Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars have a super soft cookie base with a luxuriously thick and creamy buttercream frosting on top!

I have been making Sugar Cookies with the boys literally since they could stand. It’s a Christmas tradition, but we make them throughout the year as well. It’s one of my favorite activities with them. As teenagers, they’re ‘old pros’ at cookie making.

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FROSTED SUGAR COOKIE BARS

If you’re new to making cookies, pan cookies or cookie bars (whatever you prefer to call them) is an easy way to begin baking cookies. It’s also a fun way to get children involved in cooking.

These Sugar Cookie Bars are modeled after the really soft frosted sugar cookies you can buy at bakeries and grocery stores. I made them into bars because I just really didn’t want to scoop out cookies.

As I said, they’re soft. Cream cheese is the not-so-secret ingredient that keeps these Sugar Cookie Bars so soft.

I prefer vanilla sugar cookies, but you can substitute other flavors if you prefer. Lemon, almond, or peppermint would all make great sugar cookie flavors.

TIPS

If you plan to serve these to guests, they’re much easier to remove from the pan and cut if you line your baking pan with foil or parchment paper. Then, allow it to hang over the pan. You can use it as ‘handles’ to remove the bars from the pan. They are much easier to cut.
You can make the bars in advance. Keep them in an airtight container then frost when you have time.
As well, you can freeze the bars for up to three months. Freeze them in an airtight container or ziptop bag squeezing out as much air as you can. To thaw, simply leave them in the refrigerator overnight.
Sprinkles make the cookies festive. Sprinkles are different from jimmies. I don’t recommend the little ball decorations ‘jimmies’ (professionally they’re known as nonpareils.) They don’t hold their color well and will bleen into the frosting.
Finally, you can use whole milk in the frosting, but it is much, much better with heavy cream or half & half.

While you’re here, check out these cookie recipes

Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars

Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars have a super soft cookie base with a luxuriously thick and creamy buttercream frosting on top!

Author: Paula

4.41 from 5 votes

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Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 18

Servings: 15 servings

Ingredients

1 cup butter
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1 and ½ cup granulated sugar
1 large eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 and ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda

FROSTING

¾ cup butter salted or unsalted, at room temperature
2 and ¼ cups powdered sugar (aka confectioners)
3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
food coloring optional
sprinkles optional

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray a 9x13 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray or line it with non-stick aluminum foil or parchment paper.
Add butter and cream cheese to the bowl of your electric mixer. Beat until smooth. Stop the mixer and scrape the side. Add the sugar and mix until combined.
Stop the mixer and scrape the sides again before adding the egg and the vanilla. Mix well after the addition. Next, add the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix until combined.
Spread the dough evenly in the pan and smooth the top. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes. I baked mine for 18 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool completely before frosting.

FROSTING

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides.
With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, cream, and vanilla extract. Once the sugar is mixed in, you can turn the mixer speed up to medium and beat until the frosting is fluffy (about 2 minutes).
You can always add more sugar if frosting is too thin or more cream if the frosting is too thick.
If you want to color the frosting, add the food coloring and mix until it's combined.
Spread the frosting on cooled sugar cookies. Decorate with sprinkles if desired.
Store the bars in an airtight container on the countertop up to 2 days or in the refrigerator up to 5 days.

Nutrition

Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.

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