These easy sugar cookie bars are just as delicious as regular sugar cookies with hardly any work! Super soft, super yummy!

For me and my chocolate loving soul, sugar cookies are a surprisingly huge favorite. Like, they might be my favorite cookie ever. There is something totally dangerous and irresistible about them.

Easy sugar cookie bar square on white parchment.

Left alone with a sugar cookie in any form will always, always prove to be my undoing. 

It’s no surprise that I’ve devised several ways over the years to get a sugar cookie fix without having to roll and cut out the dough. I mean, I’ll always love a good, classic sugar cookie recipe, but when time (and sanity) are at risk, there are definitely easier and just as yummy ways to get sugar cookies into your life. 

Pan of sugar cookie bars with pink frosting and sprinkles.

Here are a few of my go-to easy sugar cookie recipes that are super fast and super delicious (and don’t require cookie cutters): 

And then, of course, these easy sugar cookie bars. They might be my favorite of them all. 

The batter for these sugar cookie bars is a direct knockoff from one of my favorite classic sugar cookie recipes. The dough is next-level delicious (in the cookies and in these bars). 

And it’s ridiculously easy. A one-bowl wonder.

mixing batter for sugar cookie bars
Mixing cookie batter for sugar cookie bars in a glass bowl.

This is important

The key to a really soft and tender sugar cookie bar is to only mix the dough until the flour is just combined. Over mixing means the sugar cookie bars may not be quite as soft and tender. 

Press the dough into a greased or parchment-lined (and greased) metal pan. If using a glass or ceramic pan, you might want to decrease the oven temperature by 25 degrees.

Dough for easy sugar cookie bars being piled in metal pan.
Uncooked dough pressed into metal pan for easy sugar cookie bars.

Super Quick Baking Time

These sugar cookie bars have a super fast baking time. In my oven, ten minutes max. 

You can tell from the picture below that I over baked them just slightly (blaming the children who all of a sudden needed help on their math homework, and in the end, I was no help to them at all #commoncoremathprobs).

You really don’t want hardly any color around the edges.

They should just be soft baked. Not ooey gooey and doughy, but just barely set. If your oven tends to bake hot and fast, decrease the oven temperature by 25 degrees.

Pan of baked sugar cookie bar dough.

Glorious frosting

While the bars cool, whip up the frosting. It’s even easier than the sugar cookie dough. 

  • butter
  • powdered sugar
  • vanilla
  • milk or cream (go for the cream)

If your butter is properly softened and your powdered sugar not overly clumpy, you can live life on the edge like I do and just throw everything into a bowl and go to town with the mixer. 

It’ll come together and the longer you whip, the more gloriously fluffy it will be. Also, life lesson #436: sprinkles hide a lot of flaws. 

Pink frosting on beaters over a bowl of more frosting.
A pan of sugar cookie dough getting frosted with pink frosting.
Pan of frosted sugar cookie bars with colorful sprinkles on top.

Sprinklemania

Sprinkle the guts out of the frosted sugar cookie bars. 

And then make an exit plan quickly (for you or the bars). Because once you cut into them, these easy sugar cookie bars are not easy to resist. At all.

Pan of frosting-covered sugar cookie bars with one bar cut out in the corner.

The loveable thing about these sugar cookie bars is that they are appropriate for all seasons and all holidays. 

Change up the color of frosting. Use different shapes of sprinkles (holy moly, sprinkle options aren’t what they used to be – so many crazy choices these days!). 

Heck, you could even color the dough a funky shade to match the holiday. 

The options are endless. 

A blue spatula lifting a pink frosting and sprinkle-covered sugar cookie bar out of a metal pan.

Next time you don’t know what to bake for your office party or neighborhood potluck or take-in meal, I hope these easy sugar cookie bars come to mind. 

They have saved me on so many occasions.

Including the two times in the last year or so I forgot I was on sugar cookie duty for my kids’ classroom parties and literally, blessedly remembered with only about 45 minutes to spare. (Ahem, please note I’m not even mentioning the other time I forgot completely.)

I had these sugar cookie bars made, frosted, and to the school on time. With only a little bit of frosting in my hair (and a whole lot of gratitude for my freezer which helped cool the baked sugar cookie bars fast). 

Sugar cookie bars for the win.

Two sugar cookie bars stacked on top of each other with bite taken out of the top bar.

One Year Ago: Quick and Easy Egg Roll Skillet Meal
Two Years Ago: One-Bowl Fudgy Brownie Cookies
Three Years Ago: Double Chocolate Mousse Torte
Four Years Ago: Truffle Brownies {With M&M’s…or Not}
Five Years Ago: Beef and Sweet Potato Stew with Corn and Green Chiles {Slow Cooker}
Six Years Ago: Butternut Squash and Coconut Curry Soup with Shrimp and Rice Noodles
Seven Years Ago: Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burritos
Eight Years Ago: Broccoli Beef

easy sugar cookie bar square on white parchment

Sugar Cookie Bars

Yield: 24 Bars
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 13 minutes
Total Time: 38 minutes
4.61 stars (323 ratings)
Print Recipe Rate Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients

Bars:

  • ¾ cup (170 g) salted butter, softened to cool room temperature
  • ¾ cup (159 g) granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup (29 g) powdered sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ tablespoon fresh lemon zest, (optional; but delicious)
  • 2 ¼ cups (320 g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Frosting:

  • 6 tablespoons salted butter, softened
  • 2 ½ cups (285 g) powdered sugar
  • 3 tablespoons milk or cream
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Sprinkles, optional

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  • For the bars, in a large bowl, cream together the butter, granulated sugar and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the lemon zest (optional), flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until combined.
  • Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking pan with cooking spray or line with parchment paper and grease. Press the sugar cookie dough into an even layer in the bottom of the pan.
  • Bake for 10-13 minutes. Don’t overbake! The bars should have hardly any color around the edges and barely be set in the middle. Let the bars cool completely before frosting.
  • For the frosting, cream together the butter and powdered sugar until smooth (if the mixture has trouble coming together, add a drop or two of milk). Add in the vanilla, milk or cream, and food coloring (if using), and mix until the frosting is light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes.
  • Spread the frosting over the cooled bars and top with sprinkles.
Serving: 1 Bar, Calories: 203kcal, Carbohydrates: 29g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 9g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Cholesterol: 37mg, Sodium: 148mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 20g

Recommended Products

9X13-inch Metal Baking Pan
Small Offset Spatula
Mixing Bowl
Electric Hand Mixer
Follow @MelsKitchenCafe on Instagram and show me the recipes you are making from my blog using the hashtag #melskitchencafe. I love seeing all the goodness you are whipping up in your kitchens!

Recipe Source: Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
Recipe originally posted April 2013; updated February 2020 with new photos, recipe notes, etc. 

cut up frosted and sprinkled sugar cookie bars on a white platter

Other Recipes Like This:

The Best Swig Sugar Cookies {Copycat Recipe}

Lemon Swig Sugar Cookies with Divine Lemon Frosting {No Rolling or Cutting Out!}

Easy Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies {No Rolling or Cutting Out!}

Sugar Cookies {My Favorite Recipe!}