Saturday, September 1, 2012

The Best Cinnamon Bars

From scratch... the ol' fashion way. Don't get scared off quite yet. You will be surprised at how quickly you can make these.... and you won't be able to wait until they are cooled to try one.. or two... or three...

The Best Cinnamon Bars
(Pan size shown: 13x18 Jelly Roll)
Ingredients & Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together until smooth:
  • 3/4 cup butter (softened)
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
Add and mix until smooth:
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cup flour
  • 3/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt*
Grease a 9x13" pan.
Dump batter in pan and spread out evenly. Batter will be thick.
Bake on center rack in oven 20 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean).
Remove from oven and let cool.

JELLY ROLL PAN SIZE (13x18"):
Double the recipe for a jelly roll size pan but *use 3/4 tsp of salt (not 1 tsp). Makes 48 bars.

Serving options. Cinnamon Bars are prefect for morning coffee or to serve as dessert.
  • Cut and serve as is.
  • Dust with cinnamon & sugar.
  • Cut and use glaze or icing (recipe below) and drizzle on each bar or across entire pan.
  • Add 1/2 tsp - 1 tsp dollop of apple butter
  • In a bowl with ice cream
Icing Ingredients & Directions

Recipe to make swirls or decoration on each bar (as shown in photo above).

Mix together until smooth:
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 Tbsp cream (or half&half)
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
To decorate bars, use a snack size zip baggie.
Add packing tape to corner to reinforce.


 
Fold over and trim excess tape.
 
 
Fill with icing, seal the zip closure, and snip the corner.
 

 
Squish icing through hole in the baggie and make decorative designs, swirls, squiggles, etc on bars. Dust with cinnamon to finish, or leave as is.
 
If making the same design on each bar, cut them first.


 
ENJOY!!!