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stacked sugar cookie bars pile with sprinkles crop.
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Sugar Cookie Bars

These sugar cookie bars are soft and chewy like your favorite sugar cookie just much easier to make. This is a perfect base recipe to transform the sugar cookie bars into other bars such as a lemon sugar cookie bar or even a peppermint sugar cookie bar.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Diet Gluten Free, Vegetarian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 21 minutes
Cooling Time (estimate) 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 1 minute
Servings 24 bars
Calories 214kcal
Author Toni Dash

Ingredients

Cookie bars

  • 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour regular or gluten-free measure-for-measure flour blend
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

Frosting

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • ½ cup unsalted butter softened
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Pinch kosher salt
  • 3 tablespoons milk
  • Sprinkles for decoration optional

Instructions

Cookie bars

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 13-inch by 9-inch pan with foil, leaving an overhang of foil over the sides for easy removal after frosting. Coat the foil in the pan with non-stick cooking spray.
  • In a large bowl, using a hand electric mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until smooth and creamy.
    12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, 1 cup granulated sugar
  • Add eggs and vanilla extract; mix until combined. Set aside.
    2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder.
    2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients; mix well until a dough has formed.
  • Press dough into prepared pan, spreading to the edges.
  • Bake for 18-22 minutes, until edges start to brown and a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

  • In large bowl, using a hand electric mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment beat butter and powdered sugar until fully combined and creamy.
    2 cups powdered sugar, ½ cup unsalted butter
  • Add in the vanilla extract, salt and milk; mix until combined. NOTE: If frosting is too thick to spread, add another tablespoon of milk.
    Spread the frosting over the cookie bars and decorate as desired. Cut and serve.
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract, Pinch kosher salt, 3 tablespoons milk, Sprinkles for decoration
  • Allow cookies to sit for 15-20 minutes until frosting has set before storing.

Notes

Expert Tips
  • If the dough sticks to your fingers when pressing into the pan, spray your hand or a spatula with non-stick.
  • When making the frosting: A hand mixer will work to beat the butter and powdered sugar, time it takes to get to a creamy stage will take longer than a stand mixer. Expect 3-5 minutes during this stage.
Variations
  • Peppermint Sugar Cookie Bars. To make these bars with peppermint, add ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract (in addition to the vanilla) to the frosting and add ½ cup crushed peppermints to the top as a decoration.
  • Lemon Sugar Cookie Bars. To make these into lemon sugar cookie bars. Add 1 teaspoon lemon extract, lemon zest from 1-2 lemons to the sugar cookie bars. In the frosting, replace the milk with lemon juice.
  • Change up the sprinkles or color the frosting! These cookie bars as so easy to customize for any holiday or special occasion.

Nutrition

Calories: 214kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 42mg | Sodium: 57mg | Potassium: 43mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 328IU | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 1mg