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Chai Spiced Sugar Cookie Bars

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Chai spiced sugar cookie bars with cream cheese frosting are a Christmas cookie you’ll want to bake all winter long.

Chai spiced sugar cookie bars with cream cheese frosting are an easy and delicious Christmas cookie you’ll want to bake all winter long. Add some spice to your Christmas cookie trays with these beauties! recipe via itsybitsykitchen.com #sugarcookies #chaispice #cookiebars

Chai spiced sugar cookie bars with cream cheese frosting are an easy and delicious Christmas cookie you’ll want to bake all winter long. Add some spice to your Christmas cookie trays with these beauties! recipe via itsybitsykitchen.com #sugarcookies #chaispice #cookiebars

Have you fallen in love with sugar cookie bars yet? Have you? 

If you haven’t it’s definitely because you haven’t tried one yet.  They’re chewy, they’re soft, they’re so easy to make it’s just stupid, and they’re a surefire crowd pleaser.  

I mean who wouldn’t want to eat a cookie bar so soft it’s practically gushy?

My love affair with the sugar cookie bar started over the summer with these amazing sugar cookie bars with roasted strawberry buttercream.  

(Tip: print that recipe now and stick it to your fridge so you can make them when strawberries come back. Or pin to your MUST BAKE board on Pinterest it if you’re higher tech than I am. . .)

These chai spiced sugar cookie bars with cream cheese frosting are my winter version of that wondrous cookie that worked its way into my heart a few months ago.

Chai spiced sugar cookie bars with cream cheese frosting are an easy and delicious Christmas cookie you’ll want to bake all winter long. Add some spice to your Christmas cookie trays with these beauties! recipe via itsybitsykitchen.com #sugarcookies #chaispice #cookiebars

The warming cinnamon and cardamom and ginger contrast so beautifully with the sweet tang of the cream cheese frosting that one bar just won’t be enough.  So you might go ahead and bake an extra batch (or two) if you intend to share.

And you’ll so want to share these! They’re an excellent addition to a Christmas cookie tray because you can make them so quickly; no dropping cookies onto baking sheets and cooling the sheets between batches.  Just press them into a baking pan and you’re good to go.  

If you wanted to dress these cookie bars up even more you could fold a half cup of white chocolate (or any chocolate) chips into the cookie dough after you mix in the dry ingredients.

It wouldn’t be winter at IBK if I didn’t make something (or a few somethings) with my beloved chai spices, and these chai spiced sugar cookie bars are my new favorite chai treat.

I think they’ll become yours too!
Chai spiced sugar cookie bars with cream cheese frosting are an easy and delicious Christmas cookie you’ll want to bake all winter long. Add some spice to your Christmas cookie trays with these beauties! recipe via itsybitsykitchen.com #sugarcookies #chaispice #cookiebars

Chai spiced sugar cookie bars with cream cheese frosting are an easy and delicious Christmas cookie you’ll want to bake all winter long. Add some spice to your Christmas cookie trays with these beauties! recipe via itsybitsykitchen.com #sugarcookies #chaispice #cookiebars
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Chai Spiced Sugar Cookie Bars
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
14 mins
Total Time
34 mins
 

Chai spiced sugar cookie bars with cream cheese frosting are sweet and chewy and perfectly spiced.

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 16 cookie bars
Author: Kelsie
Ingredients
Cookie bars:
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 8 cardamom pods shelled and finely ground
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • Small pinch freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 3/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
Frosting:
  • 4 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar
  • sprinkles if desired
Instructions
Cookie bars:
  1. Spray a 9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and spray the paper lightly with cooking spray. Set pan aside.
  2. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and spices in a medium mixing bowl.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat for 30 seconds more. Add egg and vanilla and beat until well combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl again,
  4. Gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, taking care to scrape the dough up from the bottom of the bowl so everything is mixed properly. Press the dough into the prepared baking pan and refrigerate for 2 hours.
  5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake the cookie bars for 14 to 16 minutes, until lightly browned around the edges. Set the pan on a wire rack to cool completely. Once completely cool, run a knife around the edge of the pan, then carefully invert the cookies onto a cutting board.
Frosting:
  1. Combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until very creamy. Add the vanilla and salt and beat to combine. Gradually add 1 1/2 cups of the powdered sugar, then turn mixer to high and beat for 3 to 4 minutes. If frosting is too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar to thicken it to your desired consistency. Spread over the cooled cookie bars and top with sprinkles. Slice into bars and serve.

Adapted from Women of Great Taste

Comments

  5. Ben|Havocinthekitchen says

    I’m concerned about one little thing, Kelsie. Your blog is dangerously sweet and delicious all year round. Do you think it could possibly get worse during the holiday season, haha?:) Anyway, look forward to seeing all the Christmas ideas which might appear here soon. And these bars look so good too!

    Reply

  7. Thao @ In Good Flavor says

    With baking season in full swing, I’m loving the idea of cookie bars more and more. You are so on point: it is such a time saver compared to making individual cookies. These cookie bars sound wonderful, Kelsie! Chai is so warm and comforting.

    Reply

  8. Katherine | Love In My Oven says

    These sound delicious Kelsie! I’m about as high-tech as you – I’ve actually got a whiteboard fridge list with all of my “must make” recipes 😉 You can bet these bars will find a spot on that whiteboard!! Cheers!

    Reply

  9. heather (delicious not gorgeous) says

    i’ve never had sugar cookie bars before!!! but i love this idea because rolling and cutting out sugar cookies is a pain in the butt. this way, you get all the sugar cookie awesomeness without the annoyance (; plus, i love chai flavors, so this sounds even tastier!

    Reply

  11. Milena | Craft Beering says

    Since starting to visit your blog I have fallen in love with many sweet treats, Kelsie:) If I end the year weighing more than I did last year, I will put you on notice:) It used to be just the beer, now I have a sweet tooth like never before:) I love chai. The Bulgarian word for tea is chai. Imagine how shocked I was to find out that people refer to a specific spiced brew as chai tea. For the longest time I though it was an unforgivable wording redundancy:) So, chai flavored sugar cookies are something I have to try!

    Reply

  13. Kim | The Baking ChocolaTess says

    I love these soft and chewy ‘gushy’ cookie bars! It takes extra steps of baking cookies and frosting each one skillfully, so cookie bars are perfect for that, especially when you want to save some time. I like to even take them out a minute or two before the timer goes off. I’m kind of OCD about it! These look so festive Kelsie! Pinning like always! 😀 Have a wonderful day!!

    Reply

  15. Christina says

    Whelp, you pretty much sold me at Chai, and Spiced, and Sugar, and Cookie Bars. These cookies look like the prefect recipe for a Christmas Cookie Exchange. Of course, they wouldn’t last a nanosecond in my house, so I would need to make two batches to ensure I had some to share!

    Reply

  16. Dawn @ Girl Heart Food says

    Yay for chai!!! I enjoy chia tea, especially on a cold day. Love those warm flavours so I can only imagine how fabulous it is in cookie form (so much better than in just tea, right??) You have to stop making such delicious recipes, Kelsie…my holiday baking list is growing just too much 🙂 Happy weekend, my friend!

    Reply

    • Kelsie says

      As much as I love tea I have to say that yes, chai is even better in cookies :). Thank you, Dawn! Happy weekend to you too!

      Reply

  18. David | Spiced says

    Kelsie! You’ve done it again. I absolutely love the combination of spices in here. Cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and cloves are my 4 best friends! (Sadly, I might not be kidding there. Haha!) Seriously, though, these gushy cookies are absolutely calling my name. And I love how you can just press them into the baking pan and be on your merry way. I mean Santa doesn’t have time to make individual cookies. He’s got stuff to do! 🙂

    Reply

    • Kelsie says

      You could do worse than the best spices ever as best friends! Totally agree about Santa. He has much better things to do than stand over baking sheets and drop cookie dough :). Have a great weekend!

      Reply

  20. Miriam @londonkitchendiaries says

    Love chai flavours, they are so comforting and perfect for this season. Looks like the perfect crowd pleaser!

    Miriam x

    Reply

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