One pan sugar cookie bars are a game-changer! Leave the rolling pin and cookie cutters in the drawer and turn your dough into this bar-cookie dream.
The draw of a soft, frosted sugar cookie is strong. But the thought of rolling out dough, cutting it, gathering the scraps and doing it again–then baking tray after tray, usually doesn't sound appealing.
It's a labor of love for sure!
Well I promise I love you just the same, even when I make one pan sugar cookie bars. Same delicious ingredients, same great taste and texture, but a mere fraction of my time and energy. I love that!!
Keep reading to find out how easy it is to make One Pan Sugar Cookie Bars! You'll have so much extra time, you can get creative with the frosting.
It really is just as simple as pulling out your butter, sugar and eggs. Mixing them together. And pressing the dough into a pan. Everything you dreamed.
I'll admit, I had so much extra time on my hands I opted to play around with my frosting. It only took a minute to mix some food coloring into a few bowls of extra frosting and pipe lines on the top. Lines! I'm not asking for anything fancy here.
Piping lines of colorful frosting is a cinch. Or you can take it easy and use colorful sprinkles to decorate these sugar cookie bars.
I used plain tips for the lines, number 3 for the tiny lines, number 5 for the chubby ones – the two flat lines were made with the plain side of basket weave tip number 47 and ribbon tip number 44 for the thinner stripe.
Can't you just see these striking designs in every color? For every holiday or occasion? I do get carried away. Here are just a few of the plaid designs I played around with.
What I will tell you about the technique of a bar cookie, is this: It's very important (only to make your life easier) to line the bottom of the sheet pan with parchment. Cut it so it fits just inside the bottom of the pan and lays flat. Then allow the ends to hang over the pan a bit. This will allow you to remove the sugar cookie bars in one piece to frost and cut easily outside of the pan.
I also just love my quarter sheet pans! They are genius for these bar cookies because they aren't very deep. Of course a 9-by-13-inch pan is the exact same size, and works well. It's just deeper.
This 9-by-13 pan has straight sides and nice sharp corners. It's great for cookies and brownies because you get perfect squares even from the end pieces!
More Cookie Bars:
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📖 Full Recipe
One Pan Sugar Cookie Bars | Tara Teaspoon
Ingredients
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter (softened)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg white
- 2 tablespoon sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Vanilla Frosting (recipe below)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Line a 9-by-13-inch pan with a strip of parchment, allowing edges to hang over opposite sides. In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
- In another bowl beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in egg, egg white, sour cream and vanilla and mix until blended. Add flour mixture and stir until just combined.
- With greased hands, gently press dough into pan. Bake until the edges are lightly golden, 17 to 19 min. Cool completely, then frost and decorate. Use the parchment overhang to lift from pan; slice and serve.
Vanilla Frosting-- Beat together 6 tablespoon softened, unsalted butter, 2½ cups confectioners' sugar and 3 to 4 tablespoon milk until fluffy. Stir in ½ teaspoon vanilla extract and ⅛ teaspoon salt. Tint with food coloring.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Tara Teaspoon
I'm Tara, a recipe developer and food stylist with nearly 30 years in food publishing, including the test kitchens of Martha Stewart and Ladies' Home Journal. My recipes and styling have appeared in magazines, cookbooks, television and advertising, and I'm the author of two cookbooks, Delicious Gatherings and Live Life Deliciously. Every recipe here is tested and reliable. Have a question? Leave a comment and I'll answer it, or get new recipes by email.
Recipe Tara Teaspoon. Photography William Brinson. Props Penelope Bouklas. Originally published in LHJ 03/14.
Jeanne Haddad says
I made these and they were very dry. Maybe I did something wrong. I might’ve baked them a couple minutes more because they didn’t seem like the edges were very golden brown. That could’ve dried them out I guess. if that’s the case, the one star is my fault ha ha!
Tara Teaspoon says
Hi Jeanne, yes overcooking these sugar cookie bars will definitely dry them out. I encourage you to try them again and take them out earlier! They are really delicious. Also make sure when you measure your flour you lightly spoon the flour into your cups instead of scooping so the cup of flour is nice and light, rather than heavy and packed. That will help too. In the future, the star rating really affects my business, and I don't take the ratings lightly! I test and retest my recipes so they work in any kitchen, and I appreciate feedback. If you end up making them again with success, please leave 5 stars! Thanks!
Jeanne Haddad says
I'm sorry, just seeing your answer to my question! I will try them again! And since Christmas cookie baking is only a month away, it will probably be sooner than later! I will check back with better results, I hope! Thank you!
Rabya says
Hi, this looks great. Just curious that how will the baked product be as smooth as it is right now, or did you take it out and cut the upper layer. Thanks for a great looking recipe 🙂
Tara Teaspoon says
Hi Rabya,
Do you mean the cookie bar itself? When you press the dough into the pan you can smooth it as much as you like. To get it extra smooth you can lay a piece of parchment paper over the top and rub it with your hand or the bottom of a measuring cup. Then peel the parchment paper off the top before you bake it.
That should help a lot. Tara
Brittany Smart says
So much easier than cutting out all the cookies, but still the yummy goodness! Great designs too
Mary Bench says
You are so creative!