Red, White, & Blue Bars - Memorial Day is around the corner...

Ready or not, the season for patriotic holidays is almost here.  This cookie bar recipe works well for either cheesecake or cookie bars, and they are even more appealing with a patriotic theme.  For a barely sweet treat, make into cheesecakes - and for a sugar cookie fix, add frosting & sprinkles.

For a few years now, the same sugar cookie bar recipe has been passed from blog to blog.  It’s a good one, but it has always been too heavy for me.  Anything over 1/2” thick in a sugar cookie makes it too much of a calorie commitment.

When I was looking for a patriotic dessert for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, I thought of sugar cookie bars once again.  But all I could find was the typical heavy sugar cookie recipe - baked in a cookie sheet.   Then, as I was browsing some of my favorite food sites - I stumbled on this one by jamiecooksitup.  Bingo.  It looked like the perfect fit for what I had in mind.  Jamie doesn’t mention the source, but this is goooood.

The recipe calls for cream cheese and almond flavoring - two ingredients that are in a lot of my favorite recipes.  I gave it a try, and when combined with my cheesecake filling - it was just what I was looking for.

The bars turn out much lighter than a typical sugar cookie, and almost seem flaky.  They are moist and tender all by themselves, and really step up in appeal when topped with cheesecake ‘frosting’ and fresh berries.  

We have done this same thing for several years now with a cake mix baked in a large baking sheet.  We then top it with cherry pie filling and call it “Cheesecake For A Crowd.”  Not too classy, but it’s easy and everyone loves it.

And, if you just can’t put the sugar cookie thing to bed till next Christmas - by all means frost them with your favorite decorator icing garnished with patriotic sprinkles. 

For a step-by-step tutorial, the recipe(s), and links - go to:

www.changeabletable.com