Soft, buttery, cookie dough-like bars with a hint of vanilla. Add festive sprinkles for the perfect dessert during the holidays or for any celebration! You’ll love these Sugar Cookie Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting for a crowd-pleasing dessert that you can easily batch-prep.

Sugar Cookie Recipe Bars

If you love frosted sugar cookies, but do not love rolling, cutting, baking and frosting then come this way…

I would like to kiss whoever decided to make cookies into bars. You get the all the delightfulness of the cookie with a fraction of the work! Sugar cookie bars are a great way to make large quantities for bake sales, gifting to neighbors, having a party, etc…

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO MAKE SUGAR COOKIE BARS:

cookie bars

• ½ cup unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon butter extract
• 2 oz cream cheese
• 2 ½ cups flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt

cream cheese frosting

• 8 oz, cream cheese (softened)
• 2 cups, powered sugar
• 1 tsp, vanilla
• sprinkles 

HOW TO MAKE SUGAR COOKIE BARS WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Prep an 8×8 cake pan with parchment paper. See photo.
3. Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.
4. Add in egg, vanilla, butter extract, and cream cheese and mix until they are combined.
5. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
6. Slowly add in flour mixture to the wet mixture, while stirring until everything is combined.
7. Press the batter into a greased 8×8 baking dish and spread it out evenly with a rubber spatula. Be sure to push it all the way out to the corners.
8. Bake for 17-19 minutes or just as the edges start to turn golden brown.
9. Allow the bars to cool completely.
10. Meanwhile, mix together all your ingredients for the frosting until creamy.
11. Carefully, pop whole (cooled) cookie bar out of pan and peel off parchment paper. Lay out on cutting board.
12. Spread frosting over top of cookie bar.
13. Top with sprinkles.
14. Cut into squares* and serve.

Once you mix up the ingredients for the cookies, press that beautiful dough into a pan and your work here is done! Bake them up for a few minutes, and while they are baking you just throw those frosting ingredients in the mixer and let that do the frosting fluffing for you.

These bars are the gift that keeps on giving, because they can literally be for any occasion. Just grab whatever color sprinkles you need to match the theme and you have the perfect dessert! You can thank me later 🙂

handy tools to easily make these sugar cookie bars:

• stand mixer – mixing, blending, whipping…THE BEST
• measuring cups – snap together for storage, scraper to level ingredients and hang cups

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best thickness for sugar cookies? For super soft, tender sugar cookies, roll the dough to ¼-inch thick. The dough will be easy to work with, without breaking or tearing, and it will bake up nicely.

How do you keep sugar cookies from spreading when baking? Use a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. I always recommend a silicone baking mat because they grip onto the bottom of your cookie dough, preventing the cookies from spreading too much.

Why do my sugar cookies taste like flour? This is from scooping flour with your measuring cup giving your recipe too much flour. Always remember to spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then level off for a nice even scoop.

Aren’t these Sugar Cookie Recipe Bars the perfect dessert? Give these Monster Cookie Brownies a try!

Bookmark my Dessert Page for many other easy, delicious recipes you will surely love!