Pink Cookie Bars

Soft and sweet and totally delicious!
Everyone has had a "pink cookie" at the coffee bar, big and round and totally sweet.  Can you believe we pay $2 for that kind of sugar high?  LOL, I know, why not?

These bar cookies are super easy and taste so much like those big pink cookies!  
I wish I had been a bit more cautious on how much pink food coloring I added... I wanted a more subtle color.  However, that's the only thing I could find wrong with these cookies.

They'd be fun to do with other colors and some jazzy sprinkles. The original recipe is here, and I only made some changes to the frosting.

 (I forgot the vanilla, it was just off camera here...)

Makes about 32 squares

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 egg white

1 Tbsp sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 recipe vanilla frosting, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 13″ x 9″ baking dish, set aside. In a mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy about 3-4 minutes. Stir in egg and egg white. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix until blended. Slowly add dry mixture and stir until well combine. With buttered hands, gently press (so gently almost patting) mixture into buttered baking dish. Bake 16 – 19 minutes until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and edges are lightly golden. Cool completely, then frost and cut into squares.

The dough is pretty soft, so butter your hands (or wear latex gloves) to pat it into the pan.

Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

2-3 Tbsp sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

Several drop food coloring (optional) or a small amount of paste food coloring.

In a mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, whip together butter and powdered sugar and half and half until fluffy. Stir in vanilla and salt. Add in food optional food coloring and mix until well blended. Beat it a bit longer than you think, you want to get it extra whipped and fluffy.  I liked that the frosting got a bit firm, but still soft and easy to eat.

I know this is a Christmas pan, but it's my best 9x13 pan with straight sides, so many are sloped and rounded edges.