Sometimes New Zealand food is really great, but can be improved like taking a classic and turning it into a Hundreds and Thousands Cookie Bars recipe which have a vanilla cookie base and topped with a raspberry buttercream before having hundreds and thousands sprinkled over. What were your favorite store bought treat as a kid?
These were the best because they are hard to replicate at home and more often then not we weren’t allowed them, but there is something so simple about a simple butter cookie being topped with pink icing and covered in hundreds and thousand sprinkles. There’s something just so joyful about that simplicity!
Why you'll love this
Buttery thick cookie base
The vanilla flavored cookie base is soft and full of plenty of flavor, halfway between a vanilla cookie and a thick shortbread!
No color frosting
The frosting is color thanks to raspberry jam so no color is needed to give it this light bright hue.
Bake + frost serve
You don’t have to wait for batches of cookies to be done here…simply bake that base and whilst it cools whip up the frosting. Smear over and top with sprinkles, slicing and serving up…easy peasy!
Ingredients and substitutions for Hundreds and Thousands Cookie Bars
- Butter: Unsalted butter is used for the cookie, but if all you have on hand is salted, that works as a fine substitute, just leave out any salt suggested in the recipe.
- Sugar: Confectioners or icing sugar dissolves into the buttercream and the superfine or caster sugar adds to the sugar portion of our cookies creating a nice balance without making them overly sweet.
- Eggs: The egg binds and adds structure to our cookies resulting in that soft interior that compliments the sugar and butter.
- Flour: Plain or all purpose flour is best for a nice light cookie crumb.
- Baking powder: This helps our cookies rise so they are not stodgy.
- Raspberry Jam: The color and flavor of the buttercream is thanks to jam which means we don't need any food coloring.
- Sprinkles: Traditional hundreds and thousands sprinkles work best here, but you do you and add whatever sprinkles you wish!
See recipe card for quantities.
Variations
You can definitely change up the dish by changing the following:
Chocolate: You could use cocoa powder in the cookie base (omiting a portion of flour so as not to create dry cookies) or add melted chocolate or cocoa powder to the buttercream.
Fruity cookie base: Adding a few tablespoons of freeze dried fruit powder from blueberries to raspberries for a twist on the vanilla cookie base.
Equipment needed to make this
Greaseproof paper: Lining your baking tray will make getting the soft cookies off easy.
Hand or stand mixer: To whip the cookie dough and that buttercream, this is best done with a mixer.
Mixing bowl: You’ll need two medium mixing bowls to mix the cookie dough and buttercream.
Offset spatula: A small offset spatula will help you smooth out the buttercream nice and evenly. A butter knife or back of a tablespoon will also do the trick.
Square tin: A 18×18 cm or 7×7 inch square baking tin works well here, though a rectangle tin would also work well.
FAQ's for the best Hundreds and Thousands Cookie Bars
Can I make cookie bars ahead?
Yes!! They are great up to two days after baking with the buttercream frosting, before it's better to put them in the fridge, though that might dry the cookies out a little.
More kiwi classics you’ll enjoy
How to make Hundreds and Thousands Cookie Bars:
Preheat oven to 180C/350F and line a square baking tin with greaseproof paper.
Place the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat on medium until pale and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes.
Add in the egg and vanilla extract and combine until smooth, approximately 1 minute.
Add your flour and baking powder and beat on the lowest setting until the flour has just been combined and no dry portions remain in your bowl.
Pour the mixture into your tin and press firmly with your hand and then even out with an offset spatula into your baking tin.
Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until ever so slightly golden.
Remove and allow to cool completely.
To make the buttercream filling, place the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat on medium with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, approximately 4 minutes.
Add in the raspberry jam and salt and stir until fully combined.
Remove the bars from the tin and mark out the edges where you will cut your cookies.
Spoon the buttercream on top of the cookie and smear to the very edges, swooshing a little.
Sprinkle over the hundreds and thousands sprinkle.
Slice and serve.
Enjoy!
Hundreds and Thousands Cookie Bars
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: Serves 16 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Cuisine: New Zealand
Description
Hundreds and Thousands Cookie Bars includes a vanilla butter cookie base smeared with raspberry buttercream and topped with hundreds and thousands sprinkles for a twist on a Kiwi classic!
Ingredients
Vanilla butter cookies
100 grams / 3.5 ounces butter, room temperature
100 grams / ½ cup superfine/caster sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
267 grams / 1 ⅔ cups plain flour
6 grams / 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
Raspberry buttercream
100 grams / 3.5 ounces butter, softened
90 grams / ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon confectioner/icing sugar, sifted
20 grams / 2 tablespoons raspberry jam, seeds strained
¼ teaspoon sea or kosher salt
2 tablespoons hundreds and thousands sprinkles
Instructions
Vanilla butter cookies
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F and line a square baking tin with greaseproof paper.
- Place the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat on medium until pale and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes.
- Add in the egg and vanilla extract and combine until smooth, approximately 1 minute.
- Add your flour and baking powder and beat on the lowest setting until the flour has just been combined and no dry portions remain in your bowl.
- Pour the mixture into your tin and press firmly with your hand and then even out with an offset spatula into your baking tin.
- Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until ever so slightly golden.
- Remove and allow to cool completely.
Raspberry buttercream
- To make the buttercream filling, place the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat on medium with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, approximately 4 minutes.
- Add in the raspberry jam and salt and stir until fully combined.
- Remove the bars from the tin and mark out the edges where you will cut your cookies.
- Spoon the buttercream on top of the cookie and smear to the very edges, swooshing a little.
- Sprinkle over the hundreds and thousands sprinkle.
- Slice and serve.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Recipe by Roamingtaste
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie bar
- Calories: 206 calories per serve
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