Lucky Charms Cookie Bars

Can you believe it's already March? We've already had some pretty warm days here in Cincinnati, but it's almost Spring! Crazy. 

And with March comes St. Patricks Day! I'm not big on heavy drinking, I'm a complete lightweight, but I am big on Lucky Charms. And though I'm a heavyweight champion when it comes to sweets, I think the sweets won this round. I totally made myself sick eating the marshmallows when I was making these cookie bars. Rookie mistake. 

These cookie bars are great though! Not only are they easy to make, they are also faster than making cookies. Cutting out the scooping time and the multiple batches having to go in the oven. Perfect for a St. Patty's Day party!

I have to say I failed at my first attempt at these. I spent all the time sorting the cereal from the marshmallows to make a marshmallow layer on the bottom, only to have the marshmallow layer separate from the cookie layer. I did it in a glass pan of course, with no parchment. What was I thinking?! I really don't know how I thought that would work out but it did make for some cool tie-dye cave action and it did taste pretty good. I ate most of it. Like I said, the sweets won that day. They won by a landslide. 

I decided to not risk another failed batch so I skipped the marshmallow layer on the bottom and stuck to them just being on the top.

To make these bars, I whipped up a batch of soft sugar cookie dough, coloring it green of course. You don't want the bars getting pinched on their big day! Also, you can say you're wearing green on the inside if you need to! 

I smoothed it out onto a jelly pan lined in parchment. It will keep whatever shape, so you want to make sure you get it smooth as possible. I recommend after using an offset spatula to smooth it out, to take a separate piece of parchment out and place it on top of the dough and smooth it further with your hands. 

Then you just pop it in the oven, after taking the top parchment off of course. While it's baking you can whip up your frosting and sort your Lucky Charms cereal pieces from the marshmallow pieces, eating all the misshapen or broken ones obviously. ...I really need to work on my willpower. 

Once your bars are out of the oven and they've completely cooled, you just top with the frosting and completely cover with the Lucky Charms marshmallows. Then just trim the sides and cut into squares. 

And there you have it! Cookie bars that are so delicious, they must be magic! Get it, get it? ;)

COOKIE BARS INGREDIENTS
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
3 tablespoons sour cream, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
green gel food coloring
5 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder

FROSTING INGREDIENTS
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-3 tbs milk
2 cups Lucky Charms marshmallows

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13 inch jelly pan with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. In a small bowl, beat eggs, sour cream, vanilla extract and green gel food coloring until combined. You can add more food coloring later so I recommend starting light. Add egg mixture to butter mixture and beat until combined. 

In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour and baking powder. Add to wet ingredients and mix until combined. Don't over-mix or they will be tough.

Spread dough into lined jelly pan. Using an offset spatula smooth out the dough. Place a second piece of parchment over the dough and continue to smooth out with your hands until as flat and smooth as possible. Remove top parchment and place in preheated oven. Bake for 12-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. You don't want to overbake or they will be dry. Place on a cooling rack and let cool completely. 

Frost bars (frosting recipe below) and top with Lucky Charms marshmallows. Trim edges and cut into squares.

FROSTING INSTRUCTIONS
Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add in vanilla extract. Add in milk until desired consistency is reached. You want it to be spreadable, but hold it's shape.