GF Sugar Cookie Cake

So normally I wouldn't make a gluten free anything, but I have a girlfriend who cannot eat gluten, hence the GF cake. However, I love baking GF. It took me a bit to figure out what flours I could and could not use and that the baking time varies a bit. But now that my kitchen is stocked up I can pretty much make anything gluten free. Recently I made a GF angel food cake. It turned out great, just a few tweaks and voila, a beautiful cake. So today I tried a new recipe. While I have not tried the cake, Cooper and I thought the icing was delightful :-)

I found the recipe on this site, http://www.highheelsandgrills.com/2012/08/sugar-cookie-bars.html

I made a few changes to the recipe and the icing. See my notes at the bottom of the recipe :-) 

Cookies: 

• 2-1/2 cups bread flour (or all-purpose flour is fine)*
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 Tbsp. sour cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup half and half**
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• Pinch of salt
• Several drops of food coloring (optional)

Directions:

1. COOKIES: Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. (The longer you beat it, the fluffier your cookies will be.)
4. Add egg and combine well.
5. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix until completely blended.
6. Slowly add the flour mixture and stir until well combined.
7. Gently press the batter into the greased baking dish and spread out with hands. (If you butter your hands, this will help with the stickiness.)
8. Bake 17-20 minutes, or until edges become lightly golden. (Mine took 15 minutes. I don't know if that was because I changed the flour or it's just my cranky oven).
9. Set aside to cool completely.
10. FROSTING: In a medium bowl, cream together butter, powdered sugar, and half and half until light and fluffy.
11. Stir in vanilla and salt, combine well.
12. Add food coloring until desired color.
13. Frost your cooled cookie bars evenly.
14. Cut into squares and serve.  

* I substituted the flour with 1 1/2 c white rice flour, 1/2 c potato flour, 1/4 c tapioca starch/flour, and 1 1/8 TSP xanthum gum (ridiculously expensive).

** Instead of using half and half, I used whipping cream. I didn't want to make a trip to the store for half and half because we NEVER use it.

Hope that Triony loves these! I guess we'll find out later this week!

Enjoy!