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Easy Sugar Cookie Bars

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These Sugar Cookie Bars are some of the easiest and tastiest cookies you can make! They are soft and chewy and topped off with a thick layer of buttercream sugar cookie frosting and lots of sprinkles. These cookies are easy to decorate for any occasion  – or to just enjoy for a simple family dessert.

When it comes to cookies I love to bake and eat them! But some cookies are more time consuming to make than others, and for me regular sugar cookies are complicated.

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halloween decorated sugar cookie bars

Making sugar cookies is a multi-hour endeavor, which starts with making and chilling the dough. Then, once you have spent hours waiting for the dough to chill you need to roll the cookies out and get out the cookie cutters.

This inevitably leads to flour all over the kitchen table and frustration as fragile cookies fall apart when they are transferred to a cookie sheet. Plus it is easy to lose track of time as you roll out dough for the next tray of cookies and end up with burnt cookies.

Looking for more easy desserts? Try these no bake brownie bites or icebox cake!

So while I love sugar cookies I usually only make them once a year for Christmas, when the lure of decorating cut out Christmas shapes is too strong to resist.

The rest of the year I get my sugar cookie fix with these much quicker and simpler sugar cookie bars. There is no chilling, rolling or cutting shapes out – just a quick and easy desert that is versatile enough to decorate.

Top view of sugar cookie bars cut into nice squares for serving
  • The frosting is as thick as the cookie part, making them super delicious!
  • The cookies still have all the delicious taste of sugar cookies, just in bar form.
  • You can make them Christmas sugar cookie bars or Easter sugar cookie bars or whatever occasion you are celebrating without changing the recipe.
  • They are easily portable making them a great option taking along to a party or potluck or picnic.
sugar cookie bar ingredients
Sugar cookie bars ingredients

Key Ingredients

Butter – For best results use unsalted, room temperature butter. Just get the butter out of the refrigerator an hour or so before you plan to make the bars.

Cream cheese – The cream cheese should also be room temperature. 

All the other ingredients needed for the bars and the frosting are standard baking staples. You will need granulated sugar, egg, vanilla extract, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and powdered sugar.

As long as you remember to get the butter and cream cheese (which are used in both the batter and the frosting) out of the refrigerator and to room temperature this recipe is simple!

Tip: Don’t try to microwave them if you forget! That rarely ends well and if they are too warm the batter and frosting won’t be the right consistency either

1. Prepare the Pan

The cookies are baked in a 13 x 9 inch baking dish. You want to be able to get the cookies out of pan cleanly, so the easiest thing to do is line the pan with foil or parchment paper.

This means after the cookies are baked and cooled you can just lift them right out of the pan. That makes it much easier to cut them into perfect little squares.

In an electric mixer combine the butter, cream cheese and sugar until it is all well blended. Then add the egg and vanilla and mix it again.

mixing the cookie dough
Sugar cookie dough

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Slowly add these dry ingredients to the mixer until a thick dough forms.

Tip : Don’t dump all the flour in at once or you might end up with flour everywhere.

3. Bake

The final dough will be thick, much thicker than a cake batter. It doesn’t need to be chilled, it just needs to be pressed down into the baking pan.

Use your fingers or a flat spatula to push it down evenly into the prepared baking pan, making sure to get it into all the corners. Try to make it more or less level, but remember the frosting will hide any imperfections!

Dough for sugar cookie bars pressed into a baking pan
Dough in the baking pan

If you want you can add a layer of sprinkles in the unbaked dough, pressing them down into the top. It will make the cookies look even more festive after baking.

Bake the dough in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. It is important not to over bake the cookie bars so that they are soft and chewy.

So set a timer for 20 minutes and take them out as soon as the center of the cookies is cooked.

4. Cool

The dough has to completely cool before frosting. After it has cooled for about 20 minutes use the parchment paper or foil to lift the dough out of the baking pan.

the baked sugar cookie dough
Lifting out the cooked dough

Set it on a wire rack and it will finish cooling more quickly. Allow at least 1 hour for it to cool before frosting.

5. Decorate

In a mixer bowl mix the butter and cream cheese until they are completely blended. Stir in the vanilla, then slowly mix in the powdered sugar. If you like you can add food coloring to tint the frosting.

Making the butter cream frosting for sugar cookie bars
Cream cheese frosting

The cream cheese makes the frosting thick and easy to spread. Spread a thick layer of frosting over sugar cookie base, evenly covering the cooled dough.

spreading the frosting on the dough
Spreading the frosting

Tip: This recipe makes a really thick layer of frosting, which makes the final cookies extra sweet. You can halve the frosting recipe and spread a thinner layer if you prefer less sweetness.

Once the cookies are frosted simply decorated them with your favorite sprinkles and cut them into squares.

halloween sugar cookie bars

Decorating Ideas

One of the nice things about this recipe is how easy it is to change it up for any holiday or celebration you like. I have made these for all kinds of occasions and just changed up the color of the festive sprinkles.

Here are just some of the ways I have decorated these bars over the years:

collage of cookie bars decorated for all seasons

No matter what the occasion you can decorate sugar cookie bars to match!

  • Valentine’s Day – pink and white sprinkles
  • St. Patrick’s Day – green sprinkles
  • Christmas – green and red candy
  • Graduation – use your school’s colors
  • Thanksgiving – orange, red and yellow sprinkles
  • Birthday – use rainbow sprinkles or funfetti
  • Sporting events – decorate in the color of your favorite team

And so on, the possibilities are endless. You can use this delicious sugar cookie recipe whenever you need an easy themed dessert that doesn’t take a lot of time or effort to make!

How to Store

Store these in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. 

FAQ

Can You Freeze Sugar Cookie Bars?

Yes and no! You can freeze the bars before they are frosted. The frosting would not stand up well to freezing. For best results freeze the dough before cutting, then when you are ready to serve them thaw it overnight in the refrigerator, frost and cut them into squares.

Does the frosting harden?

The frosting hardens some, but it will not get rock hard. I have successfully stacked these, but I always use a layer of parchment or waxed paper between the layers.

Can I use salted butter?

I have used salted butter in the recipe and it works fine. You might want to decrease the salt in the recipe to 1/4 teaspoon though.

 
4.47 from 161 votes

Easy Sugar Cookie Bars

Published By Anne
These Sugar Cookie Bars are soft and chewy and topped off with a thick layer of sweet frosting and sprinkles.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Cooling Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 35 minutes
Servings: 15
Print Save Rate Pin

Ingredients
 

Cookie Bars

  • ¾ Cup unsalted butter room temperature
  • ½ Cup cream cheese room temperature
  • 1 ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 ½ cups all purpose flour

Frosting

  • ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
  • ½ cup cream cheese room temparture
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
  • Assorted sprinkles

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350. Either grease a 13×9 pan very well or line it with parchment paper or foil
  • In the bowl of a mixer blend butter, cream cheese and sugar, until well blended. Add in the egg and vanilla and mix until completely combined.
  • In a medium bowl mix the baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour. Slowly add in baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour until a thick dough forms.
  • Press the dough evenly into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. 
  • Cool completely before frosting. About 20 minutes after baking your can lift the dough out of the baking pan, using the foil. Put it on a wire rack to finish cooling.
  • For the frosting, In the bowl of a mixer add the room temperature butter and cream cheese and mix until blended. 
  • Add in the vanilla and slowly mix in the powdered sugar. Mix until creamy and smooth.
  • Spread the icing evenly and thickly across the cooled cookies.
  • Sprinkle the icing with lots of seasonal sprinkles. 
  • Cut into squares and enjoy.

Video

Notes

Take the butter and cream cheese out of the refrigerator an hour or so before you start baking for best results.
Don't dump all the flour into the mixer at once or you might end up with a big mess. Add it gradually.
This recipe makes a really thick layer of frosting, which makes the final cookies extra sweet. You can halve the frosting recipe and spread a thinner layer if you prefer less sweetness.

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1g | Calories: 423kcal | Carbohydrates: 55g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 69mg | Sodium: 321mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 39g

Nutrition facts are estimates.

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holding an Easter sugar cookie bar
anne

Hi, I’m Anne!

I love to cook and I want to share my recipes with you. I believe cooking should be approachable and fun, not a chore. I want to make simple recipes using everyday ingredients that you can make again and again, whether it is for a busy weeknight, a summer cookout or a special dessert. Read more...

6 thoughts on “Easy Sugar Cookie Bars”

    • They’re called SUGAR cookie bars for a reason. Why would you want to cut back on the sugar? Just make something else.

      Reply
  1. MY 9 year old wanted to make these for Valentines Day 2020, so he followed the recipe has best as he could. They were AMAZING. Super flavorful and delicious! Our new sugar cookie recipe, thank you!

    Reply

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