Holiday Sugar Cookie Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Between Christmas and New Year's. CJ and Shanice and Caleb are still here, leaving Thursday, and I have been living inside these days the way you live inside the best ones: fully, without rushing toward the next thing, with the understanding that this configuration of people in this house is a specific gift and that specific gifts should be received with specific attention.

Caleb has been in my kitchen every morning. He wakes up before his parents reliably and by six-thirty I have a toddler in the kitchen standing at my knee while I make coffee, pointing at things and naming them with his particular vocabulary, which is somewhere between words I know and words he is still developing. He points at the cast iron and says something that sounds like hot, because Shanice has been consistent. He points at the eggs and says something that sounds close. He points at the coffee maker and says something that I have decided means what is that, which is all the right question.

James and Dorothy come New Year's Eve for a few days. Dorothy is bringing biscuit ingredients and has asked for access to my kitchen on New Year's Day morning, which I have granted without reservation. The idea of Dorothy in my kitchen making New Year's Day biscuits while I stand beside her is one of the things I am looking forward to most about the coming year. Simple pleasures that used to be ordinary and are now understood for what they have always been: extraordinary. Every morning someone is well enough to make biscuits is an extraordinary morning. I have learned this. I am not forgetting it.

Dorothy is bringing the biscuits, and I would never presume to compete with that — but between now and New Year’s Day morning, there are still days to fill, and Caleb is still standing at my knee pointing at things and asking his version of what is that. These holiday sugar cookie bars are soft and sweet and forgiving, the kind of thing you can make with a toddler underfoot, the kind of thing that makes the kitchen smell like it should during these days that are a gift, and I want to receive them with specific attention.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 24 bars

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
2–3 tbsp milk, as needed
Holiday sprinkles, for decorating

Instructions

Preheat and prepare. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan or line with parchment paper.
Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs and extracts. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla and almond extracts, mixing until fully combined.
Incorporate flour. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing on low until a soft dough forms. Do not overmix.
Bake. Spread the dough evenly into the prepared pan — it will be thick; use lightly floured fingertips or a spatula. Bake for 22–25 minutes, until the edges are just golden and the center is set. Do not overbake. Cool completely in the pan.
Make the frosting. Beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and vanilla, mixing on low until combined, then beat on medium until creamy. Add milk one tablespoon at a time to reach a spreadable consistency.
Frost and decorate. Spread the cream cheese frosting evenly over the cooled bars. Top with holiday sprinkles. Refrigerate for 20 minutes before cutting into bars for clean edges.

Nutrition (per serving)

Holiday Sugar Cookie Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting — The Kitchen Is the Gift