These soft sugar cookie bars are topped with a fluffy layer buttercream making them a fun and easy treat. Cookie bars are so much quicker to make than individual cookies, and they taste just as good if not better. If you like Lofthouse cookies, you are going to love these delicious sugar cookie bars.
If you like your sugar cookies soft and piled with frosting, these bars are for you! You don’t have to chill, roll, or cut the dough, so they are fast and easy. Bake them just until they are barely done for a soft and sumptuous texture.
We love them topped with vanilla or chocolate buttercream and plenty of festive sprinkles. They are good enough for a party and easy enough for just because.
About the Recipe
My family has always had a thing for frosted sugar cookies. When I was a kid, we would get together with my aunts and grandma to bake and decorate cookies for the holiday.
We would spend all day rolling out cookie dough, cutting it into shapes, and decorating them with different colors of sugar before baking them. Then we graduated to using royal icing to decorate them.
They take hours, but do you know what? My siblings always gravitated to the slice and bake sugar cookies topped with frosting and sprinkles instead.
Add to that the fact that Little Dude loves Lofthouse cookies, it seemed like having a recipe for soft sugar cookies with fluffy buttercream frosting was in order.
Rather than scooping a bunch of cookies and making them individually, baking them as bars makes them even easier. Of course they are quicker too, because there is only one trip to the oven.
I pretty quickly decided to make these cookie bars with a recipe from one of my favorite cookie experts, Big Rigs ‘n Lil’ Cookies. Hers look so pretty with the pink frosting, but I had chocolate on the brain.
So the first time I made a batch, I topped ours with chocolate sweetened condensed milk frosting. Though most batches since then have been topped with vanilla frosting.
The best part is all you have to do is match the sprinkles to the occasion to make a festive treat. We have used colorful sprinkles for birthday treats and holiday sprinkles for Christmas.
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No matter the festivity, these cookies are a hit.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
There is both butter and cream cheese in the dough. This makes them really rich, soft and delicious.
You don’t have to chill the dough before you bake it. Just put it together, pat it into the pan, and bake it.
I included a buttercream recipe, but you can use any frosting you want. Add flavors or colors if you prefer.
Tips and Tricks
The hardest part of this recipe is spreading the dough in the pan. If it is sticking to your hands, moisten them a bit with water and try again.
Little Dude and I worked together to whip up the dough and made a video for you. He also shows you his sprinkle application technique, so be sure to check that out!
We like these cookies a bit underbaked, so they sink a bit when they cool. So sometimes we bake them a couple of minutes shy of the time in the recipe.
If you bake them the full 25 minutes, they should be baked through but maintain that soft texture. It’s really a matter of preference.
More Cookie Bar Recipes
For an extra festive spin, you can make funfetti sugar cookie bars. They are loaded with sprinkles in the cookie itself and in the funfetti buttercream.
For something different, check out the recipe for oatmeal cream pie bars. They taste a lot like Little Debbie’s but homemade in cookie bar form.
Or try making some thick gingerbread cookie bars. Topped with sprinkles, they are a really yummy treat with plenty of spice baked in.
Soft Sugar Cookie Bars
Equipment
Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Dough
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Buttercream
- ½ cup butter softened
- ½ cup shortening
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons milk or cream
Instructions
Sugar Cookie Bars
- Preheat oven to 350 F and line a 10×15" rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Beat together butter, and cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.1 cup unsalted butter, 8 ounces cream cheese, 1½ cups granulated sugar
- Add the egg and vanilla, beating until combined.1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a small bowl, stir together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.2½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir until just combined. Press into parchment lined baking sheet and bake for about 23-28 minutes or until the edges just start to take on a golden color.
- Cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- Beat butter until smooth.½ cup butter
- Add shortening and mix until creamy.½ cup shortening
- Mix in powdered sugar and vanilla.3 cups powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Add enough milk or cream to make it a nice spreadable consistency.2 Tablespoons milk
- Spread over cooled sugar cookie bars and top with sprinkles if desired.
Notes
Video
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I LOVE sugar cookies but I don't enjoy making them – they can be so fussy and time consuming. Love that you turned them into bars!!
It makes it so much quicker, no rolling and they all bake at once!
Thank you!
Yummy! I need to make these : )
I hope you do! Thank you!
Love that you baked these for such a great cause!
I made a pan of these this weekend and made them with your frosting! So delicious! I love that it wasn't so sweet, but a lovely chocolate. You are the frosting guru!
Thank you so much!! xoxox we really enjoyed your cookie recipe!
What a good thing to raise money for and in such a delicious way- My kids would love this recipe!
Cookies are even better when they are for a good cause!
Cookie bars with chocolate condensed milk frosting and sprinkles!! This is the cutest sweet treat! I love sugar cookies, and this is even better to have them in a bar form 🙂
Thank you!
Love the cause and love the bars!
Me too <3 Thank you!
I'm with you on the sugar cookie bars. They are so much faster. Thank you for supporting such a good cause and for sharing your recipe.
The perfect way to feed a crowd without rotating so many trays through the oven!
Yummy! You had me at Sweetened condensed milk buttercream! and chocolaty at that!! What a great idea for a great cause, some of the most difficult funerals I ever had to attend have been those of a child lost to cancer.
The frosting is a must make for sure! I have been lucky enough to not have to attend a funeral, but watching the fight has been hard enough. I can't imagine what it would be like fighting the fight, but have seen it close enough to know it is a cause I am very happy to help support!
Hi Carlee, what a fun way to help raise money for a very worthy cause. I can't begin to imagine what it must be lie to be the parent of a little cancer warrior, but I'm pretty sure they will appreciate every dollar raised… As much as I love chocolate I would have to say that my favourite cookies are the buttery, melt in the mouth kind.
Buttery cookies are definitely yummy too! I am very happy to be able to support such a worthy cause. Thanks, Debbie!