Secret Ingredient Sugar Cookie Bars!

i have a confession to make. i'm an impulsive baker. it's true and now that i've said it and it's out in the open, i feel so much better. :)


i don't know how it happens, i'll be sitting on my couch, reading, watching tv, blogging, or doing whatever and then the urge will strike. i have to bake cookies right now! it happens more often when i'm perusing pinterest, which is where i found these amazingly delicious sugar cookie bar recipes i'm about to share with you....so really it's pinterest's fault. not mine.

anyways, i'm sure you've seen these on pinterest too. they're all over the place. those pretty pink sugar cookie bars, staring you in the face, begging you to make them. well i finally did, randomly on a wednesday night while husband was at school (see i was home alone and bored which is never good for an impulsive baking addict) and they were so delicious.

they're not as pretty as some others on the internet, but they sure did taste good!

but i started them and then i realized i didn't have all the ingredients. and there was no way i was running to safeway on a wednesday night in my pajamas. so i improvised. i was out of vanilla extract (probably from all the other random baking i've done) so i added my own secret ingredient...BOURBON! bourbon went into the cookies and bourbon went in to the frosting and it was delicious!

i also ran out of all purpose flour so i substituted one cup of whole wheat flour, which wasn't bad, but i don't recommend doing unless you run out of flour halfway through making sugar cookie bars too. that being said, i didn't include the whole wheat flour substitution into the recipe below, but you're darn right i included the bourbon substitute. vanilla schmanilla ....bourbon is where it's at ladies and gents!

happy  baking!

ps...i bet if you had a christmas tree cookie cutter and some green food coloring, you could make some pretty cute and pretty delicious christmas tree cookies with this recipe. i may or may not have that planned for my christmas cookie baking binge i'll be starting on in the near future.

Secret Ingredient Sugar Cookie Bars

3/4 cup butter, softened to cool room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon bourbon (SECRET INGREDIENT!!)
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Frosting:
8 tablespoons butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk or cream
1/2 teaspoon bourbon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, granulated sugar and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and bourbon and mix for 1-2 minutes. Mix in the flour, baking powder and salt. 

Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking pan. Press the mixture into the pan.

Bake for 10-13 minutes. The bars shouldn't have any color around the edges and barely be set in the middle. Let the bars cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, cream together the butter and powdered sugar until smooth. Add in the bourbon and mix. Add the milk or cream and mix until the frosting is light and fluffy. Add food coloring, if desired.