Cookie Bars with Peppermint Frosting
I hope you had a beautiful and relaxing holiday weekend with family and friends!
It can be tough to get back in the swing of things after vacation, but these dreamy cookie bars with peppermint frosting are sure to help! They’re a great way to put your leftover candy canes to good use, and the refreshing peppermint frosting will add some pep to your step.
The base is a massive sugar cookie that you form into a rectangle-ish shape and bake on a cookie sheet. Once cooled, spread your peppermint frosting on top, trim the sides and cut into triangles or bars!
Feel free to nibble on the edges you trim as you cut the rest of the cookie into bars! Waste not, want not, am I right?!
The crushed peppermint candy canes on top provide a lovely crunchy addition to the soft cookie bar and creamy frosting. Add as much as or as little as you’d like! You could also add some red food coloring to your frosting (or cookie dough) if you wanted to make these a little more colorful.
I think these are the perfect treat to enjoy as we wind down this year’s holiday season.
Happiest New Year wishes to you and your loved ones!
– Lauren
Cookie Bars with Peppermint Frosting
- Total Time: 1 hour
- YIELDS 30 triangles (or bars)
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Line a 9x13 cookie sheet with foil and lightly spray the foil with cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer) cream butter until light and fluffy. This should take about one minute.
- Add the sugars and mix until combined.
- Add the egg, greek yogurt and vanilla and mix until combined.
- In small amounts, mix in flour mixture into the wet ingredients until the dough is combined.
- Gently press dough into bottom of prepared pan.
- Bake dough until the top is golden brown and just barely cooked. This took about 15 minutes for me. Be very careful not to overbake!
- Allow the cookie to cool completely.
- Once the bars have cooled, prepare the frosting. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer) whisk the butter for 2-3 minutes until fluffy.
- Add cream cheese and whisk until combined, about another minute.
- Gradually whisk in powdered sugar until completely combined.
- Mix in peppermint extract.
- Spread frosting over the large cooled cookie and sprinkle with crushed candy canes.
- Cut into triangles (or squares) and enjoy! (I'd recommend popping the frosting-covered cookie sheet into the fridge for half an hour prior to cutting because it makes the frosting more firm and the cookie bars easier to cut, but it's up to you!)
- I like to store mine in the fridge and take them out a few minutes before enjoying because it makes the peppermint frosting even more refreshing. But as long as you store these in an airtight container they'll also last on the counter for a couple of days.