These gentle and chewy frosted sugar cookie bars are topped with a thick layer of buttercream frosting (and sprinkles!). Get pleasure from freshly baked sugar cookies with hardly any effort!
These sugar cookie bars are soft-baked like a chewy chocolate chip cookie and thick like a peanut butter blondie. They style similar to my favourite gentle frosted sugar cookies, made with a fraction of the hassle! This recipe is:
- Fast. When you’re massive on baking however not massive on time, sugar cookie bars are the reply. Have your cookie bars prepared in half-hour or much less, with out chilling or rolling out the dough.
- Gentle and chewy. When you love gentle sugar cookies (just like the Lofthouse cookies of grocery store fame) wait till you style these do-it-yourself frosted sugar cookie bars. Wealthy, buttery, slathered with a thick layer of frosting, they’re fully irresistible.
- Vacation-worthy. Sugar cookie bars are simple to brighten for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, you identify it. Change up the frosting colour and add some sprinkles! That is one recipe you’ll wish to save for each vacation and event.
Recipe Components
You can also make one of the best chewy sugar cookie bars with simply 8 simple components (plus your selection of frosting). I’ve included some ingredient notes under. Don’t overlook to scroll to the recipe card for the complete quantities and recipe directions.
- Sugar – Traditional sugar cookies name for good ol’ granulated white sugar.
- Butter – Salted or unsalted, delivered to room temperature.
- Cream Cheese – Additionally at room temperature. I like to recommend utilizing blocks of cream cheese reasonably than the spreadable sort.
- Egg
- Vanilla – For one of the best taste, follow actual vanilla extract (versus imitation vanilla).
- Flour
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda
- Frosting – I frost these bars with my favourite do-it-yourself buttercream frosting and high them with rainbow sprinkles.
Thick and scrumptious cookie bars are enjoyable and festive sufficient to make for the vacations, and simple sufficient to make at any time when a yearning for gentle and buttery sugar cookies hits. Have your cookie bars baked and frosted in only a few fast steps:
- Mix the dough components. Cream collectively butter, sugar, and cream cheese, adopted by the egg and vanilla. Subsequent, slowly add your dry components and blend till mixed.
- Fill the pan. Press the sugar cookie dough right into a foil-lined jelly roll pan.
- Bake. Bake the cookie bars at 350ºF for 20 minutes, simply till the sides are a bit golden. Let the bars cool fully earlier than frosting and adorning.
High your bars together with your selection of basic buttercream, chocolate frosting, or any sort of frosting you’d like! This creamy brown sugar frosting and heritage frosting are additionally scrumptious. Or, you’ll be able to attempt my mint chocolate chip frosting or this funfetti celebration frosting for one thing festive. Frosting and adorning these sugar cookie bars is tremendous simple:
- Make the frosting. Whip up a fast batch of your favourite frosting. Be happy to paint the frosting utilizing gel meals dyes.
- Frost the bars. Pile dollops of frosting onto your cookie bars. Use an offset spatula or a knife to unfold the frosting evenly over high.
- Add sprinkles. End your bars with rainbow sprinkles, chocolate chips, or chocolate shavings.
Ideas for Success
Similar to conventional sugar cookies, there are a number of key issues that make all of the distinction in the case of baking good bars:
- Use room temperature components. Be certain that to take your butter and cream cheese (and even the egg) out of the fridge forward of time. Room-temperature components mix extra simply with the opposite components.
- Keep away from overmixing. Combine the dry components into the moist dough solely till the dough is mixed, and watch out to not overmix. Overly blended cookie dough yields dense, robust cookie bars.
- Don’t overbake. The important thing to gentle, chewy sugar cookie bars is to take the bars out of the oven whereas they’re nonetheless a tad underbaked. They need to be simply browned on the edges, and gentle within the center. The bars will proceed to arrange as they cool.
- Let the cookie bars cool. Talking of cooling, give the bars sufficient time to chill off fully as soon as they’re out of the oven. If the bars are nonetheless heat, the frosting will slide proper off.
Straightforward Variations
These cookie bars are scrumptious simply as they’re, or you’ll be able to simply change up the add-ins, flavors, and decorations on your subsequent special day! You may flip nearly any sugar cookie recipe into bars simply by adjusting the baking occasions. Attempt these concepts:
- Flavoring – Add a number of drops of flavoring extract, similar to peppermint, almond, or orange extract.
- Chocolate – Borrow my gentle chocolate sugar cookie dough and make bars as a substitute.
- Funfetti – Add a handful of rainbow sprinkles to the cookie dough. I like to recommend utilizing jimmies (the colourful rods) versus nonpareils (the little balls) as jimmies received’t bleed colour into the cookie dough.
- Sweet – Fill your bars with chopped chocolate bars, white chocolate chips, or add M&Ms to make M&M cookie bars. For the vacations, make sweet cane sugar cookie bars.
- Snickerdoodles – Attempt Snickerdoodle bars for a simple variation topped with cinnamon sugar.
Can I Put together These Bars In Advance?
Sure! You may bake the cookie bars and make the frosting as much as 1 day forward. Retailer the cookie bars hermetic at room temperature and the frosting lined within the fridge till you’re able to frost and serve. Alternatively, freeze the unfrosted sugar cookie bars hermetic for as much as 2-3 months, and thaw them within the fridge earlier than frosting.
- To Retailer. Retailer the frosted bars in an hermetic container at room temperature for 1-2 days. After that, hold them within the fridge for as much as 3-4 days.
- Freeze. I like to recommend freezing sugar cookie bars earlier than they’re frosted (see above for make-ahead ideas). Nonetheless, you can too freeze the frosted bars. Retailer them tightly and hold them frozen for as much as 3 months. Defrost the bars within the fridge earlier than serving.
Description
These gentle and chewy sugar cookie bars are topped with a thick layer of buttercream frosting (and sprinkles!). Straightforward to make in half-hour, and the dough doesn’t require any rolling or chilling.
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Line a jelly roll pan (15x10x1) with aluminum foil and spray evenly with cooking spray.
- In your mixer cream butter, cream cheese and sugar collectively. Add in egg and vanilla and blend till included.
- With mixer on low, add in your dry components: flour, baking powder and baking soda.
- Combine till simply mixed.
- Press dough evenly into your ready pan. (dough shall be sticky)
- Bake for 20 minutes till edges start to golden.
- Cool fully earlier than frosting.
Vitamin
- Serving Dimension:
- Energy: 296
- Sugar: 26.3 g
- Sodium: 274.5 mg
- Fats: 11.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 45.2 g
- Protein: 5.5 g
- Ldl cholesterol: 25.7 mg
Key phrases: sugar cookie bars, sugar cookie bars recipe