Sugar and spice and all things nice ... and without the hassle of scooping cookies! These bars incorporate all the yummy chewy goodness of a snickerdoodle cookie without have to scoop and roll in cinnamon sugar topping. This is quick to pull together; you do need to wait for the brown butter to cool, but you can hasten that with the help of the bowl spending some time in the fridge.
Quick notes: these will perfume the kitchen with their cinnamon-y yumminess, but try to wait until they cool completely before slicing into bars, as this will yield the neatest edges. These bars are quite sturdy so excellent addition to a bake sale array, or for gifts, if you're up to sharing. You can freeze any remaining bars with an air-tight wrapping.
Snickerdoodle Bars
Yield: 16 bars
Ingredients
7.5 oz unsalted butter
.5 oz cream cheese
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar (light or dark is fine)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Cinnamon Sugar Topping
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
pinch salt
Directions
Preheat oven to 350℉. Line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper or foil; set aside.
Heat butter in a large skillet (not dark colored) on medium high heat, until melted. Continue heating , swirling the pan, until the butter foams, the foam subsides, and then the butter starts to browns. Once the butter is fragrant and nutty brown, remove from heat, pour into bowl of stand mixer; be sure to scrape out all of the yummy brown bits. Add cream cheese to the hot butter and set aside 30 minutes to cool. To speed the cooling, you can put the bowl into the fridge for 15 minutes.
In the large bowl of a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment to cream the now room temperature butter with granulated and brown sugar until fluffy and light in color. Add egg and egg yolk, and vanilla and mix until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Add all-purpose flour, cornstarch, cream of tartar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Use a rubber spatula to mix until just combined. Careful not to overmix.
Transfer dough to prepared pan. Using the spatula, press it into an even layer.
Mix together remaining granulated sugar, cinnamon and pinch salt in a small bowl. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over the top of the bars.
Bake for 25 - 27 minutes in your preheated oven, or until the edges of the bars are set and the top is golden brown.
Allow to cool completely before slicing into bars. Enjoy!