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.
Liz
My kids love these! Easy to make. Great recipe.
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them. Thanks for stopping by!
Elle Picton
Hi Not sure if im being silly here… Id like to follow this recipe but is it sour cream or soured cream? I see soured cream comes in a large pot and sour cream in a small squeezy tube for a topping on savoury foods?
Celebrating Sweets
Likely the squeeze tube, it should be similar in consistency to a thick yogurt. NOT soured cream, which is likely buttermilk. Enjoy!
olivia
Hi I do not have sour cream is there anythingI can substitute? Can I leave it out?
Allison
You can substitute plain or vanilla yogurt. If you don’t have that you can try using milk.
Terri
This is very similar to an old family recipe that we’ve had for generations. Instead of sour cream, we use a cup of milk with a tablespoon of vinegar in it. It’s definitely a good substitute and works very well. Love this recipe easy and quick!
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Grace
I love it !?
Oliver
The recipe was easy to follow, but the end product was disappointing. The bars had absolutely no flavor on their own, so it just tasted like frosting. Unfortunate, but I had fun trying it out.
Nellie Tracy
Great simple recipe. Love that I can easily make festive for anything just by changing the frosting!
CMoon
I would like to make this recipe because I love sugar cookies! In one of the posted comments, there is a question regarding sour cream. I read the ingredients for the batter and the icing 4x and see nothing about sour cream. What am I missing other than the sour cream? Thank you!
Allison
Hi! This recipe was recently updated and the sour cream was replaced with cream cheese. We found that it makes for a softer cookie bar. The recipe card, step by step photos, and video slideshow all reflect the new recipe. Sorry for any confusion. Enjoy!
Beatriz
Thank you for the recipe , everybody love them and there are so easy to make
Do you think that we can add cocoa ? to make chocolate sugar cookie bars ❤️
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed them. I’ve only made this recipe as written, so I can’t say for sure. If you do add cocoa powder I’d reduce the flour just a bit so they’re not too dry (maybe by a few tablespoons). I’d love to play around with that at some point- it sounds delicious! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Jenn Baldwin
Best recipe ever! This is stored in my recipe notes, and my family asks for them often. Thank you so much for sharing. I made them again tonight for a cold evening here in Buffalo, New York for my son and his teenage buddies! The house smells amazing and we are all waiting patiently for them to cool, so I can frost them. I don’t think this pan will last through the weekend! ❤️🙌
Allison
Yay! I’m so glad! 🙂