These Sugar Cookie Bars are soft and tender and topped with frosting and sprinkles. This is the easiest way to make sugar cookies. Perfect for any holiday or occasion, and great for feeding a crowd.
Is there anything better than a sugar cookie? Yes, there is. It’s a SUGAR COOKIE BAR topped with buttercream frosting and lots of sprinkles. These bars are delicious and easy; approximately one billion times easier than rolling out cookie dough and making a big ol’ mess on your countertop.
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Recipe overview
Sugar cookie dough: This easy dough comes together in minutes. The addition of cream cheese and powdered sugar ensures that the bars bake up soft and tender. The dough is flavored with a combination of vanilla extract and almond extract.
Buttercream frosting: I use a variation of my Sugar Cookie Frosting and Buttercream Frosting as the topping for these bars. It’s a combination of butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and almond extract. It’s the most delicious topping for sugar cookies!
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Ease: No need to roll out or scoop individual sugar cookies. Since the dough is pressed into a pan it comes together quickly and easily.
- Flavor: For this recipe I took flavor inspiration from my Easy Sugar Cookies and my Sugar Cookie Frosting. The cookie dough and frosting are both flavored with a combination of vanilla and almond extract. The touch of almond extract makes them taste like they came from a bakery.
- No chill time: Once the cookie dough is prepared it is baked right away.
- Feed a crowd: Whip up a pan of these cookie bars to serve for parties, BBQ’s, holidays, and more! You can get anywhere from 12-18 bars from this recipe.
- Versatility: Change around the frosting color and sprinkles to match the theme or holiday you’re celebrating. Red and green for Christmas, pink and red for Valentine’s Day, red, white, and blue for the 4th. Have fun with it!
Recipe tips
- My number one tip for this recipe (and all my cookie recipes, for that matter) is: Do NOT overbake. Underbake them just slightly so that they’re nice and soft.
- Butter and cream cheese should be softened to cool room temperature to ensure that they blend smoothly.
- Moisten your fingertips with a little water to make it easier to press the sticky dough into the pan.
Serving and storage
Store tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.
Leftover bars can be frozen for up to 2 months. Note they might be on the softer side once thawed.
Recipe
Sugar Cookie Bars
Ingredients
For the bars:
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 2½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For the frosting:
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2½ cups powdered sugar, plus more, if needed
- 1 tablespoon milk or half and half, plus more, if needed
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon almond extract
- a few drops of food coloring, optional
- sprinkles
Instructions
Bars:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13 baking pan with foil and lightly grease or spray it.
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment beat butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add granulated sugar and powdered sugar and beat until smooth and creamy. Beat in egg and extracts, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. With your mixer on low, add flour to the butter mixture, mixing until just combined.
- Scoop the dough into the prepared pan and use your fingers to evenly press it into the pan. The dough will be thick and sticky, I recommend that you lightly moisten your fingertips with water to help press the dough into the pan.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes, until the top appears dry and the edges are just starting to turn light brown. Make sure not to over bake. Place the pan on a wire rack and cool completely before frosting them.
Frosting:
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth. Add half the powdered sugar, beating until combined. Beat in remaining powdered sugar followed by milk, extracts, and food coloring (if using). Turn the speed to high and beat for a full minute, until fluffy. If necessary, you can adjust the consistency by adding more powdered sugar to thicken or more milk to thin. Use an offset spatula or butter knife to spread the frosting over the cooled bars. Top with sprinkles and slice into squares.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!Recipe updated June 2021.
David @ Cooking Chat
such great colors! What a simple yet tasty treat!
Melissa King
I can’t get this frosting out of my head!! Drool!
Taylor Kiser
These look so delicious! What a fun dessert!
Debbie
I would like to try these but have friends with nut allergies. How would you suggest I modify the recipe so as not to use almond extract but still be tasty? Thanks!
Celebrating Sweets
Hi, Debbie. You can absolutely leave out the almond extract. If you’d like you can increase the vanilla by a 1/4 teaspoon or so. Enjoy!
Julie Carson
What gives? I followed this to the t and it’s like cornmeal. What do I do just add a little milk?
Celebrating Sweets
Are you saying that the dough is dry? It should be fairly dry, it is cookie dough, not cake batter. The dough should hold together when you press it into the bottom of the pan. Are you sure you didn’t accidentally over-measure the flour? It should be 2-1/3 cups. You can try adding another tablespoon of sour cream to bring it together.
Connie
Use imitation almond extract. My son had nut allergies so imitation works great for them.
Brenda Hoff
I love these bars! They are so addicting! I’m curious if anyone has tried freezing them. We have a big event coming up & I would like to make them ahead of time. Also, would it be best to freeze them frosted or unfrosted?
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you like them! I would recommend freezing them unfrosted, then frosting them once they have thawed.
Debra
These are so good, soft, chewy and easy which was what I was looking for. Reminiscent of lofthouse cookies and will definitely be making again! Thanks for a great recipe!
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them. Thanks for stopping by!
Cheryl
Do these have to be refrigerator
Celebrating Sweets
No, they will keep at room temp for a couple of days. Enjoy!
Marissa
Hi! Is the sour cream totally necessary? Can I leave it out or substitute for something else?
Celebrating Sweets
I find that it adds moisture and a little chewiness. You can leave it out or swap for full fat plain yogurt. Enjoy!
Lores
Tastless. Cardboard consistency.
Celebrating Sweets
Sorry to hear that. If you used real butter (not margarine or shortening), and had the right amount of sugar, vanilla and almond extract they should not have been tasteless. Sorry that they didn’t come out right.
Karyn H
I made these today, it’s a snow day, so the oven is a welcome warmth in the kitchen ?
My oven is being difficult lately and I had to keep checking the temperature, but the sugar cookie bars turned out great! I ended up having to bake them an extra 7 minutes because of my oven, and they were still perfect. Exactly what I wanted!
I didn’t make any changes for the high elevation here and no issues.
A great recipe and a real time saver not making cookie sheet after cookie sheet. This is one and done.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe with us. It’s going to be a regular around here from now on ?❤️
Celebrating Sweets
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂 -Allison