These Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookie Bars with Strawberry Frosting can be made with gluten free flour blend or all-purpose flour, and they are the perfect light and fluffy treat for your special day!
These sugar cookie bars are inspired by the Drop Sugar Cookies with Strawberry Frosting that my boys LOVE. I saw some V-Day sprinkle at the store and immediately decided that a “bar” version of those cookies was in order
Now that one of the boys eats gluten-free, I’ve been fiddling with a GF version so I can make a tray for the GF people and a tray for the non-GF people.
(But truth be told, there have been a few moments with the non-GF people try a GF bar and they don’t even notice the difference.)
I’ve made several batches of these over the past few weeks because 1…we love them that much. And 2…I wanted to get the bar version just right for you.
I tried just butter only in the batter, then swapped some butter for sour cream, and finally landed on (what I think is) the best option – butter and cream cheese in the batter.
The batter is sooooooo smooth, thanks to the cream cheese and letting it smooth out in the stand mixer. And it’s baked result is a fluffy cookie, with almost a cake like consistency. It’s light and magical and the perfect base for the strawberry frosting!
Before we get to the recipe, please note…both sticks of butter need to be fully softened…and not melted. And the cream cheese needs to be softened as well. This will help get that super smooth consistency in the batter. So don’t forget to set those ingredients out to warm up and soften.
And now for the recipe…
Enjoy!
Valentine's Day Gluten-Free Strawberry Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter softened
- 4 oz. cream cheese softened
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 Tbsp milk
- 1 3/4 cups gluten-free flour blend (all-purpose works as well)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Homemade Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp milk +1/2 tsp more for desired consistency
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 4 Tbsp freeze-dried strawberries blended pr crushed
Instructions
Sugar Cookie Bars
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Place a piece of parchment paper into the base of a 9x9-inch square baking pan.
- In a stand mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese with the white sugar. Once creamed, mix in the eggs, vanilla and milk and stir into very smooth batter forms - about 2 minutes.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Pour half into the stand mixer and mix into the wet ingredient. Pour the remaining flour mixture into the cookie dough and mix until dough forms.
- Spoon the dough/batter into the prepared baking dish. Spread evenly into the dish, using a spreader tool or a spatula with a bit of water on it. The water will help keep the dough from sticking and not spreading.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 22 to 24 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool COMPLETELY before frosting.
Homemade Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
- In a mixing bowl with hand mixer or in a stand mixer, cream the butter and powdered sugar. Add the milk and vanilla. Add 1/2 tsp milk at a time until reaches desired consistency is reached, it should be easy to spread.
- In a food processor or blender, blend the freeze-dried strawberries until powder forms. You can sift out the little green seeds if you want.
- Add the strawberry powder to the frosting and fold or mix in.
- Once the cookies are cooled, frost the cookie bars with a frosting knife or spoon. Sprinkle some Valentine's Day colored sprinkles on top. Enjoy!
Notes
Leave a Reply