Browned Butter Cookie Bars
If you haven’t yet climbed aboard the browned butter train, then please do yourself a favor and hop on it! I know asking you to brown your butter seems like an extra and unnecessary step. But please just take my word for it and DO IT! It honestly doesn’t take much extra time and it is worth it!
Now that I’ve (hopefully) convinced you, let’s talk about these cookie bars. Imagine a thick, chewy cookie that is covered in the lightest, fluffiest icing. Now make that cookie into a cookie cake and that’s essentially what we are working with here! And I’ll be honest, these maybe lasted a total of 48 hours in my house.
What you’ll need for the cookie bars:
– 1 cup butter, room temp (8 ounces)
– 3/4 cup brown sugar (150 grams)
– 1 cup white sugar (200 grams)
– 1 Tablespoon vanilla
– 2 eggs
– 3 cups flour (360 grams)
– 2 teaspoons baking soda
– 1 teaspoon salt
What you’ll need for the icing:
– 1/2 cup butter, room temperature (4 ounces)
– 2 cups powdered sugar (240 grams)
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
– 1 teaspoon vanilla
– 1 Tablespoon milk
– Food coloring, optional
– Sprinkles, optional
What you’ll do:
– Brown 1/2 cup of the butter in a small sauce pan over medium high heat. Once melted, stir continuously for several minutes. It will get pretty foamy and eventually die down. Once the butter turns from yellow to amber, stir for about 30 more seconds and then remove from heat. Set it aside and allow it to come to room temperature.
– Line a square baking dish with parchment paper or grease with cooking spray.
– Cream browned butter and the remaining 1/2 cup butter and sugars together until light in color and fluffy (at least 2 minutes).
– Beat in eggs one at a time along with the vanilla.
– Combine dry ingredients and slowly add to wet mixture.
– Evenly spread dough into baking dish, cover with plastic wrap, and chill for 1 hour.
– Preheat your oven to 350F. Bake the dough for about 45 minutes or until no longer gooey in the center. If the top starts to get too dark, cover with foil.
– While your cookie bars cool, prepare your icing by first creaming the butter until light and fluffy, about a minute. Add powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, and milk and beat for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl about every 30 seconds.
– Decorate with sprinkles, cut into squares, and ENJOY!
A few notes:
– I recommend going ahead and making your browned butter the night before so that it is ready to go beforehand. I made mine right before going to bed, popped the lid on the sauce pan, and just left it out over night.
– These are the sprinkles that I used.
