Conversation Heart Cookie Bars

Conversation Heart Cookie Bars! A soft, vanilla bean cookie base topped with sweet buttercream frosting and decorated from the heart!  The sweetest way to express yourself this Valentine’s Day.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine a life without my girlfriends. I love my husband, my sisters and my other family members more than words can say, but there’s something about a chat {or text} with a girlfriend that just leaves me feeling refreshed. Like a spa day for the soul.

I’m a pretty friendly and outgoing person, so I feel like I have an abundance of acquaintances, all of whom are wonderful people. But the gal pals I’m talking about here are the ones who I turn to when I’m not at my best; the ones who have seen the messes, stresses and ugly cries that I try to keep “behind the curtain.”

I’ve known some of them since before I had my “ABC’s” down pat, and met a few during the awkward middle school and early high school years. {I have the embarrassing photos as evidence.} A handful of them came into my life just before I met my {now} husband in college, and a couple of them became part of my life after I got married and settled into new roles and surroundings. Together, we’ve celebrated jobs, engagements, weddings, pregnancies and births. We’ve also been there for each other through break-ups, make-ups, unemployment and heartbreak, never fearing what the other would think because we consider each other a “safe space.”

You can’t just call up any acquaintance when you’ve had a bad day with your toddler and tell them that you’re about to lock yourself in the bathroom with a bottle of wine until your husband gets home. {Not without some serious eyebrow raising, anyway.} No, those kinds of calls are reserved for a select few. True friends want to see you, even if that means seeing you with no makeup, holes in your leggings and a horribly chipped manicure. They hug you and offer you coffee or a glass of wine and let you bask in your imperfectness together. They invite you into their homes when their children have dumped literally every toy they own on their beautiful floors and don’t say a word when they pass by your sinkful of dishes. They give you a place to admit your fears and failures, laugh with you over your “Pinterest fails” and never judge you for that box of Girl Scout Cookies that mysteriously “went missing” right after you finished Whole 30.

In college, my roomate and I came up with a term for those “next level” friends: “Target Friends.” Simply put, they’re the friends you can call up and say, “Hey, you want to go to Target?”, just because. You walk around together {and lose each other a few times when you want to go look at moisturizers and she needs realizes she needs laundry detergent}, talk or wander the aisles silently, and leave feeling like you had the best.damn.time. That’s a Target Friend.

With Valentine’s Day coming up, it got me thinking about celebrating all kinds of love — like the love for your truest gal pals. You know, your Galentines!

If you have those kinds of friendships in your life, or if you’re lucky enough to have even one “Target Friend”, then I think it’s time to recognize the women who have been there for you through thick and thin.

These Conversation Heart Cookie Bars — a soft, vanilla bean-speckled, cakey-cookie base with a slathering of buttercream — are not healthy. {I discovered this recipe during Christmastime baking on Something Swanky, and life has never been the same. My version is barely adapted.} They are full of butter and sugar, and they even have some food coloring {which I rarely use}, but they literally say it all.

“UR Cute” and “Call Me” can only go so far; “Pinterest Worthy”, “Me Time”, “Leggins 4Eva”, and “You Hv It 2Gether” are the words your best girls want to hear! So share a bottle of wine and an afternoon of laughter with the gals that help you stay sane, and enjoy this Galentine’s Day with the girls who “get you!”

Conversation Heart Lofthouse Cookie Bars

Conversation Heart Cookie Bars! A soft, vanilla bean cookie base topped with sweet buttercream frosting and decorated from the heart!  The sweetest way to express yourself this Valentine’s Day.

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Course Dessert

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Servings 8 servings

Author Dianna Muscari

Ingredients  

• 1 {2 sticks} cup butter softened
• 1 block {8 oz} cream cheese softened
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 vanilla bean seeds scraped
• 2 ½ cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda

For Buttercream Frosting:

• ¾ cup {12 tablespoons} salted butter room temperature
• 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-2 tablespoons half & half heavy cream or milk

Instructions 

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9x13 inch baking pan by lining with parchment paper. Set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and beat for another minute.
• Add egg to butter mixture and beat until fully incorporated, then add scraped vanilla bean seeds and mix until combined.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Slowly add the flour mixture into the butter mixture and beat until just incorporated, forming a soft dough.
• Scoop the dough into the lined pan, and spread evenly. {An offset spatula helps with this.} Bake for 25-20 minutes until the top turns a light golden brown and the dough is set in the center. {It will remain a bit soft until it cools.}
• Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Make the buttercream:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add half & half and mix until fully incorporated and smooth.

To make hearts:

• Using a cookie cutter, carefully cut heart shapes from the cookie base. {Push down quickly and with even pressure to prevent cracking and crumbling. Reserve scraps for nibbling!} Separate frosting into several different bowls {as many as the colors you are planning on making}, but don't forget to leave a small amount of plain white frosting for writing. Place a drop of food coloring into each bowl and mix until desired color is achieved. Scoop each color frosting into a separate zip-top bag and snip a small tip from each. Use each bag to pipe frosting onto each heart, using an offset spatula to spread it evenly. Use remaining white frosting to pipe phrases onto each heart.

Dianna's Tips

This recipe was {barely} adapted from Something Swanky: http://www.somethingswanky.com/lofthouse-sugar-cookie-bars/