These soft and chewy sugar cookie bars are only 7 ingredients and are the perfect party dessert! Our family loves adding the tie dye frosting. Plus, we share one important tip you’ll want to follow that will make these frosted sugar cookie bars extra chewy!
I am so excited about these tie dye sugar cookie bars!
I worked on the recipe for an entire week, making sure the base of the cookie bar wasn’t overly fluffy but was also chewy enough – the result is delicious. These lofthouse sugar cookie bars are soft and chewy at the same time.
Ingredients
- unsalted butter: adds flavor and tender texture
- granulated sugar: adds sweetness and flavor
- eggs: binds the cookie bars together by providing structure
- almond extract: I believe almond extract is the secret ingredient to making classic tasting sugar cookies
- all purpose flour: flour is necessary to build structure in these cookie bars
- baking powder: helps to leaven and lift the dough
- salt: just a pinch to balance the sweetness
How to Make Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars
- Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in the eggs and extract, beat again. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients by hand.
- Press the dough into an even layer in the foil lined 9×13 inch pan.
- Bake for 18 minutes. Once the bars are done baking, immediately put the pan in the fridge to cool for 1 hour.
- Make the frosting, frost the bars, top with sprinkles, cut and serve.
How to Make Chewy Sugar Cookie Bars
The trick to making chewy sugar cookie bars is to use an additional egg AND to put the bars immediately in the fridge after you pull them out of the oven.
I know it’s not common to put something immediately in the fridge after you pull it out of the oven, but trust me, it helps to make these cookies chewier!
Total Time Required
- 10 minutes to prep the dough
- 18-20 minutes to bake the sugar cookie bars
- 1 hour to cool the bars
- 15 minutes to make and frost the bars
How to Make Tie Dye Frosting
The frosting for these sugar cookie bars turned out SO cool. It’s 100% optional, you could keep all the frosting the same color, or even just keep it white without adding any food coloring.
To make tri-color tie dye frosting, divide the frosting into 2 separate bowls. Add pink gel food coloring to one bowl and teal gel food coloring to the other – mix each frosting until it’s a uniform color.
Then, drop dollops of each color frosting onto the cookie bars and use a spatula to spread the frosting, mixing the colors together. Be sure to not over mix because you want to be able to see all 3 colors.
More color options
pink + teal = purple
red + yellow = orange
blue + yellow = green / teal
pink + yellow = orange / reddish
red + blue = dark purple
You’ll see in the video below that I made my own sprinkle medley. I bought various sprinkles and colors of sprinkles from Michaels (I used Wilton brand), mixed a little bit of each into a single bowl and then mixed them all together to get this bright sprinkle medley.
How to Freeze Sugar Cookie Bars
You can pre-bake and freeze these unfrosted sugar cookie bars.
- Allow the cookie bar slab (uncut) to cool completely.
- Wrap the entire slab well in plastic wrap. Then wrap in aluminum foil.
- Freeze for up to 3 months.
TO THAW: place the entire slab in the fridge overnight. Frost and serve.
How to Make Gluten Free Sugar Cookie Bars
I have made these sugar cookie bars multiple times with King Arthur’s Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour with great success. I use that brand of flour as a one for one substitute for regular all purpose flour.
Tips
- Properly measure the all purpose flour using the spoon and sweep method.
- Use room temperature butter for easier creaming of the butter and sugar.
- Combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until they are combined. Over mixing could lead to dry, dense cookie bars.
- Line your 9×13 inch pan with tinfoil so that you can easily remove the bars from the pan for easy slicing.
- Frost the bars then place them in the fridge. This will help the frosting stiffen up, making your bars look perfect once you cut them.
More Bars and Cookie Recipes!
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Sugar Cookie Bars
Ingredients
Cookie Bars
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, 2 sticks
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ tsp almond extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, 2 sticks
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- food coloring, I used Wilton gel food coloring Pink and Teal
- Sprinkle medley, I used various sprinkles from Wilton which I found at Michaels
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a 9×13 inch pan with foil or parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl combine the butter and sugar, beat using an electric mixer for 1-2 minutes, until fluffy. Add in the eggs and almond extract, beat together. In a small bowl, combine the all purpose flour, baking powder and salt and gently stir to combine. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing by HAND with a spatula, until it’s incorporated.
- Spray the foil lined pan with non-stick spray. Dump the batter into the pan and use your hands to spread the dough into an even, flat surface.
- Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Immediately put the pan in the fridge (I like to set my pan on top of a trivet in the fridge). Allow the bars to cool for 1 hour.
Frosting
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter using an electric mixer until fluffy, 1-2 minutes.
- Add in the vanilla extract. Begin to add the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing by hand first, then with the electric mixer. Continue adding powdered sugar until the frosting isn’t too wet and tastes good to you.
- Evenly divide the frosting into 2 bowls. Add pink gel food coloring to one and teal gel food coloring to the other. Stir with a spoon until each color is combined.
- Remove the cookie bars from the fridge and add dollops of each color of frosting to the top of the bars. Use a spatula to smooth and spread the frosting, but do not over mix the colors.
- Top the bars with sprinkles.
- TIP: For super easy cutting, place the bars in the fridge after you frosted them to set the frosting, about 30 minutes. Then take them out of the fridge and remove the bars from the pan by the foil. Slice into bars and serve.