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Sugar Cookie Bars

by Jamie
When you hear the words “Sugar Cookies” do you get a little overwhelmed? Do you feel a little whoozie thinking of an all day project in the kitchen?
You know how a sugar cookie project goes. You can see it in your minds eye…. flour and dough flying everywhere with candy sprinkles and frosting stuck from here to Timbuktu. If you have the patience of a mighty she-ra and want to participate in that kind of activity (I have to admit, I do love a good sugar cookie project! Twice a year does me up just fine) you can click here to find my fabulous sugar cookie recipe. If you are in the mood to save your patience for filling Easter eggs, and shopping for cute Easter dresses then I have the recipe for you ladies and gents! These Sugar Cookie Bars will have you whistling Dixie in no time. Your kids will love them just as much as the cut out kind…and you will have your sanity intact and ready to take on the world. That is something to be grateful for.

Sugar Cookie Bars

Total Time: 40 minutes

Yield: 60 Bars (depending on how large or small they are cut)

Ingredients

Cookies: 
1 1/2 C sugar
1 C butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/2 t almond extract
1 t vanilla
1/2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
2 1/2 C flour
Frosting:
1/2 C butter softened
4 oz cream cheese, softened
3 1/2 C powdered sugar
3-5 T milk
1 t vanilla
food coloring

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer beat the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and egg until nice and frothy. About 4 minutes.
2. Add the vanilla and almond extract and beat for 1 minute more.
3. In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Mix them around so that all ingredients are well incorporated.
4. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat for about 2 minutes.
5. Press the dough into a large jelly roll (cookie sheet) pan.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
7. Let the pan cool completely.
8. Time to make the frosting! In a medium sized bowl (or your stand mixer) combine the butter and cream cheese. Beat for about 2 minutes.
9. Add the powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and food coloring. Mix for 1-2 minutes or until smooth.
10. Frost your pan of cookies. Cut the cookies into bars and serve!
https://jamiecooksitup.net/2010/03/sugar-cookie-bars/

 

 As a fun decorative option, you could pipe a bit of white frosting onto the bars. Just take about 1/4 of the frosting out of the mixer before you add the food coloring. Put the white frosting into to sandwich sized zip loc bag. Carefully snip the tip and pipe some fun decorations onto the bars.

Leave a Comment

43 comments

rachel June 1, 2010 - 6:49 pm

I made these for a Memorial Day picnic and they were a BIG hit. They were easy to make, looked super cute and most importantly…tasted AWESOME! Thanks for the recipe!

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ificould June 14, 2010 - 7:55 am

Love that last picture! Alli brought these to a neighborhood party last week and I fell in love! I posted a link: http://ificould-ificould.blogspot.com/2010/06/sugar-cookie-bars.html

Thanks!

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Allison August 12, 2010 - 2:31 pm

I just found your site today and I love it! This recipe looks so good. I have a great sugar cookie recipe, but like you said, it is a lot of work. Can I omit the almond extract? It's not my favorite taste. 🙂

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Jamie Cooks It Up! August 12, 2010 - 3:01 pm

Allison,
I would think you could omit the almond extract, and replace it with vanilla. Good luck. Let me know how they turn out!
~Jamie

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Allison August 13, 2010 - 4:55 pm

Hey Jamie, I'm in the process of making these bars and I'm wondering if I did something wrong. The dough isn't really dough-ish. It's more like cake batter. Is that how it is supposed to be? Is it really only 2 1/2 cups of flour? My dough is more like batter. It's really hard to get onto the pan. Is that normal? Help 🙂

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Ibrahim February 7, 2014 - 11:19 pm

Oj bara tve5 e5r, de5 har du hunnit le4ra dej en himla massa pe5 den tiden! Kf6pte du en massa gerejr de5 & bf6rjade med te5rtdekorering direkt? 🙂 Har du ge5tt ne5gon kurs? finns se5 me5nga som verkar bra i sthlm men dyra 😉 Jag har bara he5llit pe5 och bakat sen jag startade bloggen i januari, men jag ska f6va & f6va ne4r tid finns. Nu sen skolan bf6rjar har jag mest bara bakat de4r och sen vid ledig tid orkar jag inte gf6ra ne5 komplicerat tre5kigt nog.. men snart e4r ju skolan slut & efter det he4r lovet e4r det ju inte le5ngt till jul heller & jag e4lskar julen!! :)Jag ff6rte5r helt och he5llet din flortisdrf6m ockse5! Jag har sje4lv kollat oliak floristutbildningar innan jag sf6kte till konditor! Vore ju underbart att fe5 vara kreativ pe5 jobbet 🙂 Nej jag har inte hf6rt ne5got fre5n Frasse e4n, han sa ne5got om att skolan skulle ringa runt om praktiplatser v45. Snacka om seg skola, alla bra platser e4r ju bortlovade ff6r le4nge sen!Hur ska du gf6ra om du inte fe5r vara de4r? eller om du fe5r vara halva tiden har du ne5gon ide9 om var du vill sf6ka de5? Tycker det e4r sve5rt med praktiken jag ke4nner som inte till ne5 ste4llen i sthlm!Kram

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Jamie Cooks It Up! August 13, 2010 - 8:59 pm

Allison,
Hey I just got you comment, and see that you left it several hours ago. You are most likely finished with your project! The should be somewhere between cake batter and cookie dough. I usually spray the back of a wooden spoon with cooking spray and press the dough all over the pan with it. I hope this helps! Let me know how it turned out.
Thanks,
~Jamie

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Allison August 23, 2010 - 1:08 am

Hi Jamie,

So I made the first batch and it was good but really dense. I made another batch tonight and it was way different. Much more like cookie dough (what I expected it to be like) than the first. And much better! I think I missed one cup of flour in the first batch! Sheesh. Thanks for your recipe, I love it!

Allison

PS I used neufchatel cheese instead of cream cheese in the second batch and it was just as good.

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mzchristyh September 20, 2010 - 1:50 am

I made these tonight and they are delicious! My frosting turned out a weird color but I don't care, they were great! (I mixed some blue & red trying to make purple, & it was more a weird mauve).

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Rhondi September 25, 2010 - 1:40 am

Silly question…do these need to be refrigerated afterwards since there's cream cheese in the frosting? I want to make some for my daughter's teachers. Thanks!

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Jamie Cooks It Up! September 25, 2010 - 3:09 pm

Rhondi,
Your daughter's teachers will love them! This is a great recipe…never heard of a person who didn't love it. I haven't ever put mine in the fridge. You could just to be safe, but my guess is you'll be alright with them on the counter overnight. Just be sure to cover them with plastic wrap. Have a good day!
~Jamie

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Jenn March 4, 2011 - 2:58 pm

Oh My Goodness! I might have to make these this weekend!

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Iris February 7, 2014 - 9:46 pm

I wish you were in my neck of the woods so I could have you make my 40th birthday cake!! p.s. my faiorvte of the ones you’ve profiled is the beach cake! love the sand, love the starfish, love you!

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Becky Baugh March 5, 2011 - 2:56 pm

This is my first time to your site but I am going to save it as a favorite!!

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Lisa March 6, 2011 - 7:24 am

Made these today for our game night and everyone loved them. They were so easy that I may never make the regular roll out sugar cookies again.

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Jeremy and Chari Gallup August 8, 2011 - 8:46 pm

Does the C stand for cup or cube for the butter in both the dough and frosting?

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Jamie Cooks It Up! August 10, 2011 - 3:02 am

Hey there Jeremy and Chari,
The C stands for Cup. Good luck! Hope you enjoy the bars.
~Jamie

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Judy April 17, 2012 - 6:18 pm

mine turned out so raw. I followed exactly and just took them out at 20 min. thinking they would keep cooking, but they did not. The cookie sheet was the big silver one. I'm making them for a relief society function and I'm scared. The colors were amazing. Any hints.

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Jamie Cooks It Up! April 17, 2012 - 8:34 pm

Judy,
Every oven cooks a bit differently. A good way to check if they are done is to poke a toothpick into the center. If it comes out clean then they are done. Hope they turned out well enough to take to your RS function!
~Jamie

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Judy April 19, 2012 - 6:22 pm

They loved these cookies, I tried your suggestion and got out my oven thermometer and made sure it was at 350 I then added 6 min. They turned out a little brown on top but were still very soft. I wouldn't be afraid to add another min. Thank you so much they are awesome.

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Anonymous May 21, 2012 - 6:19 pm

I made these for a graduation party this weekend. I love almnd extract so used that instead of vanilla. OMG!!!!They were delicious!!! Thank you so much for this recipe. I love sugar cookies but don't make them because of the work involved. I can no longer say that. Thank you so much!!!

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Panayiota November 26, 2012 - 12:44 pm

Hi, I would like to make these as party favours for my sons birthday will they be ok to put in little plastic wraps to give out or will the frosting stick to the bag? Thanks!
Im not too keen on cream cheese frosting but everyone seems to love it!! 🙂

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Jamie November 27, 2012 - 6:55 am

Hi Panayiota,
The frosting is a bit sticky, also the cookie bar itself is very soft and might have a hard time holding its shape in a plastic bag (or keeping a lolipop stick in its center). However, if you put them on a small paper plate and wrapped it in plastic wrap, or better yet wrapped the plate up in celephane with some cool ribbin around it…that would work. 🙂 Good luck! Hope you have a great party. 🙂
~Jamie

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Panayiota November 26, 2012 - 12:54 pm

Also can i cook them with lollipop sticks in them?
Thanks 🙂

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Stacy February 5, 2013 - 9:50 am

When you say jelly roll pan, what size does your pan measure? It seemed like too little of dough to fit on my normal cookie sheet so I did my smaller 12x8ish pan and they raised more than I expected.

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Janie March 19, 2013 - 5:14 pm

Do I need to grease the pan for these. I want to try for my Easter dinner. I love your recipes.

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Jamie March 20, 2013 - 6:29 am

Janie,
It works best if you spray the pan with cooking spray before you place the dough on it. Good luck! Hope you enjoy these bars.
~Jamie

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Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie Bars | Real Mom Kitchen March 20, 2013 - 6:15 am

[…] from Jamie Cooks It Up.  Thanks Jamie for sharing! Love […]

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Robin B. March 20, 2013 - 7:49 am

I just made these and they are delicious! I used parchment in my cookie sheet and that worked really well. They are moist and the frosting is fabulous. Thanks!

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Indyclub February 8, 2014 - 6:15 am

OTHi! Congratulations for your blog! I’m Andrea, an Italian guy who created and maeangd a Food&Drinks blog.What do you think about a link exchange? :)Sorry for my bad English! 😉

Reply
Ginger March 31, 2013 - 8:09 pm

Jamie,
My daughter is getting married this summer and I am looking for things to make ahead and serve later in the evening during the dance festivities. It is an outdoor wedding. I thought these sugar cookie bars would be a nice option and could be frosted in the wedding colors. My question is: “can these be made and decorated ahead and then frozen in single layers?”

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Jamie April 1, 2013 - 6:49 am

Hi Ginger,
I havent ever tried to freeze this paticular recipe, however my thoughts are that it would work out great. Generally speaking sugar cookies freeze quite nicely. I would maybe give it a trial run before the big day. Good luck, and congratulations to you and your daughter. 🙂
~Jamie

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Sallie April 9, 2013 - 4:57 pm

Died and gone to cookie heaven! YUMMY! I was in a huge hurry (thus the need for bar cookies). Only had 8 oz. cream cheese so used 4 oz. and 4 oz. sour cream. Got everything mixed together, thought “oh no, say it isn’t so!” I forgot the sugar. Had to add it and by the time it was mixed it had developed so much gluten that I thought I should add yeast & water and make rolls (haha), I even had a hard time getting it to flatten out in the pan, sheesh. Threw it in the oven knowing that I would have to serve these cookies with apologies. I did have to cook then a little longer. I didn’t even dare taste them when they came out of the oven & I didn’t have time. Made the frosting (add a pinch of salt and the frosting tastes better (thanks Mom). Slapped on the frosting. SURPRISE! They are just the best.

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DeAnza December 18, 2013 - 10:37 am

What size pan did you use?

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Shelley Kelley January 8, 2014 - 9:15 pm

I, like many other bakers, do not get a thrill out of rolling dough and cutting out 12 to 15 doz sugar cookies even though I have a super great recipe. Your cookie bars fit the bill as far as making my task easier. My rolling sugar cookie dough days are going to be very limited after finding your recipe! Thank you!

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Michelle June 24, 2014 - 7:21 am

What size jelly roll pan did you use? I can’t wait to try this recipe for my family!

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Susan B March 21, 2015 - 3:37 pm

These are wonderful! I made them in a 9×13 inch pan and they were about an inch thick. Taste wonderful even unfrosted. My hubby wants me to try mixing a little lemon into the frosting. The next time I’ll try them on a bigger pan or cookie sheet so they’re a little thinner.

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Jamie March 23, 2015 - 7:18 am

Susan,
So happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe. Thanks for letting me know. 🙂
All the best,
~Jamie

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Missy April 18, 2015 - 12:07 pm

What size jelly roll pan? I don’t want them to be too thick or they may not cook in the middle of the pan. Thanks!

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Jamie April 21, 2015 - 7:34 am

Hi Missy,
Thanks for your question. My pan is 17 1/2 x 12 1/2.
Best of luck!
~Jamie

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Michelle February 22, 2018 - 10:41 pm

I am making these with some students at my daughters school. I have to make 8timea the recipe, should it be ok to just add it all together or do I need to add any more of one ingredient or minus any of the ingredients?

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Jamie March 2, 2018 - 6:33 am

Michelle,
Thanks for your question. This recipe makes an entire sheet pan of cookies. If you times the recipe by 8, I’m afraid your mixing bowl won’t be able to accommodate all of the ingredients and you may have a big mess on your hands. I would suggest doubling or tripling the batch and then repeating that as needed. Hope they turn out well! So nice of you to be willing to make so many! I bet your daughters school will love them.
Best of luck,
~Jamie

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Kelsika December 16, 2020 - 8:13 am

I love the flavor of this recipe, but I’m having trouble with it at high altitude. The edges end up perfectly cooked, but the center is raw. If I cook it long enough to get the center cooked, the edges are burned. I know it’s often recommended to add some extra flour and sometimes change the baking temp/time, but I’m not sure how far to adjust it, and the ingredients start to get expensive with multiple attempts. Any advice?

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