PISTACHIO SUGAR COOKIE BARS WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

I got a new laptop. It was exciting for all of two days while everything was smudge-free, non-fingerprinty, and didn’t have food crumbs and drips everywhere. The newness and novelty was short-lived though since I’ve already christened it with some sugar that fell into the keyboard cracks as I was eating honey-roasted peanuts yesterday. The keys sort of crunch as I type now. This morning was a coffee spill – one that was blessedly very minor. Still, the keys are now both sugary and sticky. Delightful.

It will only go downhill from here! My camera looks the same. It is decorated with food crumbs and frosting in lots of places.


There are worse problems than having sugar and frosting glued to most of the surfaces of your home, and finding your cat batting around sprinkles that have fallen to the floor. It’s a pretty fun “problem” to have.

And of course it’s all worth it when you stumble on a recipe that’s a real winner, like these Pistachio Sugar Cookie Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting. I love pistachio desserts and something about them feels fitting for springtime. I like artificial pistachio flavor arguably as much as the real deal. There are few artificial things that are as good or better than the real thing, but I think pistachio is one of those rare exceptions. I love pistachio nuts, for sure, but I am equally satisfied (if not more so) by fake pistachio! Thoughts? Agree or disagree?

Ingredients
Pistachio Bars:

• 2 c. flour
• 2 - 3.4 oz. boxes instant pistachio pudding mix
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. butter melted
• 1/4 c. vegetable oil
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 c. chopped pistachios

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 4 oz. cream cheese softened
• 3 tbsp. butter softened
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 c. powdered sugar

Instructions
For bars:

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, pudding mix, sugar, and baking powder.
2. In another bowl, combine egg, melted butter, oil, milk, and vanilla.
3. Mix the egg mixture into the flour mixture, stirring until just blended.
4. Mix in pistachios.
5. Press the dough into a lightly greased 9x13-inch pan.
6. ..............................

for full recipes please see : thegoldlininggirl.com