These funfetti cookie bars are one of the first things I made after asking people what they wanted. I put out a poll on IG and this came up on top. They’re super simple, very tasty, and honestly just fun to look at. My dad came over yesterday and even he enjoyed how fun they were with the sprinkles. He also ate a huge piece and loved it. I’ll take that as a win in my book any day. Yesterday would have been my mom’s birthday. It’s the first one without her so I invited him over so we could just be together. He’s still having a hard time, but man does he light up with he sees his granddaughter. It’s awesome. He’s a totally different person. It gives him a light and hope that I wish he had had long ago. He deserves to feel this finally.

These cookie bars have 3 eggs which is one more than normal. It makes these an interesting mix between cookie and cake texture. Pop some frosting on top of these and now your brain is really in for a treat. Is it cake? Is it a cookie? Who cares? Have fun with it. I didn’t set out to have frosting with these. I would say that they are better if they are frosted though. Since I didn’t plan on having frosting with them I didn’t create one. I used a premade frosting. It was a cream cheese based frosting if that helps. Those are pretty easy to make yourself. Just some cream cheese, butter, vanilla and powdered sugar is really all you need. If you’re really looking for more of a cookie texture, instead of this awesome in between, I’d recommend removing one egg. At that point you’re going to be more of a cookie bar like the sweet and salty cookie bars I created earlier.

This is the first recipe now that I’ve moved everything inside of Squarespace from 7.0 to 7.1. I’ve learned some things so that’s cool I guess. It was a ton of work. Anyway in an effort to grow myself I decided to use my nice Sony camera for these shots. I’m still on auto, but I played around with telling the camera where to focus. The screen on the camera is big for a camera but too small to really see what’s going on. Next step is to learn how to connect the camera to the computer so I can easily see what’s going on in real time. All of that aside I love the way these turned out. I was thinking there wasn’t enough elements in the pictures, but it really helped get the focus on the cookie bars instead. Forcing the location of the focus in picture gave me the great blurred background. I’ve come a long way. It was really evident when I was moving things during the site move. I saw some of my old pictures, and wow, where I am now from then. It’s a great feeling. Also personally I’ve grown. I’m a dad. I’m still in therapy and addressing things as I need to. I’m not depressed any more. Sure I get into depressed moods but I no longer live there full time. I have the tools now to know when I’m there and how to get out. You can too. You deserve to be that version of you.

Ingredients

1 Cup unsalted butter
1 Cup granulated sugar
1/2 Cup dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 bottle (1.75 ounces) of sprinkles

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees
Cream the butter and sugars
Add the eggs one at a time, beating to combine
Mix in the vanilla
In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. mix
Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Do this in two batches. Don’t forget to scrap down the sides of the bowl between batches
Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with parchment paper (if you want to remove the bars from the pan). Let some hand over the sides. You will use this as handles later to remove the bars from the pan if you’d like
Spread the batter in the pan. Make sure you get all the way to the edges and in the corners
Bake for 33-37 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean
Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan