Buttery-soft sugar cookie bars topped off with a sweet buttercream frosting and plenty of colorful sprinkles! These cookie bars make a great treat any time of the year, but they’re easily customizable with festive sprinkles for the holidays or special occasions!
One more cookie recipe for you before Christmas! Ok, these don’t quite look like traditional cookies, but these sugar cookie bars are just as good, and if you’ve been putting off your holiday cookie baking you’ll be relieved to hear that these are a total breeze to make. There’s no chilling, cutting, or rolling required (I’m looking at you, classic sugar cookies), no scooping or waiting for your cookie sheets to cool to drop another batch into the oven, just spread your sugar cookie bar dough into the pan, bake it, and top with this sweet, simple 4 ingredient frosting. And with sprinkles, of course.
If you’re still in holiday baking mode, these sugar cookie bars can totally be decorated with festive red and green sprinkles for Christmas or colorful confetti sprinkles for New Years.
Obviously I went with the confetti sprinkles here 😍
With their thick, chewy bases and their sweet buttercream frosting, these sugar cookie bars all but melt in your mouth.
To make the bases so soft, I add a small amount (2 oz) of cream cheese into the dough. This not only makes the cookie bar base extremely soft, but it also gives it a great flavor and helps keep them from being too sweet. Make sure to allow your cream cheese (and butter) soften to room temperature so that they’ll completely cream together when you go to combine them.
This sugar cookie bar dough will be thinner than your average cookie dough, but it’s still pretty thick and sticky and can be hard to spread into a parchment-lined baking pan. You can just grease and flour your pan, but I really love to use the parchment as it makes it so easy for me to just lift the sugar cookie bars out of the pan once they’re done cooling and I can easily decorate and slice them (plus pan cleanup is super easy that way, too!). For me, it’s worth the trouble of wrestling the dough over the parchment paper.
I topped these sugar cookie bars off with a very simple buttercream frosting. The frosting is just four ingredients — butter, sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of salt for added flavor.
I typically tend to find buttercream to be almost too sweet for me, so I keep the frosting layer pretty thin. Even then I liked to cut these sugar cookie bars into even smaller pieces than you see in the pictures, as they’re still fairly sweet.
It probably doesn’t help that I like to go totally overboard with the sprinkles, either…
Alright, well I have a ton of gift wrapping to do and not a whole lot of confidence that I can finish it in 3 days… so wish me luck, and I hope that you love these sugar cookie bars!
Treat yourself to a FREE E-BOOK!
Sugar Cookie Bars
Ingredients
Cookie Bars
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature 226g
- 2 oz cream cheese softened 57g
- 1 3/4 cup sugar 350g
- 2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 285g
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Frosting
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature 170g
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar 200g
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- colored sprinkles for decorating (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and prepare a 13x9 pan by lining with parchment paper (or lightly grease and flour the pan). Set aside.
- Combine butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a large bowl and an electric mixer). Beat together on medium-speed until well creamed (about 1 minute).
- Add sugar and gradually increase mixer speed to high, beating until well-combined and fluffy (about 1 minute).
- Add eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, stirring well between each addition. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed to ensure ingredients are well-combined.
- Stir in vanilla extract.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet, stirring on medium-low speed until completely combined.
- Spread batter evenly into prepared pan and bake on 350F (175C) for 25-30 minutes or until center is set and edges are beginning to turn light golden brown.. Allow cookie bars to cool completely in pan before covering with frosting.
Frosting
- Place butter in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until cream.
- Gradually add sugar until completely combined.
- Stir in vanilla extract and salt, stir until well-combined.
- Spread over completely cooled sugar cookie bars. Decorate with sprinkles, cut into squares and serve.
Nutrition
Jen says
I just made these a few days ago and they were a HIT! Brought them to work for coworkers to taste test and they all ended up having one (or two) for breakfast because they couldn’t resist once they saw them! This is my third recipe of yours I’ve tried and can’t wait to keep trying more!!
Sam says
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Jen! I hope you love all of the recipes. 🙂
Courtney says
Can I use salted sweet cream butter instead?
Sam says
Hi Courtney! That will work just fine. You can cut the salt by about 1/8 teaspoon. 🙂
Amy says
Hi, Sam! I was wondering if you think the icing from your Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies recipe would pair well with these cookie bars?
Thanks!
Sugar Spun Run says
Hi, Amy! Yes, I think that it would pair nicely. Let me know how your cookie bars turn out. 🙂
Maxine says
OMG, theses are amazing!! I had to give them away because I could not stop eating them. Perfect in every way!! This recipe is in my YUM, make again file!!! Thanks so much for all of your awesome recipes. I keep coming back as your recipes always turn out and taste so good. (Going to to post a pic and tag you on Instagram).
Sugar Spun Run says
Thank you so much, Maxine! I am so glad that you have enjoyed many of my recipes, including this sugar cookie recipe. I am so glad that they turned out so well and I can’t wait to see the finished product on Instagram (@sugarspun_sam). Thanks for commenting and for following my blog. It means so much! 🙂
Sharon says
Flavor was good but I used a 9×13 pan and they were much too thick for bars. The butter frosting was too yellowish and had to thin with water for it to be able to spread.
Sam says
Sorry they weren’t a hit for you, Sharon! They are supposed to be thick (the thickness seen in the photos). The frosting is a buttercream, some brands of butter are more yellow than others and that could affect the coloring.
Janell says
Do these need to be refrigerated?
Sugar Spun Run says
Hello, Janell! No, they do not. I recommend storing them at room temperature in an airtight container. 🙂
Dora says
Hi sam! Just wondering if these can be made ahead and froze? For use at a later date?
Sugar Spun Run says
Hello, Dora! I have never frozen the sugar cookie bars, but they should be fine. I hope that you enjoy them. 🙂
Melanie says
Hi! I was wondering if I could successfully make this in an 8×8 pan? Thanks!!
Sam says
Hi Melanie! It will work in an 8 x 8. Enjoy! 🙂
Debbie says
Hi! These cookies are fantastic! I do have a question about the amount of baking powder.. it says 1 /2 tsp. Is that supposed to be 1 1/2 or just 1/2? I did 1 1/2 tsp. Also, I cooked it an extra 5 minutes because it wouldn’t set. As it was cooking, the middle sunk. Can you give me suggestions on how to keep it from doing that?
Thanks!
Sam says
Hi Debbie! it is just half of a teaspoon of baking powder. That might be why you were having an issue with it properly baking. I’m sorry about the confusion and hope that helps!
Arron says
I made these cookies over Memorial Day Weekend and have had several request for them since. They are fantastic. Thank you! How long do you think they will stay fresh in an airtight container?
Sam says
I think they will last about a week at room temperature in an air tight container. 🙂
Claire Tchhailo says
Hi Sam,
Thanks for this. I love all your recipes.
I would love if you would develop a pistachio cookie bar recipe in the future!
Claire
Sam says
Thank you so much, Claire! I will put it on my list of things to try. 🙂
Kara says
I am having the hardest time getting these to nicely spread in the pan with or without parchment. Is there some kind of trick to this? Thanks!
Sam says
Hi, Kara. It is a very thick batter, but it will spread. I typically just push it around with a spoon or a spatula until spread. 🙂
Kara says
It all worked out and they smell delicious. You weren’t kidding about the wrestling -patience is definitely key. Thanks for the quick response!
Lisa says
Super yummy and these stayed soft for days! Thanks for a great recipe- I just pulled my second batch out of the oven!
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed them! ☺️
Pat says
Hi Sam! These are delicious exactly as written!! I made your frosted sugar cookies not too long ago (and left a comment) as you weren’t kidding, those are similar to the Lofthouse cookies – actually better! I loved the ease of these cookie bars. So simple yet sooo good! Thank you for sharing another wonderful recipe!
Sam says
Hi Pat! I am so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe! They are one of my family’s favorites too 🙂 Thank you for commenting, I appreciate it and am glad you are enjoying the recipes!!! <3
Verna says
Easy to make with great taste. Thank you