Whole Wheat Sugar Cookie Bars

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Looking for a healthier Easter dessert? Try these amazing whole wheat sugar cookie bars! Sweet & fluffy without all the fat and calories!

Whole Wheat Sugar Cookie Bars.jpg

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?

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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.

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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.

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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

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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: 

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 x 8 glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk the flours, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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

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Comments

  1. Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
    If only you could pay your taxes with these delicious bars. Everyone loves a good cookie bar, right? I would totally accept this as a form of payment. Love!
    • Posted by cgallam10 on
      Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
      What an idea!!! I wonder if the IRS takes bribes? haha
  2. Posted by Amy @Very Culinary on
    Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
    See, I'm the opposite - I do my taxes the minute I have all my 1099s in. Then it's done, gone, ba-bye. Don't have to think about it anymore. But I sugar-binge eat leading up to it. Where were these bars in January?
    • Posted by cgallam10 on
      Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
      Hahah!! :)
  3. Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
    Do you think the IRS accepts cookies for payment? Because they totally should. They're clearly missing out on a lot of sprinkley goodness.
    • Posted by cgallam10 on
      Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
      My thoughts exactly Courtney.
  4. Posted by Paula - bell'alimento on
    Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
    Good for me sugar cookies in BAR form. Um oh yeah!
    • Posted by cgallam10 on
      Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
      My thoughts exactly!!
  5. Posted by Brenda@SugarFreeMom on
    Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
    These look amazing!!Love that you added applesauce and Greek yogurt!
    • Posted by cgallam10 on
      Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
      Thanks Brenda!
  6. Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
    We got pretty lucky and made as much in state taxes as we had to pay in federal (or the other way around ... I don't remember). Anyhow, it would have been a bit easier to give up the money we held for so short a time if we'd had these bar cookies to munch on.
    • Posted by cgallam10 on
      Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
      i know!
  7. Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
    These look absolutely amazing and the colors are gorgeous!!
    • Posted by cgallam10 on
      Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
      Thank you Nancy!!
  8. Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
    I'm dying over the sprinkles in those photos!!! mmm These do sound wonderful!
  9. Posted by Angela |Mind Over Batter on
    Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
    This is my kind of cookie bar situation! The look so moist. And the sprinkles... So cute!
  10. Posted by DessertForTwo on
    Wednesday, April 16th, 2014
    Fermented grape juice is life's biggest problem solver. No guilt! :)
  11. Posted by Susan on
    Wednesday, April 16th, 2014
    Tax time was so painful this year! I think I need some of this cookie bars for comfort.
  12. Thursday, April 17th, 2014
    Hello!

    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!!
  13. Posted by Nutmeg Nanny on
    Thursday, April 17th, 2014
    You're killing me with this deliciousness! I need this in my life ASAP!
  14. Posted by Emily @ Life on Food on
    Thursday, April 17th, 2014
    Taxes are such a pain!!! These cookie bars look great. Sprinkles always put me in a good mood.
  15. Friday, April 18th, 2014
    Taxes are the worst. I used to own a small insurance agency for like a year and tax time made me so nervous. Fortunately, I pay so much in student loan interest that it pretty much cancels out anything that I would normally have to pay. By the way, I've been looking for a good whole wheat sugar cookie bar recipe, so I will be testing this out asap!
  16. Posted by Blake Holman on
    Friday, April 18th, 2014
    I'll have to try them out! They look soooo delicious!