Santa Hat Sugar Cookie Bars

• Preheat oven to 350°F. If butter hasn't been softened you can place in microwave for 10 seconds to *slightly* soften it.
• In a large bowl, cream together unsalted butter (1 cup, i.e. 2 sticks) and granulated sugar (1 cup) on medium speed for 20-30 seconds. While mixer is still on medium speed, add in egg (1 large), vanilla extract (2 teaspoons), and almond extract (1 teaspoon).
• Once mixed, add in baking powder (1½ teaspoons), salt (½ teaspoon), and all-purpose flour* (2¼ cups); adding flour ½ cup at a time on low speed.

  *Be sure to measure your flour properly using the spoon & level method, as adding too much can result in dry bars.
• Mix until all flour disappears, typically 20-30 seconds. You do not need to beat/mix this any longer than it takes to mix in the flour. When pinched between your fingers, dough should be similar to a playdoh consistency and not be very sticky. Refer to photo above in post for how dough should look.
• Spray a light-colored metal 9×13 pan with cooking spray, then line pan with parchment paper, leaving a 2 inch overhang on each long side so that you will be able to lift the bars out of the pan (photo reference in FAQ section above).
• Drop the dough into 1-tablespoon sized chunks into the prepared pan. Use your hands or a spatula to press down the dough until it covers the pan.

  Tip: If the dough is sticky, you can place another piece of parchment paper on top and continue pressing down. To get clean edges, you can fold down the sides of the parchment paper and press like shown in the FAQ section above.
• Bake bars at 350°F for 14-16 minutes. The trick to soft sugar cookie bars is to take them out right when you see the TINIEST amount of brown around the edges. The center may look underdone and this is okay; the bars will continue to bake in the hot pan when cooling.
• Allow to cool completely before frosting (you can put the pan in the fridge on a cooling rack to speed this up).

To Make Frosting:

• In a large bowl, beat unsalted butter (½ cup, i.e. 1 stick) on medium speed using a hand or stand mixer (with paddle attachment) for 1-2 minutes, until light and creamy.
• Keeping the mixer on medium speed, slowly add in vanilla extract (2 teaspoons), almond extract (½ teaspoon), and powdered sugar (2 cups).

  Once incorporated, turn mixer to high speed and beat for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add milk (1 tablespoon) and beat for 30 seconds. Add the remaining milk (1 tablespoon) if frosting seems too thick to spread.
• Then divide your frosting (reserve about ¼ cup of the white frosting so that you use it for the pompoms on Santa's hat) and add red food coloring and mix until combined.

  Note: Red food coloring gets darker as it dries so be sure not to over add color when making your frosting! 
• Once bars have completely cooled, spread your red frosting completely on top of the cookie bars in an even layer

Cutting

• Run a knife along the edges of the bars (that aren’t covered with parchment), then carefully lift or slide the cookie bars out of the pan. Use the instructions & photo references above to cut.
• Use a large, straight-edged knife to cut the bars in half horizontally, then cut each half into half again.
• Starting on the bottom quadrant, use a sharp knife to cut into triangles. Continue until all triangles are cut (you should get 24 cookie triangles).

  To keep clean edges, wipe the knife off on a warm, wet cloth in between each cut (or whenever the frosting is sticking to the knife).
• Use a piping bar with a star piping tip to add the white frosting to the top and bottom of your triangles to resemble the white on Santa's hat.