Frosted Snickerdoodle Bars
These frosted snickerdoodle bars have crispy edges and soft middles and finished with whipped American buttercream.
Makesabout 2 dozen bars
Prep30 minutes
Cook25 minutes to 30 minutes
Is there anything more fantastically homey than that most marvelous of soft-baked cookies, the snickerdoodle? The name is thought to have come from nineteenth-century New England, deriving from the word Schneckennudeln, a type of snail-shaped German cinnamon roll. Snickerdoodles are famously associated with the Pennsylvania Dutch and the Amish communities of Indiana, which explains how they made their way to the Midwest and have long been a homespun favorite here.
And, of course, if you can find a way to turn something, anything at all, into a recipe that can be crammed into a 9×13-inch pan, it becomes extra Midwestern. The swath of frosting on top gilds the lily here, but it’s so worth it.
Buy Shauna’s Book: Midwest Made: Big, Bold Baking from the Heartland, $27
Frosted Snickerdoodle Bars
These frosted snickerdoodle bars have crispy edges and soft middles and finished with whipped American buttercream.
Prep time 30 minutes
Cook time 25 minutes to 30 minutes
Makes about 2 dozen bars
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray for pan
For the bars:
- 2 3/4 cups
unbleached all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 2 teaspoons
cream of tartar, sifted
- 1 1/4 teaspoons
fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon
baking soda
- 1 teaspoon
ground cinnamon
- 2 sticks
unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup
packed light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup
granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons
vanilla extract
- 2
large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup
whole milk
For the frosting:
- 1 1/2 sticks
unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups
powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon
ground cinnamon, plus more for dusting (optional)
- 1 tablespoon
plus 1 teaspoon whole milk
- 1 teaspoon
vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon
fine sea salt
Instructions
Position a rack to the center of the oven and preheat it to 325°F. Line a 9x13-inch light-colored metal baking pan with aluminum foil and spray it with nonstick cooking spray.
Prepare the bars: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Add the brown and granulated sugar and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, giving each about 30 seconds of beating to fully incorporate. Beat in the milk. Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually beat in the flour mixture. Finish stirring the batter by hand to make sure every is incorporated. Spread the batter in the prepared pan and smooth the top.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top looks puffy and beginning to turn golden. Rotate the pan 180 degrees, and while doing so, rap the pan on the oven rack until the bars deflate. Bake for 5 minutes more, or until the bars have pulled away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. The bars will still look quite soft. If they’ve puffed back up during the last minutes of baking, rap the pan on the countertop once again. Let cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack.
Prepare the frosting: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, milk, vanilla, and salt, and beat until smooth. Raise the mixer speed to high and beat until very light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Spread the frosting over the cooled bars. Finish with a light dusting of cinnamon over the entire pan, if you wish.
Recipe Notes
Storage: Store any leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Cinnamon: Vietnamese cinnamon (sometimes also labeled Saigon cinnamon) with its sweet-spicy punch reminiscent of Red Hots cinnamon candy, will bump the flavor of these bars from old-school to something really special.
Reprinted with permission from MIDWEST MADE © 2019 by Shauna Sever, Running Press.
This recipe is a part Shauna Sever’s Week of Desserts. You can find all the recipes here.