Whole Wheat Sugar Cookie Bars
PIN IT!Looking for a healthier Easter dessert? Try these amazing whole wheat sugar cookie bars! Sweet & fluffy without all the fat and calories!
I always wait until the last minute to do my taxes. My thinking on this is that if I wait long enough, the government will be like “oh wait, we screwed up, you actually don’t owe us the equivalent of four months of rent and your first born, our bad!” So far, that hasn’t happened yet. Which means I should probably send in my state tax forms right?
I get it. I own a small business and work as a freelancer. I don’t pay taxes throughout the year so I should pay them now. But that doesn’t make that very large check any easier to write. The only thing getting me through tax time is wine, lots and lots of wine. Oh and a few of these fluffy whole wheat sugar cookie bars, too.
I don’t mean to eat like a pubescent boy during tax time, but I’m really bad at handling stress. So in times of high anxiety, I turn to fermented grape nector and sugar-filled cookie bars. To help keep my weight in check (especially after the deep-fried heaven I ate this weekend), I did my best to lighten my favorite bars into something I could enjoy without a higher number on the scale. And I must say, I very much succeeded. These bars are so fluffy and so moist, and taste exactly like a sugar cookie.
They are a bit more cakey than a regular sugar cookie, but I kind of like that. I had these for three days and they were almost more moist and delicious the third day than they were the first. Those are my kind of cookie bars. Plus, who doesn’t love rainbow sprinkles? They totally brighten up a very dreary tax day for me.
Whole Wheat Sugar Cookie Bars
CLICK HERE FOR THE PRINTABLE VERSION OF THIS RECIPE!
Serves about 16. Recipe adapted from I Heart Nap Time.
Prep time: About 10 minutes
Cook time: About 22 – 24 minutes
Ingredients:
For the bars:
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg white
For the frosting:
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- About 2 tablespoons skim milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Rainbow sprinkles
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 x 8 glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flours, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- In another bowl, beat the butter, applesauce, brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla, egg and egg white. Beat until fluffy and combined. Fold in the greek yogurt and mix until fully combined. Add the flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Just be careful not to overmix.
- Pour the cookie batter into the prepared baking pan. Using a spatula, flatten the top of the batter so it’s smooth. Bake for about 22 – 24 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool completely.
- Meanwhile, make the frosting by beating the butter, powdered sugar, milk and vanilla in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Once bars have cooled, spread the frosting over them and sprinkle heavily with rainbow sprinkles. Cut into about 16 bars and enjoy.
Nutritional information per bar:
Calories: 276
Fat: 7.6 grams
Carbohydrates: 50 grams
Fiber: >1 gram
Protein: 3.3 grams
Weight Watchers Points: 8
Love your blog, I too, was a chunky kid and um, learned to slowly change my ways.
Great Easter-like recipe....do you think I can substitute xylitol for the sugars?
I'm been doing that a lot lately and it overall seems to work.
Thanks!!