Frosted Maple Cookie Bars

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These Frosted Maple Cookie Bars with toffee pieces on top are delicious! They’re so soft and chewy, they almost melt right in your mouth. All that maple flavor and maple cream cheese icing makes them perfect for fall.

Frosted Maple Cookie Bars in a stack

Frosted Maple Cookie Bars in a stack with a bite out of the top one

Frosted Maple Cookie Bars

So we didn’t have too eventful of a weekend. A lot of relaxing and a little baking. Trying to get a little rest and get some things done before heading to Chicago on Thursday. I mentioned a week or so ago (see my Mini Pumpkin Cheesecake Trifles post)  that I’m going to be working with ALDI this month and I’m super excited to join the ALDI team and some fellow bloggers in Chicago to visit the ALDI Test Kitchen.

I visited an ALDI store for the first time last month and loved all the awesome deals they had. It’s definitely a great place to pick up groceries at a great price. While at the test kitchens, we’ll be focusing on holiday meal planning and wines – which they have amazing prices on!

A couple years ago the hubs got to go to a pretty nifty food and wine pairing meal for work. He has told me over and over how neat it was and how much the different wine and food pairing made the wines taste even better. He’s been trying to get me to do something like that with him ever since.

Frosted Maple Cookie Bars in a stack
Frosted Maple Cookie Bars in a stack

I’m super excited to have the opportunity to do that with ALDI this week. We’ll learn all about ALDI wines and what pairs well with what. I will totally impress my mother the next time I see her. 🙂 I’m not a real win connoisseur, so I know I will learn a ton – even a little science behind why things work well together. I could totally nerd out on that.

And since I LOVE decorating for the holidays, I’m pumped to see how they build a holiday dinner menu. I feel like I’m always doing the same things since I love them and am comfortable with them, so it’ll be great to get some new ideas.

And as always, I can’t wait see some familiar faces and meet some new ones. New friends and fun things like this are one of the things I love most about blogging.

Frosted Maple Cookie Bars piled on a cake tray
Frosted Maple Cookie Bars in a stack with a bite out of the top one

I also love making things like these Maple Cookie Bars. The are oh.em.gee so good.

The bars are super soft and full of maple flavor – it was hard to not eat the entire batch on my own. I took them to small group and they were a big hit!

As with my other cookies and bars, you only want to bake them for the amount of time listed in the recipe. One of the biggest problems cookies and cookie bars can have is being overcooked and therefore dry. When these are ready to come out of the oven, they will still look undercooked and be a little jiggly in the center. The edges will have started to brown a bit. The center will continue to cook and firm up as the bars cool.

Frosted Maple Cookie Bars in a stack
Frosted Maple Cookie Bars in a stack

The frosting just adds to all the maple goodness. I used a light maple cream cheese icing and I’m SO glad I did. Cream cheese icing rocks. And if you like toffee, the toffee bits on top are a delicious way to finished the bars off. Yum!

This post is sponsored by ALDI, but all opinions are my own.

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Frosted Maple Cookie Bars stacked
Recipe

Frosted Maple Cookie Bars

  • Author: Lindsay
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 18 minutes
  • Total Time: 38 minutes
  • Yield: 9-12 Bars
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: American

Description

These Frosted Maple Cookie Bars with toffee pieces on top are delicious! They’re so soft and chewy, they almost melt right in your mouth. All that maple flavor and maple cream cheese icing makes them perfect for fall.


Ingredients

MAPLE COOKIE BARS 

  • 3/4 cup salted butter, room temperature
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 3 tsp maple extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 tsp baking soda

MAPLE CREAM CHEESE ICING 

  • 4 oz cream cheese
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 tsp maple extract
  • 1 1/2 tbsp water, or milk
  • 1/4 cup toffee bits

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 9 inch square pan with non stick spray and parchment paper along the bottom and up above the sides.
2. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
3. Mix in egg and maple extract.
4. Add flour, cornstarch and baking soda and mix until well combined.
5. Spread the dough evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden.
6. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan.
7. When completely cool, use the parchment paper sticking above the pan edges to lift the bars out.
8. To make the icing, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth.
9. Add the powdered sugar and maple extract and mix until smooth.
10. Add water or milk as needed to get the right consistency.
11. Spread icing evenly onto bars, then sprinkle with toffee bits
12. Cut into squares and serve.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 Bar
  • Calories: 482
  • Sugar: 56.7 g
  • Sodium: 244.3 mg
  • Fat: 20 g
  • Carbohydrates: 73.4 g
  • Protein: 3.5 g
  • Cholesterol: 67.1 mg

Filed Under:

You might also like:

Caramel Apple Cookie Cups
Apple Streusel Bars
Oatmeal Cream Pie Gooey Bars
Caramel Apple Blondie Cheesecake
Cinnamon Maple Whipped Cream

Enjoy!

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42 Comments
  1. Val Register

    These are amazing! My husband and I were fighting over them. I sprinkled some with chopped pecans instead of toffee pieces and these were excellent too, a little less sweet with a nutty finish. I highly recommend this recipe but I will be doubling it every time I make it in the future and you should as well – they are that good!!!!






  2. Jennifer Mansk Serakos

    How would I substitute maple syrup for the extract? I have some maple syrup from our maples trees that I’d love to use instead of extract.

    1. Lindsay

      It’s hard to say without testing it. You’ll need more maple syrup than extract to get the same flavor, which could throw off the balance of wet and dry ingredients.

  3. Denise

    This was a HUGE hit!!! My fam LOVED it and almost came to blows on who got the biggest piece! I did notice that it wasn’t as thick as the pic…old baking soda perhaps??






    1. Lindsay

      So glad they were a hit! It could be something about the baking soda or just how things were mixed together overall. It could even be a slight difference in our baking pans or our ovens. It can be a little hard to say.

    1. Lindsay

      What size pan would you be using? If you want to use a 9 x 13 pan, I would probably do one and a half recipes worth. I’m not sure of the exact bake time though.

  4. Alicia Hoffman

    I haven’t made these bars yet, but I am a HUGE fan of anything and everything MAPLE! I am wondering if I can use pure maple syrup instead of the extract? If you think that would work, what amounts would you reccommend? Thanks for sharing these!

    1. Lindsay

      The trouble with real maple syrup is that you’ll need to use more of it to achieve the same amount of flavor. Using real syrup changes the way the cookie bars will bake so it would probably take some experimentation for them to turn out correctly.

  5. Whitney

    I thought the texture of the bars and frosting was delish! However after tasting them I could tell something seemed off, and I read back through the recipe and realized that there was no salt! I think the flavor would be enhanced a lot with a bit of salt!






  6. Dorothy+@+Crazy+for+Crust

    I am so jealous about your ALDI event!!! I hope you’re having a blast. These bars would be my undoing, that’s for sure. 🙂

    1. Tammie

      LOVE these bars!  I like to put crumbled bacon on top after I frost them.  Soooo delish!  thanks for a great recipe.






  7. Allison @ Celebrating Sweets

    Maple AND toffee?1 I think you’re onto something here. These look divine! Enjoy Chicago!

  8. Lindsey@American Heritage Cooking

    The frosting! I am gah gah over it! I don’t know what it is about your cookie bars and cakes, but they get me everytime! LOVE.

  9. Annie @ Annie's Noms

    Oooh these look great, love the maple and toffee combo! I really should use maple more often, maybe I subconsciously don’t because I know I’ll end up eating the whole of whatever I make as it’s so good!

  10. Karissa | Sweet as a Cookie

    These bars look and sound amazing! I love ALDI our store just got remodeled and I haven’t had the chance to get there yet. Re-opening day there was a huge line at the door waiting to get in. I guess everyone loves ALDI 🙂

  11. Karen+@+The+Food+Charlatan

    OH MY GOSH I love these Lindsay! I’m such a sucker for maple and who isn’t a sucker for cookie bars?? Oh man I want these today. So excited for your Aldi trip! Sounds like so much fun!

  12. Renee@Two+in+the+Kitchen

    These look heavenly! That frosting alone is calling my name! So cool you are coming to Chicago. that is my neck of the woods. Hopefully the weather will stay pleasant for you! 🙂

  13. Mir

    Food and wine pairings rock my world. You should definitely join your husband for one! And the one later this week sounds awesome.
    I have to make these bars. I’m obsessed with anything maple, and I love the texture!

Lindsay
About Lindsay

I'm a wife and a mom to twin boys and a baby girl! And I've got a serious sweets addiction! Bring on the treats!

Scripture I’m Loving

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29