The best soft, chewy, melt-in-your-mouth frosted sugar cookie bars topped with an easy vanilla buttercream. No chilling, rolling, or cutting required - just spread in a 9x13 pan and cut for the ultimate crowd favorite!
Making these for Christmas? Use the instructions in my Christmas tree sugar cookie bars post to turn these into adorable little trees!
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I've gotten questions over the years on how to turn my popular Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe into sugar cookie bars and, well friends, the time has come! Introducing the most luscious, frosted, and soft sugar cookie BARS!
Why these are the best sugar cookie bars:
- They're So Soft: This recipe for easy cookie bars are melt-in-your-mouth, buttery-soft and when topped with vanilla buttercream, are essentially a homemade version of lofthouse sugar cookie bars. They're texture heaven.
- Quick to Make: While making cut out sugar cookies is fun, sometimes you just don't want the mess or work! Make these in a 9x13 pan; no rolling or cutting required.
- No cutters needed! If you don't have cutters on hand, these are the perfect way to make sugar cookies without cutters!
Tip: For birthdays, bake this in a round cookie cake pan to turn it into a homemade sugar cookie cake!
Ingredients for Soft Sugar Cookie Bars
- Unsalted Butter (not margarine!)
- Granulated Sugar
- 1 Large Egg
- Vanilla Extract & Almond Extract
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- All-Purpose Flour
- Powdered Sugar
- Milk
- Food Coloring & Sprinkles, optional
How to Make Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars:
Step 1: Make Sugar Cookie Dough
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, cream together 1 cup softened unsalted butter and 1 cup granulated sugar on medium speed for 20-30 seconds. (If butter hasn't been softened, you can place in microwave for 10 seconds to *slightly* soften it.)
- While mixer is on medium speed, add in 1 egg, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon almond extract.
- Once mixed, mix in 1.5 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and 2 ¼ cups flour. (Add flour ½ cup at a time on low speed). Be sure to measure your flour properly using the spoon & level method, as adding too much can result in dry bars.
- Mix until all flour disappears, typically 20-30 seconds. You do not need to beat/mix this any longer than it takes to mix in the flour.
Dough should look like the below photo. When pinched between your fingers, dough should be similar to a playdoh consistency and not be very sticky.
Step 2: Prep Pan & Press Dough
Spray a metal 9×13 pan with cooking spray, then line pan with parchment paper (having the grease underneath the paper will help the paper stay down).
Drop the dough into 1 tablespoon sized chunks into the prepared pan. Use your hands or a spatula to press down the dough until it covers the pan.
Tip: If the dough is sticky, you can place another piece of parchment paper on top and continue pressing down. To get clean edges, you can fold down the sides of the parchment paper and press like shown below.
Step 3: Bake
Bake bars at 350 degrees for 14-16 minutes. The trick to soft sugar cookie bars is to take them out right when you see the TINIEST amount of brown around the edges. The center may look underdone and this is okay; the bars will continue to bake in the hot pan when cooling.
Allow to cool completely before frosting (you can put the pan in the fridge on a cooling rack to speed this up).
Step 4: Make Frosting!
Once bars are cooled completely, frost with your homemade buttercream! If using sprinkles, add them immediately after frosting. If you wait too long, the frosting will set and the sprinkles won't stick.
To make frosting: In a large bowl, beat ½ cup unsalted butter on medium speed using a hand or stand mixer (with paddle attachment) for 1-2 minutes (until light and creamy).
Keeping the mixer on medium speed, slowly add in 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon almond extract and 2 cups powdered sugar. Once incorporated, turn mixer to high speed and beat for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add 1 tablespoon of milk and beat for 30 seconds. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of milk if frosting seems too thick to spread.
Step 5: Cut!
How do you cut the perfect cookie bar? The trick to perfect slices is to make sure you line your 9x13 with parchment paper, ensuring you leave enough extra overhang so you can easily lift the entire sheet of bars out the pan. The trick to the perfect slices is:
- Place cooled, frosted bars in fridge for 30 minutes to allow frosting to "harden".
- (Optional, if you're feeling risky) Carefully lift the parchment out of pan (make sure bars are cooled; the bars are fragile and breakage is possible if you're not careful!)
- Use a large butcher knife to do one clean cut across the center of the bars (do not do a sawing motion!). In between EACH cut, wipe frosting off knife. This way, no frosting "drags" across your bars and you are left with a clean, beautiful edge that looks like Pinterest!
- To get 24 even-sized squares, start with cutting the bars in half horizontally then split each of those sections in 3. Do the same vertically, splitting each half in 2.
If you don't have parchment, you can use cooking spray and just cut the bars directly in the pan using the method in #3 above.
Scavenger Hunt Answer
We're hosting a scavenger hunt on Instagram to celebrate the launch of my cookbook!
Answer: (must type this phrase into the box!): "SUGARSUGAR"
Frequently Asked Questions:
Can you freeze these sugar cookie bars?
YES! These vanilla cookie bars are SO good frozen; they're actually how we like them best. Simply store cut bars in the freezer for the perfect sweet treat when cravings hit. No need for sugar cookie bars from a mix when you can keep these in stock! Sorry not sorry, Betty Crocker.
Decorate for Any Occasion:
- Easy & Basic: just keep your frosting white and top with sprinkles!
- Baby Shower: Dye the frosting light pink or blue for the perfect for baby shower pink dessert bars, Valentine's Day, or Mother's Day! Check out my trick to achieve light pastel frosting in my post on How to Make Light Pink Frosting.
- 4th of July: Split the frosting in 3 bowls and use food coloring to dye the frosting red, white, and blue. Then dollop on the colors in different spots, followed by spreading to create a tye dye frosting effect.
- Christmas: Frost with green frosting and sprinkles, then cut in triangles for the perfect Christmas tree sugar cookie bars that look like trees!
- Birthdays: You can easily turn this into a cugar cookie cake by making a double batch of frosting and piping decorative around the edges!
Want to use Cream Cheese Frosting instead?
If you want to make these sugar cookie bars with cream cheese frosting instead of buttercream, I've got you covered! Make a double-batch of my Cream Cheese Frosting for Cookies and spread on top (you can even add sliced berries for a sugar cookie fruit pizza!
Since cream cheese frosting is creamier and not as sturdy, you will need to refrigerate bars for it to "set". You will also need to store the bars in the fridge since it contains cream cheese.
Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars
Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Bars:
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt omit if using salted butter
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
Buttercream Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick) softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
- Food coloring optional
Before you begin! If you make this, will you do me a huge favor afterwards and leave a review and rating letting me know how you liked this recipe? This helps my small business thrive so I can continue providing free recipes and high-quality content for you.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉. If butter hasn't been softened you can place in microwave for 10 seconds to *slightly* soften it.
- In a large bowl, cream together softened unsalted butter (1 cup, i.e. 2 sticks) and granulated sugar (1 cup) on medium speed for 20-30 seconds. While mixer is still on medium speed, add in egg (1 large), vanilla extract (2 teaspoons) and almond extract (1 teaspoon).
- Once mixed, add in baking powder (1 ½ teaspoons), salt (½ teaspoon), and *all-purpose flour ½ cup at at time (2 ¼ cups total). Be sure to measure your flour properly using the spoon & level method, as adding too much can result in dry bars. Mix until all flour disappears, typically 20-30 seconds. You do not need to beat/mix this any longer than it takes to mix in the flour. When pinched between your fingers, dough should be similar to a playdoh consistency and not be very sticky. Refer to photo above in post for how dough should look.
- Spray a metal 9×13 pan with cooking spray, then line pan with parchment paper (having the grease underneath the paper will help the paper stay down).
- Drop the dough into 1 tablespoon sized chunks into the prepared pan. Use your hands or a spatula to press down the dough until it covers the pan.Tip: If the dough is sticky, you can place another piece of parchment paper on top and continue pressing down. To get clean edges, you can fold down the sides of the parchment paper and press like shown in the post above.
- Bake bars at 350℉ for 14-16 minutes. The trick to soft sugar cookie bars is to take them out right when you see the TINIEST amount of brown around the edges. The center may look underdone and this is okay; the bars will continue to bake in the hot pan when cooling.
- Allow to cool completely before frosting (you can put the pan in the fridge on a cooling rack to speed this up).
To Make Frosting:
- In a large bowl, beat softened unsalted butter (½ cup, i.e. 1 stick) on medium speed using a hand or stand mixer (with paddle attachment) for 1-2 minutes (until light and creamy).
- Keeping the mixer on medium speed, slowly add in vanilla extract (2 teaspoons), almond extract (½ teaspoon), and powdered sugar (2 cups). Once incorporated, turn mixer to high speed and beat for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add 1 tablespoon of milk and beat for 30 seconds. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of milk if frosting seems too thick to spread.
- If using sprinkles, add them immediately after frosting. If you wait too long, the frosting will set and the sprinkles won't stick.
Cutting & Storage:
- Refer to the tips in the post above on how to cut the perfect squares!
- If not eating same day or within 3-4 hours, place in airtight container and store in refrigerator for 2-3 days. These bars are also amazing frozen for 1-2 months (any longer and they tend to dry out).
Last Step! Please leave a review and rating letting me know how you liked this recipe! This helps my small business thrive so I can continue providing free recipes and high-quality content for you.
Notes
Nutrition
Did you make these frosted sugar cookie bars? Be sure to leave a comment below with how you liked them and tag me @designeatrepeat on Instagram!
Love these! So yummy and soft with a little crispy around the edge. We'll be coming back to this one often!
Thank you so much for leaving a review, Jazzie!
Just made them and they were tasty but on the thinner side. Can I 1.5x the recipe and put it in the 9x13 pan and bake a few minutes longer? I’m looking for a thicker bar.