These soft and chewy frosted sugar cookie bars are topped with a creamy vanilla buttercream frosting and loaded with lots of sprinkles!
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I think I’ve mentioned it before but my oldest doesn’t like chocolate (the younger one loves everything). What he does love are my sugar cookies.
Unfortunately, cut out sugar cookies can be super time consuming to make between making the dough, chilling the dough, rolling them, cutting them, and so on so I rarely make them unless there’s a special occasion.
These frosted sugar cookie bars have been my solution – he still gets frosted sugar cookies, but it’s so much easier to make a bunch of bars than it is to make cut out cookies! And they taste just as good, maybe even better!
Plus, they’re so pretty with all the sprinkles in the dough and on top!
Why People Love These Cookie bars
- Easy to customize – change up the frosting and sprinkle colors to make these work for any occasion! Use rainbow sprinkles for birthdays, red and green for Christmas sugar cookie bars, and so on.
- No rolling, chilling, or scooping required – you just put all the dough in the cookie sheet to bake then slice. So much faster than regular sugar cookies!
- Great last-minute option – these are made with things you likely already have in your pantry or fridge, so these are perfect when you’re asked to bring a dessert to share or people decide to come over last minute! They also freeze beautifully!
Ingredients in frosted sugar cookie bars
Ingredient notes & Substitutions
- Butter – make sure your butter is at room temperature. Take the butter out of the fridge for about an hour before you’re ready to start baking. If you only have salted butter, omit the salt from the cookie bars and the frosting.
- Sprinkles – I highly recommend using long sprinkles (also called jimmies) rather than the dot ones so they don’t bleed into the sugar cookie dough.
- Almond extract – while I LOVE the flavor the almond extract gives these cookie bars, if you want to make these without nuts for allergy reasons, you can omit this.
- Eggs – these call for one egg and an egg yolk. The egg yolk adds to the thick and chewy texture of these cookie bars so don’t just get lazy and toss in two eggs – the yolk really does make a difference!
You’ll Also Need:
I also recommend having parchment paper and a stand mixer with a cookie paddle to make these sugar cookie bars. Using the parchment paper in the baking pan will allow you to pull the cookies out from the dish completely once cooled, making it easier to cut them into nice even pieces!
How to make frosted sugar cookie bars
Making these sugar cookie bars is as easy as making cookies – just mixing and baking! It’s one of the reasons I love this recipe so much!
I’ve included basic instructions below but you can find more detailed instructions in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post!
1 – make the sugar cookie bars
- Preheat the oven to 350 and line a 9″x13″ baking pan with parchment paper, making sure it overhangs over the side of the dish slightly.
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer for 2-3 minutes until the color of the butter becomes very pale.
- Add in your egg, egg yolk, vanilla, and almond extract and mix in all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Slowly add in all of your dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until a soft dough forms.
- Add half the sprinkles and to the dough and stir in with a spatula or wooden spoon until distributed evenly throughout the dough.
- Place dough into the prepared baking dish and spread down gently with a spatula to create an even layer in the bake.
- Bake the sugar cookie bars for 20-25 minutes or until the edges begin to turn golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan completely.
- After bars are completely cooled, lift them out of the pan using the parchment paper.
- Use a rubber spatula to frost the the bars. Then decorate with sprinkles or any other kind of toppings you’d like.
- Use a sharp knife to slice the bars into even pieces.
make it more fun!
If you still want to give people the experience of decoration their own sugar cookies, you can frost and cut the sugar cookie bars without adding the sprinkles. Then just let kids (or adults) add sprinkles and whatever decorations they want!
How to make frosting for sugar cookie bars
One of the key elements to these frosted sugar cookie bars is the buttercream frosting! It’s a little different than typical buttercream because it uses sour cream along with the butter but trust me – the tang combined with the creamy butter and sweet powdered sugar is perfection with these sugar cookie bars!
While the bars are cooling in the pan, make your frosting by combining the sour cream, softened butter, and vanilla in a stand mixer until smooth. Add the salt and combine. Then slowly and gradually add the powdered sugar until you reach the consistency you want.
You can get an idea of the right thickness and consistency in the image below.
How to store sugar cookie bars
Store any leftover sugar cookie bars in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days (sour cream in the frosting means these need refrigerated). They’ll likely start drying out after that, although I’m sure my kids would still eat them!
If you know that you won’t be serving these until later, I recommend cutting and storing the cookie bar base in an airtight container at room temperature before you frost them, then just frost and decorate right before serving so you can stack them easily!
how to freeze sugar cookie bars
These also freeze beautifully before they’re frosted! Cut into squares and freeze stacked in freezer safe zipper top bags or containers for up to three months.
If you’ve already frosted them, I recommend putting them onto a cookie sheet and freezing the bars for a couple of hours so the bar and frosting harden. Then just place the cookie bars in a freezer safe bag or container and again, freeze for up to three months!
Recipe Tips
Make sure the bars are completely cooled before frosting so the frosting will set and not just melt all over the place.
Mix the sprinkles into the cookie dough with a wooden spoon rather than with the mixer to keep from breaking the sprinkles and dying the cookie dough whatever color sprinkles you’re using.
Change up the sprinkles in the cookie dough for different holidays and occasions. We make these pretty much every year as Christmas sugar cookie bars – they go great on holiday treat plates!
Make them serve more simply by cutting the cookie bars into smaller pieces, similar to what we do with our sugar cookie bites! You can serve as few as 12 and as many as you want!
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Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars
Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Bars
- ¾ cup unsalted butter (softened)
- 1 ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp almond extract
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 TBS sprinkles any kind, divided
Buttercream Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted buter (softened)
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 ½ cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Cookie Bars
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and lining a 9″ x 13″ baking pan with parchment paper.
- Cream together the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.3/4 cup unsalted butter, 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- Then add in your eggs, vanilla, and almond extract and mix in all ingredients are well incorporated.3 eggs, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp almond extract
- Next, slowly add in all of your dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until a soft dough forms.2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt
- Once dough forms, add half of the sprinkles and stir in until evenly distributed throughout dough.4 TBS sprinkles
- Place dough into the prepared baking dish and spread down gently with a spatula to create an even layer in the bake. Bake the sugar cookie bars for 20-25 minutes or until the edges begin to turn golden brown.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely.
- After bars are completely cooled, lift them out of the pan using the parchment paper. Then use a rubber spatula to frost the sugar cookie bars.
- Decorate with the rest of the sprinkles.4 TBS sprinkles
- Cut into squares and serve.
Frosting
- Combine the butter, sour cream, and vanilla extract in a stand mixer on medium speed until smooth.1/2 cup unsalted buter, 1/3 cup sour cream, 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Add the salt and combine until mixed in well.1/4 tsp salt
- Gradually mix in the powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Info
Note: This recipe was originally published in 2021 as Christmas sugar cookie bars. The recipe and pictures have since been updated to use a different frosting that better pairs with the sugar cookie bars.
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