Chewy Snickerdoodle Bars

I’m sort of the unofficial baker of our small group at church. I usually let other people cook the food. I’d rather bake up something fun!  I have some “old faithful” recipes that I make over and over again,  but I also love to just get in the kitchen and create something new! As any baking enthusiast knows, sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t.  Haha!  Well, today it worked! And I’m SO GLAD! I played around with the traditional “blonde” recipe, made them a little "chewier," and mixed in a little snickerdoodle inspiration and came up with these Chewy Snickerdoodle Bars!  The folks at small group seemed to enjoy them, so I thought I'd share the recipe!

Chewy Snickerdoodle Bars:

Chewy Bars:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cinnamon Sugar Topping:

5 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

1.) Presheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the melted butter and brown sugar together until thoroughly combined. Let cool 2-3 minutes.

2.) In a small bowl, combine the flour and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.

3.) Now that the sugar and butter has cooled slightly, whisk in the egg and vanilla. Then pour in the flour mixture and mix until combined. (Batter will be thick.)

4.) Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray. Spread dough into pan.

5.) Combine 5 teaspoons of granulated sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Sprinkle on top of the batter.

6.) Bake at 350 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes. (You want a knife or cake tester to come out almost clean, but not completely.  The bars will still be gooey - especially in the middle of the pan.)

7.) Wait 15-20 minutes for bars to cool and set up a bit. Pull parchment out of pan and cut bars. (Some will still be gooey, but they’ll set up more as they continue cooling.)

8.) Enjoy!