Dorothy Kern
These are the BEST Sugar Cookie Bars recipe! They’re soft and tender and chewy and covered with the best buttercream sugar cookie frosting EVER. This recipe is easy and fast and who doesn’t love a sugar cookie bar??
If I could pick only one cookie to eat for the rest of my life, it would be sugar cookies. Whether they’re drop sugar cookies or cutout sugar cookies, I love them, with or without frosting.
I’m typing up this post from a hotel lobby just outside Salt Lake City, Utah. It’s snowing. A lot. It’s been snowing all night and will be snowing all day…and I rented a car to get where we have to go today. Needless to say, my anxiety level is sky high.
Thank goodness for Uber…hopefully. I’m praying that they pick up in a snowstorm. Unfortunately, Uber won’t help me tomorrow when I have to get my car from this hotel parking lot back to the rental car place. It’s supposed to stop snowing tonight but the cars in the lot are covered with the stuff. Somehow I think starting the car and letting it run for 5 minutes like I do back home in California to de-ice the windshield isn’t gonna cut it.
(I promise these stories relate to this sugar cookie bar recipe and I’m getting to it.)
I’ve been to Salt Lake before, for work, a few years ago. It was one of the times I got to hang out with Lindsay, from Life Love and Sugar. Do you read her blog? You should; she shares the most gorgeous cakes (and more).
Lindsay is not only an amazing blogger, but she’s also a good friend, and I’m so excited for her. She’s pregnant with TWINS! She has shared her journey to get pregnant and I feel a kinship with her because of my struggle with fertility.
I’m talking about Lindsay today because it’s her BABY SHOWER DAY! A bunch of us bloggers are showering her with recipes for a virtual baby shower today. Surprise Lindsay!! We love you and those babies!!
I decided to share these sugar cookie bars for her shower for a few reasons:
- Sugar cookie bars, duh. Who doesn’t love them?
- SPRINKLES!!
- The first thing I read on Lindsay’s blog several years ago was a sugar cookie cake. She’s the queen of them!
Sugar cookie bars are one of my favorite desserts – ever. They’re easier to make than regular sugar cookies and have a thick layer of frosting on top and sprinkles, which are required in my world. What’s better than that??
NOTHING.
Plus, they’re fantastic for Valentine’s Day!
Sugar cookie bars are an easy recipe for a cookie bar that’s perfect for every occasion. Topped with sprinkles and a thick layer of frosting this is the recipe everyone will ask for over and over.
I think I could make sugar cookie bars for every occasion: birthdays, Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day…the options are endless.
This recipe starts with my perfect sugar cookie recipe. Instead of dropping them, I pressed the dough into a 9×13-inch pan. Once the bars are baked and cooled you top them with an incredible frosting. I love my frosting recipe because of a secret ingredient: heavy whipping cream. It makes the frosting so smooth and delicious.
Of course, you can tint the frosting any color you want using food coloring, but I love the look of sprinkles. Nowadays you’re not limited to just nonpareils or jimmies; sprinkles come in all sorts of combinations now! In the past they were only online, but I’ve even seen them at JoAnn’s and Michaels lately.
Regardless of how you decorate them, they are perfect and pretty for any party…especially a baby shower!
Tips for making the perfect sugar cookie bars:
- When baking, these are done just before they look done; that is, slightly golden around the edges but not golden in the center. They finish cooking as they cool.
- Make sure to start with room temperature butter when making the frosting. It’s easier and you’ll get a smoother spread.
- You can use milk in the frosting, but the heavy whipping cream makes a silky and delicious frosting recipe!
Enjoy, and don’t forget to visit my other friends celebrating Lindsay today!
See what everyone’s bringing to the party!
Banana Pudding Cupcakes, Lemon Coconut Cupcakes, Chicken Salad Cups,
Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, Star and Moon Decorated Cookies,
Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes, Cream Cheese Cookies with Nutella Glaze,
Salted Caramel Popcorn Brownies, Sugar Cookie Bars, Funfetti Cheesecake Pie,
Banana Chocolate Chip Cheesecakes, Sweet and Sour Slow Cooker Smokies
Red velvet Cookie Bars, Veggie Egg Muffins, 2 Layer Espresso Chocolate Cake
The BEST Sugar Cookie Bars
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract optional
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups all purpose flour
Frosting:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1-3 tablespoons milk or heavy whipping cream
- Sprinkles and/or food coloring if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9x13-inch pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat in egg and both extracts. (Almond extract is optional, but adds amazing flavor!) Mix in baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Slowly mix in flour.
- Press dough into prepared pan.
- Bake for 14-19 minutes The sides will just be getting golden and the center will look a little under done. Cool completely before frosting.
- Make the frosting: Beat butter until creamy with a hand or a stand mixer. Mix in salt. Slowly add in powdered sugar until mixture is crumbly. (It will be very crumbly if using a hand mixer, more smooth if using a stand mixer.) Add vanilla and 1 tablespoon milk or cream. Mix until the frosting comes together and becomes smooth, adding additional teaspoons of milk as needed for consistency. If you want your frosting to be a color, tint it now.
Nutrition Information
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
Sugar Cookie Mix
All text and images © DOROTHY KERN for Crazy for Crust. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be accurate.
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Published on: January 24, 2018
My response to these is: YES PLEASE. Bars like this are one of those treats I can’t resist!
Lindsay. Thank you. I made these tonight to ship to my son for his 18th birthday. Although it is the hear of the summer I am sending the frosting for dipping, in its own container. Sprinkles too. Sugar cookies are his favorite, and I sm sure these will be the new go to bars.
WOW!!! I just made this cookie bar and served it for my grandson’s birthday because he loves sugar cookies but not cake. It was fun and festive for this occasion. The BEST part yet is that I substituted the flour with Bob’s Red Mill 1 for 1 gluten free baking flour and it was awesome. My daughter-in-law was so excited, loved the cookie and said she hasn’t had sugar cookies for the last three years since she has a gluten sensitivity. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
PS – I debated using the amount of vanilla the recipe called for in the bar and icing but I took the leap and followed the recipe. Lol
I made this recipe using gluten free flour for my daughter-in-law and it was awesome. She was so excited.
Very good cookie! & Great tip to take them out before being done!