Lemon Drop Sugar Cookie Bars
Ingredients
Bars:
- ¾ cup (170 g) butter, softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup (159 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (29 g) powdered sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon pure lemon extract
- 1-2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest, from 1 large lemon or so
- 2 ¼ cups (320 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Lemon Drop Glaze:
- 6 ounces (170 g) lemon drop candies, crushed
- ¾ cup (86 g) powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or milk (see note)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter, granulated sugar and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla, and lemon extract and mix for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the lemon zest, flour, baking soda and salt. Mix until combined.
- Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Press and/or spread the sugar cookie mixture gently into an even layer into the bottom of the pan.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes. Don't overbake!
- For the glaze, whisk all the ingredients together (use less lemon juice for a thicker glaze/more for a thinner glaze). I used my blender to crush the lemon drops, then just added the powdered sugar and lemon juice and pulsed a couple times until combined.
- Pour the glaze over the slightly warm or cooled bars.
Notes
Zest: ok, let's talk. First of all, make sure you zest the lemon before you juice it (the zest is used in the batter and the juice is used in the glaze).
Glaze: also, I want to be clear that these bars are soft and sweet but the glaze is super lemony in a tart and sweet way, so if you want to tone down the crazy lemon factor in the glaze a bit, you could always use milk in place of the lemon juice (I personally love the lemon juice option, though).
Lemon Drops: I didn't measure beforehand, sorry, but I think the 6 ounces of lemon drops is about a cup of lemon drops (before crushing!).