For a fun holiday treat, soft and chewy sugar cookie bars are cut into bite-sized squares, dipped in icing and decorated with sprinkles. These high altitude iced sugar cookie bars resemble little petit fours, but are easier to make.
You might also love these recipes for jam-filled sugar cookies, iced chai spice sugar cookies, and iced maple leaf sugar cookies.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Versatile for Every Holiday. Cut these into any shape you like, such as squares, circles, hearts, stars or diamonds. You can customize them for any holiday with a variety of sprinkles, and you can even add food coloring to the icing.
Soft for Days. The blanket of icing on the cut cookie bars keeps them soft and moist inside for days after baking.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter.
- Granulated Sugar + Powdered Sugar.
- Eggs.
- Vanilla Extract + Almond Extract.
- All Purpose Flour.
- Baking Powder + Salt.
- Meringue Powder. The meringue powder is the key ingredient in the icing, in order for it to dry and set correctly. Think of this icing as an easy royal icing, but instead of icing your cookies with a piping bag, you’re simply dipping them into the icing and letting it drip off.
Instructions
Cookie Bars
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a 9×13 baking pan with a piece of parchment/baking paper and snip the corners so the paper fits down into the pan. Alternatively, you can use aluminum foil, and spray the foil thoroughly with non-stick spray.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a bowl and hand-held electric mixer), beat the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the vanilla and almond extracts, and mix in the eggs, one at a time, just until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients and mix the dough on low, just until moistened. The dough will be very thick.
- Pile the dough into the prepared pan. Since the dough is so thick and sticky, it can be a little tricky to spread it out. The best way is to butter your hands or a spatula and just push the dough out to the edges of the pan as evenly as you can. I also recommend using a small offset icing spatula to smooth it out evenly.
- Bake the cookie bars on the center oven rack for about 20-22 minutes, just until the edges are set and every so slightly browned, but the center still looks a little underdone. Be careful not to over-bake these bars, or they will end up dry. They will continue to bake and set in the hot pan after you take them out of the oven. It’s normal for the center of the bars to settle and sink down a little as it cools.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack and cool completely before cutting and icing. I recommend baking these one day in advance, and letting them cool and set overnight before the next step.
Icing
- In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar and meringue powder.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter for several minutes, swirling the pan occasionally, until nutty golden brown solids form at the bottom of the pan. Immediately remove from the heat.
- Pour the hot browned butter into the powdered sugar mixture. Add the vanilla extract and the water, then whisk until smooth and drizzly.
Decorating
- Lift the cooled cookie bars out of the pan by the parchment paper and set the slab of bars on a cutting board. Cut into desired sizes/shapes. I cut mine into 10×6 rows, for 60 small bite-sized squares. You could also cut them into cookie sticks, stars or hearts.
- Use a fork to dip the cut bars into the icing, coating them on all sides. Tap the excess icing off, then set the iced bars onto a cooling rack set over a baking sheet to catch the drips. The icing will start to crust over after about 30 seconds, so add the sprinkles on top before it dries.
- Let the iced bars dry completely before storing in an airtight container.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Leftover sugar cookie bars should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or wrapped well and frozen for 3-6 months.
No, there’s no substitute for meringue powder in this recipe. Without it, the icing will not set and dry correctly. You can find meringue powder on the baking aisle of many grocery stores and craft/hobby stores.
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High Altitude Iced Sugar Cookie Bars
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
- 9×13 Baking Dish
Ingredients
Cookie Bars
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 â…“ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract, optional
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Icing
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp + 1 tsp meringue powder
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 5-6 tbsp water
Instructions
Cookie Bars
- Preheat the oven to 350, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a 9×13 baking pan with a piece of parchment/baking paper and snip the corners so the paper fits down into the pan. Alternatively, you can use aluminum foil, and spray the foil thoroughly with non-stick spray.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a bowl and hand-held electric mixer), beat the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the vanilla and almond extracts, and mix in the eggs, one at a time, just until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients and mix the dough on low, just until moistened. The dough will be very thick.
- Pile the dough into the prepared pan. Since the dough is so thick and sticky, it can be a little tricky to spread it out. The best way is to butter your hands or a spatula and just push the dough out to the edges of the pan as evenly as you can. I also recommend using a small offset icing spatula to smooth it out evenly.
- Bake the cookie bars on the center oven rack for about 20-22 minutes, just until the edges are set and every so slightly browned, but the center still looks a little underdone. Be careful not to over-bake these bars, or they will end up dry. They will continue to bake and set in the hot pan after you take them out of the oven. It's normal for the center of the bars to settle and sink down a little as it cools.Pro Tip: While the bars are hot from the oven, use a spatula to press the raised edges down, so that the bars are an even thickness all the way across. This way, you won't need to cut off the edges later.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack and cool completely before cutting and icing. I recommend baking these one day in advance, and letting them cool and set overnight before the next step.
Icing
- In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar and meringue powder.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter for several minutes, swirling the pan occasionally, until nutty golden brown solids form at the bottom of the pan. Immediately remove from the heat.
- Pour the hot browned butter into the powdered sugar mixture. Add the vanilla extract and the water, then whisk until smooth and drizzly.
Decorating
- Lift the cooled cookie bars out of the pan by the parchment paper and set the slab of bars on a cutting board. Cut into desired sizes/shapes. I cut mine into 10×6 rows, for 60 small bite-sized squares. You could also cut them into cookie sticks, stars or hearts.
- Use a fork to dip the cut bars into the icing, coating them on all sides. Tap the excess icing off, then set the iced bars onto a cooling rack set over a baking sheet to catch the drips. The icing will start to crust over after about 30 seconds, so add the sprinkles on top before it dries.
- Let the iced bars dry completely before storing in an airtight container.
Video
Notes
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/
The bars in the pics look so good, but what about the edges of the slab you bake? Do you cut them off?
No, I didn’t cut the edges off. If they’re slightly raised when they come out of the oven, I just press them down with a spatula while the bars are hot, so that they’re an even thickness all the way across.
Easy to make and came out perfectly. A great alternative to traditional sugar cookies. Made in Loveland, CO.