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If you love the flavor of classic sugar cookies but want to skip the rolling and cutting, these sugar cookie bars are the ultimate solution. This recipe produces a super thick, soft, and chewy bar that stays moist for days. It is the perfect easy dessert for potlucks, birthdays, or holiday parties where you need to feed a crowd without the extra work of individual cookies.

Three stacked sugar cookie bars topped with pink frosting and colorful rainbow sprinkles, with more cookie bars and scattered sprinkles in the background.

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.

These frosted sugar cookie bars are a cross between a traditional cookie and a soft blondie. By using cream of tartar and baking soda, you get those perfect chewy edges and a soft, pillowy center that melts in your mouth. Topped with a thick layer of creamy vanilla buttercream and plenty of sprinkles, they taste better than Lofthouse cookies but are much simpler to make at home.

Top-down view of various labeled baking ingredients in bowls and containers, including sugar, powdered sugar, flour, salt, baking soda, cream of tartar, almond extract, vanilla, egg, cream, and butter on a white surface.
  • I always use unsalted butter that’s been softened, but if you need to substitute salted butter just reduce the salt in the recipe to 1/4 teaspoon.
  • Baking Soda and Cream of Tartar: The combination is the SECRET ingredient that keeps the bars SOFT! When baking soda and cream of tartar are used together, it creates a rapid chemical leavening reaction that produces carbon dioxide, causing a quick rise and tender, puffy texture and soft cookie bars.
  • Extracts: Vanilla is important and should not be omitted, but if you want an even better tasting sugar cookie, add a bit of almond extract to your dough.

Click to see the recipe card below for full ingredients & instructions. See below the recipe card for even more information: process shots, variations, FAQ and more.

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A stack of frosted sugar cookie bars with pink icing and colorful rainbow sprinkles, with more cookie bars and sprinkles scattered around on a white surface.

Cookie Bar Tips

  • Using room temperature butter and eggs is essential for proper aeration. This creates a uniform crumb structure that prevents the bars from becoming too dense or oily.
  • For the softest sugar cookie bars do not overbake the dough. The edges should be just barely golden while the center still looks slightly underdone because they will continue to firm up as they cool in the pan.
  • You can use milk in the frosting, but the heavy whipping cream makes a silky and delicious frosting recipe.
  • To get clean slices when cutting frosted bars let the frosting crust for at least thirty minutes and use a sharp knife wiped clean between every cut.
4.05 from 84 votes

Sugar Cookie Bars Recipe

By: Dorothy Kern
These are the BEST EVER 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??
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 24 bars
bars with white frosting and colorful sprinkles on top.
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Ingredients

Cookies:

  • ¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter, softened
  • ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon almond extract, optional
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups (248g) all purpose flour

Frosting:

  • ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups (339g) powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1-3 tablespoons (5-15ml) milk or heavy whipping cream
  • Sprinkles and/or food coloring, if desired

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13-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.

Notes

  • Decorate these for any holiday with any color sprinkles.
  • These are done when they just lose their glossy sheen. That keeps them soft!
  • Bake these in a metal pan for best results.

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Nutrition

Serving: 1bar | Calories: 154kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 35mg | Sodium: 1272mg | Sugar: 15g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

© Crazy for Crust. Content and photographs are copyrighted. Sharing this post is much appreciated, but copying and pasting full recipes without authorization is strictly prohibited.

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A glass mixing bowl containing partially mixed dough or batter sits on a white countertop. Some flour and dough are visible around the bowl’s edges.
A glass mixing bowl filled with creamy, pale yellow cookie dough sits on a white countertop.
A glass mixing bowl filled with yellow cookie dough sits on a white marble countertop.
A rectangular baking pan lined with aluminum foil, filled with an even layer of unbaked dough, sits on a white surface.
A glass mixing bowl with a small amount of creamed butter and sugar on the bottom, sitting on a white countertop.
  1. Be sure to cream the butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. This will take 1-3 minutes depending on if you’re using a hand mixer or a stand mixer.
  2. Only mix in egg and extracts once the butter is creamed.
  3. You can mix the baking soda and cream of tartar in with the flour first and whisk them or mix them in individually.
  4. Always bake cookie bars in a metal pan for best results. Using foil or parchment paper makes for easy removal.
  5. While they’re baking and cooling, make the buttercream frosting recipe. You can tint the sugar cookie frosting any color you want using food coloring, and I love the look of sprinkles.
  • Store these in an airtight container in a single layer, or stacked between wax paper or parchment paper so the frosting doesn’t transfer.
  • They’ll last a few days at room temperature or a few extra days if stored in the refrigerator.
  • Freeze the bars for several months!
  • You can make the bars and frosting ahead of time up to 2 days and store both in the fridge (or freeze them both separately).

FAQs

Why are my sugar cookie bars dry?

Dry bars are usually the result of over-measuring the flour or overbaking. Be sure to spoon and level your flour and pull the bars from the oven as soon as the edges are set.

How do I know when sugar cookie bars are done?

The bars are done when the edges are a very light golden brown and the center no longer looks wet or jiggly. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out with just a few moist crumbs.

Can I use a different size pan?

This recipe is optimized for a 9×13 pan. If you use a smaller pan the bars will be much thicker and require a significantly longer baking time.

Dorothy Kern

Welcome to Crazy for Crust, where I share recipes that are sometimes crazy, often with a crust, and always served with a slice of life.

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4.05 from 84 votes (80 ratings without comment)

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21 Comments

  1. These sugar cookie bars won a landslide vote from my family. I made half with frosting and half with just sprinkles. They said the frosting was the best ever and the bars were soft and delicious. The whole pan was gone in no time. We will be making these often and using different tints in the frosting and different sprinkles for holidays. They are so much easier than cookies.

    Reply

  3. I just finished making this recipe for dessert tonight. It looks so yummy. I had a chance to taste the left over icing in the mixing dish after I finished icing the cookie bar. Yummy ! I can hardly wait till tonight to have a piece. Well, maybe an afternoon pick me up. 😄. I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to wait that long! I would post a picture but I don’t see a place to do that so just take my word for it. It’s so easy to make !!! I also sprinkled it with multi color sprinkles on it. So festive !!

    Reply