These smooth 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 smooth frosted sugar cookies, made with a fraction of the hassle! This recipe is:
- Fast. Should you’re large on baking however not large 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.
- Delicate and chewy. Should you love smooth sugar cookies (just like the Lofthouse cookies of grocery store fame) wait till you style these home made frosted sugar cookie bars. Wealthy, buttery, slathered with a thick layer of frosting, they’re fully irresistible.
- Vacation-worthy. Sugar cookie bars are straightforward 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 may make one of the best chewy sugar cookie bars with simply 8 straightforward substances (plus your selection of frosting). I’ve included some ingredient notes beneath. Don’t neglect 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 fairly than the spreadable type.
- 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 home made buttercream frosting and high them with rainbow sprinkles.
Thick and scrumptious cookie bars are enjoyable and festive sufficient to make for the vacations, and straightforward sufficient to make every time a yearning for smooth and buttery sugar cookies hits. Have your cookie bars baked and frosted in just some fast steps:
- Mix the dough substances. Cream collectively butter, sugar, and cream cheese, adopted by the egg and vanilla. Subsequent, slowly add your dry substances 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 along with your selection of traditional buttercream, chocolate frosting, or any form 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 straightforward:
- 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 relation to baking excellent bars:
- Use room temperature substances. Ensure that to take your butter and cream cheese (and even the egg) out of the fridge forward of time. Room-temperature substances mix extra simply with the opposite substances.
- Keep away from overmixing. Combine the dry substances into the moist dough solely till the dough is mixed, and watch out to not overmix. Overly combined cookie dough yields dense, powerful cookie bars.
- Don’t overbake. The important thing to smooth, 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 smooth 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 in your subsequent special day! You possibly can flip nearly any sugar cookie recipe into bars simply by adjusting the baking occasions. Strive these concepts:
- Flavoring – Add a number of drops of flavoring extract, resembling peppermint, almond, or orange extract.
- Chocolate – Borrow my smooth chocolate sugar cookie dough and make bars as an alternative.
- 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 – Strive Snickerdoodle bars for a straightforward variation topped with cinnamon sugar.
Can I Put together These Bars In Advance?
Sure! You possibly can 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 coated 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, preserve 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 suggestions). Nonetheless, you can even freeze the frosted bars. Retailer them tightly and preserve them frozen for as much as 3 months. Defrost the bars within the fridge earlier than serving.
Description
These smooth 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 flippantly 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 substances: flour, baking powder and baking soda.
- Combine till simply mixed.
- Press dough evenly into your ready pan. (dough can 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
