Sugar Cookie Bars

Ready for Christmas? I totally am! I look forward to baking Christmas desserts all year – there’s something so fun about decorating with festive greens and reds. Plus, nothing beats the smell of freshly baked cookies in a warm kitchen when it’s cold out.

Why You’ll Love This Sugar Cookie Bars Recipe

• Incredibly easy: Craving frosted sugar cookies, but not the work that comes with chilling the dough, cutting them out, and frosting each one? This recipe is your solution. Whip up a simple sugar cookie base, bake, then add your frosting after they have cooled.
• Perfect texture. The base of these bars tastes just like traditional sugar cookies. They are soft and chewy, with the ideal of amount of sweetness and creamy frosting on top.
• Quick! These cookie bars are done in only 30 minutes. No chilling required! This recipe has “spur of the moment baking” written all over it.

Want to make more than one kind of cookie bar? Check out my cake mix cookie bars or my millionaire’s shortbread recipe.

What You’ll Need

Here’s a quick look at what you’ll need to make these sugar cookie bars. Be sure to scroll down to the recipe card for a printable list.

For the Cookie Bars:

• Unsalted Butter: Let it come to room temperature so that it is blends with the other ingredients more easily.
• Sugar: We’ll use both regular white granulated sugar and powdered sugar.
• Egg: Also let the egg come to room temperature.
• Flavorings: Pure vanilla extract and almond extract. You can omit the almond extra and just use an equal amount of additional vanilla extract if you prefer. Don’t sub all the vanilla extract for almond extract though. Almond extract has a much stronger flavor.
• Dry ingredients: All-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

For the Frosting:

• Butter & Cream Cheese: Let them come to room temp so they are softer and easier to blend.
• Vanilla Extract
• Salt
• Powdered Sugar: This is the only kind of sugar that will work for frosting, so don’t try to sub it for white or brown sugar.

How to Make Sugar Cookie Bars

These cookie bars could not be easier to mix together. And even though you don’t get to use all those fun cookie cutters, I promise you the end result will be totally gorgeous. Throw on some Christmas music and let’s get baking!

Make the Sugar Cookie Base

• Prep your tools: Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper or spray with non-stick spray then set aside.
• Beat Butter and Sugar: Cream the butter and granulated sugar together then sift in the powdered sugar and beat again until light and fluffy.

• Combine: Add the egg, vanilla extract and almond extract and beat again until smooth.
• Whisk: Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a separate bowl and whisk until combined.
• Form the dough: Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Then press dough together with your hands until it comes together.
• Bake: Press dough evenly into the prepared baking dish and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the sides puff up and the top starts to crack.
• Let Cool: Remove from the oven and cool completely before icing.

Make & Finish the Cookie Bars

• Beat butter & cream cheese: In a large bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.
• Add vanilla: Add the vanilla extract and the dash of salt and beat until well combined.
• Mix in Sugar: Sift in the powdered sugar a cup at a time and beat until smooth and fluffy.
• Frost your cookie base: Remove the cookie bars from the pan if you used parchment paper, if not leave them in the pan. Spread the frosting onto the bars.
• Add sprinkles and cut into bars: Use as many sprinkles as you like. Then cut the cookie base into 12 pieces and serve.

Tips for Success

• Want to make them ahead? Once the cookie bars have cooled, cover them and store them in the fridge or on the counter. Store the frosting in the fridge, and then decorate the next day! 
• Don’t over mix the cookie dough: This can take away from the soft, cake-like texture of the bars. 
• Don’t over bake: You don’t want to burn these soft and chewy cookies! When the edges start to turn golden, pull the pan out and let the whole thing finish cooking as it cools. 
• Want to add color to your frosting? You can totally do that. Maybe a light green or cheery red if you want! Experiment with a few drops of food coloring.

How to Store Cookie Bars

• Store in the fridge: The bars can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
• Freezer: If you want to freeze the bars before frosting them, they will stay good in an airtight container for about 3 months. 

Variation Ideas

There are a ton of ways to change up these sugar cookie bars to make them appeal to different tastes, flavors or seasons! Here are a few of my favorites I have tried over the years:

• Extracts: Extracts are a great way to change the flavor of these sugar cookie bars. In this recipe, I use my favorite, a combination of vanilla extract and almond. A few other extracts that you can try: lemon, orange, coconut, maple etc.
• Zest: If you want these to have a citrus flavor (lime, lemon or orange!), adding some fresh zest will make the flavor pop. You can also add the zest to the icing if you really want them to have a ton of citrus flavor.
• Icing: I used a classic whipped cream cheese frosting. However, regular buttercream are also always delicious on top of these bars. My homemade Easy Chocolate Buttercream Frosting would also be delicious on top.
• Toppings: There are endless topping ideas! My kids love when I top mine with sprinkles, crushed candy canes or even m&m’s!

More Christmas Cookies to Try

Looking to bake some more delicious Christmas cookies? Check out these other reader favorites! 

• The Best Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
• Gingerdoodle Cookies
• Buttery Spritz Cookies
• Peanut Butter Blossoms
• White Chocolate Dipped Gingersnap Cookies
• Old Fashioned Christmas Pinwheel Cookies
• Red & Green M&M Cookies