Imagine a soft, chewy snickerdoodle in an even yummier, easier, bar form.... that's what you get with these Homemade Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars!
Snickerdoodle Bar Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter: You’ll use unsalted butter in this recipe. If you need to use salted butter, leave the salt out in the recipe! Using room temperature butter is so important, so make sure to leave your butter out 1-2 hours before baking.
- Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar provides sweetness, flavor, moisture, and structure!
- Light Brown Sugar: Light brown sugar needs to be packed into your measuring cup. This means you should use your hand or the back of a spoon to push the sugar down when measuring. As always, you can just weigh your ingredients to ensure accuracy!
- Eggs: Use room temperature eggs by leaving them out 1-2 hours ahead of time or placing them in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before baking.
- Vanilla Extract + Butter/ Almond Extract: Though there is a small amount of vanilla, it is powerful!
- Flour: All purpose flour needs to be spooned and leveled into your measuring cups to ensure the bars stay soft and chewy. Packing your flour into your measuring cups will lead to over-measuring, creating dry, dense bars.
- Salt: Salt brings out sweetness and rounds out the flavor in these bars. DO NOT skip it.
- Baking Soda: Baking soda helps these bars rise a bit. They help with the chewy texture too! Do not substitute baking powder for baking soda.
- Cinnamon + Sugar: The cinnamon sugar mixture is the perfect topping for these snickerdoodle bars! Simply mix the two together before pouring the mixture on top of the dough.
Step by Step Process
*Please see recipe below for more detailed instructions
- Preheat your oven and line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment paper.
- Cream butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract to the batter.
- Slowly beat flour, baking soda, corn starch, and salt into the batter, mixing carefully.
- Transfer dough to prepared pan.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture on top of the dough and press it into the top.
- Bake bars until golden brown around the edges.
- Cool before slicing and eating.
FAQ
Snickerdoodles are a variation of a sugar cookie, though they are traditionally coated in cinnamon sugar rather than just sugar. These treats are a twist on the classic cookie, as they are baked in bar form.
I definitely do not recommend baking these into cookies! Though the taste of them would likely be lovely, the ratio of ingredients, specifically of the leavening agents, will not yield proper cookies.
Cookie bars should bake for about 30-40 minutes in a glass pan. All ovens and pans cook differently, so make sure to keep an eye of the bars without opening the oven more than once or twice. The edges of the bars should look golden brown in color, and the cookie parts breaking through the cinnamon sugar should look light golden brown. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out with crumbs on it.
Expert Tips
Room Temperature Butter: If you forget, slice your butter into tablespoon-sized pieces, and microwave them square-side down for 10 seconds. Flip the slices over and microwave for another 10 seconds. Repeat this process in 5 second intervals until butter is cool and soft to the touch. It should not be melted or gooey whatsoever.
Slicing: Though it may be difficult to be patient, waiting to slice these bars until they have fully cooled will guarantee that they cook and cool properly. The bars continue to cook as they cool, becoming . You will end up with messy, gooey bars as opposed to soft, chewy bars if you slice and serve before cooling.
Storing: Store these bars at room temperature for up to 4 days. Make sure to keep them fully covered or store them in an airtight container to preserve texture. They will lose some softness the longer they sit after they are baked. You can freeze these bars. I recommend individually wrapping them with a piece of cling wrap before sticking them in a freezer bag for up to 3 months. Leave out at room temperature before serving or heat in the microwave to serve warm!
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Homemade Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 9x13 pan 1x
- Category: Snickerdoodles, Fall, Cinnamon, Cinnamon Sugar, Snickerdoodles, Cookies
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
Imagine a soft, chewy snickerdoodle in an even yummier, easier, bar form…. that’s what you get with these Homemade Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (220g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 ⅓ cup (300g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (50g) light brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs (100g), room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk (20g), room temperature
- 2 teaspoons (8g) pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon (2g) butter or almond extract
- 3 cups (420g) all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ¾ teaspoon (7g) salt
- 1 tablespoon (8g) corn starch
- ½ teaspoon (3g) baking soda
- Topping: ½ cup (110g) granulated sugar + 1 tablespoon ( g) cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9×13 inch pan with sheet of parchment paper and spray the paper with cooking oil to ensure the bars come out of the pan cleanly.
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer that is fitted with a paddle attachment, beat your room temperature butter, granulated sugar, and light brown sugar together until smooth, fluffy in texture, and light in color. This should be 2-3 minutes of mixing on high speed.
- Add in room temperature eggs and egg yolk one at a time, mixing between each addition. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula between each egg addition.
- Add vanilla extract to your batter. Mix until combined.
- Slowly, add all purpose flour to your mixture while beating on low speed. Then, sprinkle salt, corn starch, and baking soda into the batter. Mix on low speed until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl before pouring jimmies into the batter. Mix until the sprinkles are evenly dispersed throughout the dough.
- Transfer batter to your prepared pan. Use a knife to smooth the dough in the pan.
- In a small bowl, combine granulated sugar and cinnamon to form the topping. Spread the topping over the dough, pressing it into the dough with your hands.
- Bake bars for 30-35 minutes or until the bars are light golden brown in color and a toothpick inserted into the center of the bars comes out almost clean. Do not overbake, as the bars will lose their soft, chewy texture. It’s better to underbake these bars, as they will continue to bake as they cool in the pan.
- Allow the bars to cool before slicing.
Keywords: Snickerdoodle Cookies, Snickerdoodle Bars, Cinnamon Sugar Cookies, Cinnamon Sugar Bars
Scarlet says
Made these for Thanksgiving and they were a hit! I thought they tasted better the next day. The only thing I did differently was that 3 cups of flour for me weight 360 grams.
★★★★★
Elise says
Thank you so much for giving these a try! I'm honored that they were a part of your holiday celebration!
Ila says
These bars are so delicious!! Made them a while ago, and I have to say they were one of the most delicious things ever! Full of cinnamon flavour and perfectly moist, these bars are definitely out of this world amazing!! Thank you so much Elise, I would highly recommend this recipe to everyone!!👍💕
★★★★★