Description
Fairy Bread, an Australian children’s birthday party staple, is turned into rich, buttery, sugar cookie bars loaded with sprinkles!
Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Bars:
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1½ cups sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2½ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of salt
Frosting:
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2–3 cups powdered sugar (to taste)
- 1 teaspoon butter vanilla bakery emulsion (I highly recommend LorAnn brand – aff link)
- 2–3 tablespoons heavy cream (as needed)
- Rainbow nonpareils (aff link)
Instructions
Sugar Cookie Bars:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Prepare a 9×13″ baking dish by lining it with parchment paper and lightly spraying with nonstick spray (aff link). Set aside.
- In a large bowl, use the paddle attachment on your mixer to beat together the butter and cream cheese until combined and smooth.
- Add the sugar and beat again to combine, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add in the egg, vanilla and almond extracts and beat briefly to combine.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add dry mixture to wet mixture and mix until a soft dough is formed. It will be heavy!
- Spread the dough evenly in the prepared baking dish and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean or with only a few moist crumbs.
- Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then lift out of the pan by the parchment paper and let cool completely on a cooling rack.
Frosting:
- In a large bowl, use the paddle attachment on your mixer on high speed to beat the butter until smooth.
- Add butter emulsion and then the powdered sugar, a little at a time, and beat on high speed until light and fluffy. Add heavy cream, one tablespoon at a time, if needed to get the desired consistency.
- Top with as many rainbow nonpareils (aff link) as your heart desired. Cut into triangles, serve, and enjoy!
Notes
How to cut for serving:
– Since these are dense, you’ll want them in small triangles. To do that, start by cutting the bars into 2 rows of 4 rectangles.
– Next, cut each of those 8 rectangles diagonally to form 16 triangles.
– Then cut each of the rectangles again, diagonally in the opposite direction.
– You should end up with 32 small triangles that are perfect for serving!
Storage:
Best served same day, but can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days in an airtight container. The sprinkles will bleed into the frosting a bit as time goes by.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake