Snickerdoodle Blondies

You've had blondies (chocolate chip cookie bars), but here's a twist on Snickerdoodles!

SNICKERDOODLE BLONDIES
www.RecipeGirl.com

Cookies:
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
½ tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. salt
2 cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1 cup cinnamon chips, optional
Topping:
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
Glaze (optional):
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 9×13-inch pan with nonstick spray. Line pan with parchment and let it hang over the sides. Spray parchment with nonstick spray too.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cream of tartar and salt; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer (3 to 5 minutes). Mix in eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Keep beating until mixture is smooth.
4. Stir in flour mixture until well blended. If using cinnamon chips, stir them in now. The batter will be thick. Spread it evenly into the prepared pan. Spray your hands with cooking spray and use them to pat the mixture down evenly.
5. Combine the topping ingredients in a small bowl; sprinkle evenly on top of batter.
6. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until surface springs back when gently pressed. Let pan cool completely.
7. When ready to cut, use ends of parchment paper to lift out baked bars. Place on a cutting board. If you’re adding the glaze, whisk the glaze ingredients in a medium bowl and drizzle onto the bars in decorative fashion. Let glaze set (this will work more quickly in the refrigerator) then use a large, sharp knife to cut into bars.
Makes 20 to 24 bars
Baking Tips:
*You don’t have to use parchment paper in your pan if you don’t have any.  You can always just bake them in the pan and then cut them and lift them out.  Baking w/ parchment though will help you to get the cleaner cuts seen in the photograph because you can take the whole thing out of the pan and work directly on a cutting board.
*This is a very sweet treat.  Leave off the glaze if you wish, but it adds a good flavor to the top (and you can get a nice design out of it).  Put the glaze in a little zip bag, snip off the end and you’ll have a way to squirt the glaze on in whatever decorative way you’d like.
*If you have chunky, white, sparkling sugar, add that to the top too for extra sparkle.