much more. The weather still sucks, though.
And while I've really come to appreciate a lot about British food, nothing can ever take the place of the American foods I grew up eating. Funny how I never really thought of them as American. Is that me being horribly ethnocentric, or does everyone take the food of their culture for granted until they experience it from another country's point of view? I often pine for the sweet treats of a typical grocery store bakery department. It's a good thing I taught myself how to bake.
These Lofthouse Cookie Bars are based on those colorful cakey sugar cookies in bright vibrant colors you can always find in America. Or at least you could five years ago. Are they still a thing? I hope so because I sorta love them. They're soft and sweet, and you can customise the sprinkles and frosting color to suit any occasion.
Now I'm going to confess that I tried to be practical (aka stubborn) and not buy a new baking pan to make these. I made mine in a 13x9 inch pan, and they're much too thick. Definitely use a half sheet pan for a thinner cookie bar. I think you'll like it better.
How to make Lofthouse Cookie Bars
There are no big secrets here. Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar together with an electric mixer until it's light and fluffy, then beat in an egg and some vanilla. Slowly stir in your dry ingredients, then spread the sticky dough into a foil-lined half sheet pan and bake until golden around the edges.
To make the iconic frosting, we make a super thick mixture of butter and lots of powdered sugar. Add vanilla, milk, and maybe some food coloring to thin it out a bit, then crank up the mixer to work a little air into the mixture. We're really going to smash more than spread this evenly over the bars, working the frosting right to the edge. And absolutely go crazy with the sprinkles. It's required.
Make it magical
We can bring a hint of magick to literally everything we cook. Sugar is used in so many types of witchcraft. With it's powerful attraction energy, it's sweetness is used to draw in all sorts of things, but most especially, love. Add it to any attraction spell to sweeten the deal. Whether you're hoping for more money, better luck, or a good date, work with the energy of sugar to call in what you desire. (Source: The Traveling Witch)
At the moment, we're all stuck at home, but we won't let that stop us from tasting the world. Make yourself some All-American Lofthouse Cookie Bars this weekend. It's gonna be awesome.
Looking for more awesome cookie bar recipes? Try these Monster Cookie Bars or some Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars.
PrintLofthouse Cookie Bars
Lofthouse Cookie Bars are soft and sweet and easy to bake up all at once. You can customise the frosting color and sprinkles to suit any occasion. This recipe is super easy. You'll love it.
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 28 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
For the cookie bars
- 1-½ cups sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2-½ cups all-purpose or plain flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda or bicarbonate of soda
For the frosting
- ¾ cup (1-½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons milk
- Sprinkles
Instructions
For the cookie bars
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and cover a half sheet pan with foil, then spray lightly.*
- In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until smooth and fluffy.
- Next, mix in the egg and vanilla until combined.
- Turn your mixer to its lowest setting and slowly mix in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda until just combined.
- Spread your cookie dough as evenly as possible in your pan. It will be quite sticky. I tried a couple different tools, but ultimately, the best thing was clean hands.
- Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden. Cool completely.
For the frosting
- Beat together butter and powdered sugar with your electric mixer adding the powdered sugar gradually. It will be a very stiff mixture.
- Mix in the vanilla extract then add the milk slowly to thin it out. You may need a little more or a little less.** You want a very thick frosting that will be more smashable than spreadable. Crank the speed up for about 30 seconds to make sure everything is smooth and fluffy.
- Carefully spread your frosting over your cooled cookie bars, covering the entire surface as evenly as possible.
- Scatter your sprinkles across your frosting and gently press to sprinkles down into the frosting to hold them in place. I do this with a wax paper covered hand.
- Slice into bars of the desired size. You could definitely make smaller servings to feed a larger crowd if you need to. Everyone will still be happy.
- Store in an airtight container.
Notes
* I ended up using a 13x9 inch pan this time, which is why my bars are so thick, but I think you'd be better off using a larger pan for thinner bars.
**If you plan to use liquid food coloring to color your frosting, you may want to hold off on some of the milk.
Keywords: Cookie Bars
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