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These soft Sugar Cookie Bars are a fun twist on the classic sugar cookie recipe and MUCH easier to make! You’ll love this chewy, buttery cookie bar topped with a layer of smooth sweet frosting.

Two Sugar Cookie Bars stacked on a plate.

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Ingredients in Sugar Cookie Bars
Secret to Softness
Tips for Velvety Smooth Frosting
More Frosting Possibilities
Cookie Bar Toppings
Decorating Ideas
The Perfect Cookie Bar Bake
More Bar Cookie Recipes
How to Make Sugar Cookie Bars
Sugar Cookie Bars Recipe

This Sugar Cookie Bars recipe comes in handy when I want to sink my teeth into a yummy, frosting covered cookie but don’t have hours to devote to making regular sugar cookies. The simple dough bakes up soft, chewy and perfect every time and the sweet buttercream frosting can be flavored and colored to suit any holiday, gathering or occasion. A pan of simple cookie bars is fun to decorate with sprinkles or candy for birthdays or class parties. Give these sugar cookie bars a try!

The best thing about these sugar cookie bars (besides how delicious they are) is how easy they are to throw together. Here’s all you need:

Butter – one cup, or two sticks unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
Sugar – one and a half cups white granulated sugar
Eggs – three whole eggs. I generally try to use large or extra large eggs for this recipe.
Vanilla extract – three teaspoons. You can substitute one or more of these teaspoons with almond extract for a deeper, richer flavor.
All purpose flour – three cups, sifted flour
Baking powder – two teaspoons
Salt – one teaspoon kosher or regular table salt
Cornstarch – one tablespoon cornstarch helps give these cookie bars a super soft, chewy texture.

Ingredients to make Sugar Cookie Bars including flour, baking powder, cornstarch, salt, sugar, vanilla, butter and eggs.

For the Frosting:

Salted butter – one stick, softened salted butter. I like to use salted for the frosting because it gives a better taste, but you can use any butter you have on hand.
Shortening – half a cup plain or butter-flavored vegetable shortening makes this frosting soft, velvety and smooth.
Powdered sugar – Use about half of a two pound bag of sifted confectioners’ sugar. If you like a thicker frosting you can add more powdered sugar, adding a quarter cup at a time until it’s the thickness you like.
Heavy cream – three tablespoons or more if the frosting seems too thick. Half and half works great too for this recipe.
Vanilla – two teaspoons vanilla extract
Salt – just a pinch, for flavor. This is optional, depending on how the frosting tastes to you.
Gel coloring – I used pink for this recipe, but you can use any color to suit the occasion.
Sprinkles or candy – optional, but fun to decorate for holidays or birthdays.

Ingredients to make Sugar Cookie Frosting including butter, shortening, powdered sugar, vanilla, salt and cream.

Secret to Softness

Soft sugar cookies are my absolute favorite, and there are lots of little tips and tricks to getting the perfect softness and chewy texture:

Add cornstarch to the flour mixture. This helps the cookie bars bake up soft and stay soft.
Be careful not to overbake these bars. Check them at the minimal baking time; if they have a golden edge, then pull them out. They will continue to bake while they’re cooling in the baking pan.
Use butter that has been softened to room temperature. Use a paddle attachment of your stand mixer to cream the softened butter with the sugar, creating a light and fluffy texture.
Make sure to use the correct amount of flour. I like to use the spoon and level method to measure flour to avoid packing it into the cup. Too much flour can give these cookie bars a drier, more crumbly texture.
Don’t overmix the dough. Combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Overmixing can give the cookies a heavier, harder texture.

Balls of dough in a pan for Firecracker Sugar Cookie Bars.

Because of the texture of this sugar cookie bar dough, use your hands or a spatula to pat the dough in place. Use a little cooking spray on your hands to keep the dough from sticking.

Tips for Velvety Smooth Frosting

Our favorite frosting for these bars is our Sugar Cookie Frosting, follow the link or find it in the recipe below.
Because this is such a thick cookie bar recipe, I use an offset spatula to spread a nice, thick layer of frosting on top.
This frosting recipe is meant to stay soft and not harden. It whips up light and airy, and tastes divine. If you’re looking for a thicker frosting, add an additional cup or so of powdered sugar to thicken.
Gel coloring works best for coloring the frosting. You can find all the colors of the rainbow at Hobby Lobby or on Amazon. I like the Americolor brand. It won’t separate like liquid food coloring, and always gives a beautiful, vibrant color.
Add a little powdered sugar at a time, alternating adding the heavy cream, mixing on medium speed until all the ingredients are combined. You can then whisk it at high speed to get the frosting light and fluffy.

Spreading pink frosting onto sugar cookie bars.

More Frosting Possibilities

Want to switch up the frosting flavors? Give any of these other frosting recipes a try:

Cream Cheese Frosting

Chocolate Buttercream

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Sugar Cookies w/ Raspberry Frosting

You can leave the pan of cookies frosted as is, or throw just about any kind of toppings on top of your cookie bars for fun and different flavored treats. Try any of these yummy toppings:

Sprinkles – any color combination
White chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips or milk chocolate chips
Chopped pecans or peanuts
Toffee bits
Sweetened shredded coconut
Chopped M&Ms or candy bars
Drizzle of caramel sauce

Cut Sugar Cookie Bars with pink frosting and sprinkles.

Decorating Ideas

The beauty of this Sugar Cookie Bars recipe is how versatile it is! You can mix and match toppings, colors and flavors to make different desserts for every occasion. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Christmas: flavor the frosting with a teaspoon of peppermint extract and decorate with crushed candy canes or red and green sprinkles.
Halloween: use orange gel coloring and top the cookie bars with candy corn or chopped up bits of the kids’ leftover Halloween candy.
Valentine’s Day: decorate with pink frosting and conversation hearts or red hots.
Birthday parties: any color of frosting and fun, colorful sprinkles.
Baby showers: use blue or pink frosting and colored sprinkles.
Fourth of July: use white frosting and decorate with red white and blue sugar sprinkles.
Easter: pastel colored frosting and Cadbury mini eggs for decorations.

Side view of Firecracker Sugar Cookie Bars with Pop Rocks. — Pictured above: Firecracker Sugar Cookie Bars

It can be difficult to tell the doneness of these cookie bars because the outsides will bake faster than the middle in a 9×13 pan. The first thing I do is check the color of the center. It should have no shine in the middle, just a dull pale color and the same height as the sides. If you take out the cookies and notice the cookie dough looks raw in the middle as it’s cooling, place the pan back in the oven for a few more minutes.