What’s more fun and delicious than frosted high altitude sugar cookie bars scattered with rainbow sprinkles? These pretty Funfetti sugar cookie blondies are soft, moist and chewy, with the most decadent buttercream made with brown butter and cream cheese. If you’ve never made browned butter, don’t worry, it’s an easy process that adds the most wonderful depth and nutty flavor to the buttercream. Paired with cream cheese, it’s simply incredible. This is an easy sugar cookie bars recipe that you can customize for any special occasion or holiday!
Looking for more recipes like this? Don’t miss these hazelnut maple sugar cookie bars, brownie shortbread bars, and chocolate chip oatmeal cookie bars.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easier and Faster than Cake. If you love a frosted dessert but don’t want to fuss with frosting and assembling a layer cake, these frosted sugar cookie bars are the perfect dessert that will please everyone.
Soft for Days. These will stay soft, moist and chewy for days after baking, and they can even be frozen for later, too.
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
Sugar Cookie Bars
- Unsalted Butter. Adds richness, moisture and flavor to cookie bars.
- Granulated Sugar. Sweetness and moisture.
- Eggs. Add structure and richness.
- Vanilla + Almond Extracts. The combination of vanilla and almond extracts add the most wonderful flavor to frosted sugar cookie bars. The almond is subtle, but feel free to leave it out, if you prefer.
- All-Purpose Flour. Adds structure and thickens the cookie dough batter.
- Baking Powder. Leavens the cookie bars so they puff up as they bake.
- Coarse Kosher Salt. Balances the sweetness.
Frosting
- Unsalted Butter + Cream Cheese. Makes the frosting rich, flavorful and creamy.
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetness.
- Coarse Kosher Salt. Balances the sugar.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Gel Food Coloring. Food coloring is optional, but how pretty is that subtle blush color?
- Sprinkles. These frosted sugar cookie bars are so fun with a scattering of rainbow sprinkles! Feel free to use a mix for a variety of sizes and colors.
Instructions
Sugar Cookie Bars
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 9×13 baking sheet 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 on low, 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.
- Bake the cookie bars on the center oven rack for about 20-22 minutes, just until the edges are set and ever 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 frosting.
Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- To make the browned butter, 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 and scrape the browned butter into a bowl. Let cool completely at room temperature, until the butter returns to a solid.
- Add the softened cream cheese to the butter, and beat with an electric mixer for 1 minute until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar, salt, vanilla and food coloring. Beat for several minutes until very light and fluffy.
- Lift the cooled bars out of the pan by the paper, peel the paper off, and set the bars on a cutting board.
- Spread the frosting over the bars, top with sprinkles, and cut into squares.
Recipe Variations
- What I love about this recipe is that with a few drops of food coloring in the frosting and some colorful sprinkles, you can customize these cookie bars for any birthday party, season, holiday or special occasion, from Valentine’s Day, Easter and 4th of July to Halloween and Christmas.
- In the next photo, I made these for St Patrick’s Day, with green gel food coloring in the frosting (a few drops each of “mint green” and “electric green”), and confetti sprinkles and Lucky Charms marshmallows to decorate.
- You can also frost the cookie bars with ANY flavor of buttercream that you love. See my post on Perfect American Buttercream for recipes and flavor ideas.
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
Yes, you can make gluten free sugar cookie bars by substituting your favorite measure-for-measure gluten free flour.
Browning butter toasts the milk solids in the butter for a rich, nutty flavor that adds so much depth to baked goods and buttercreams.
You can certainly make just half the batter, and bake it in an 8×8 pan. The baking time will be about the same, or a minute or two less.
If you’re going to eat the cookie bars right away, store them in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Or you can wrap them well and freeze the cookie bars (without the frosting) for 3-6 months.
I used soft pink gel food coloring. Just a small drop or two will give the buttercream a lovely, subtle blush color. For the green frosted cookie bars, I used “mint green” and “electric green”. I usually use Americolor gel food coloring.
I used an assortment of sprinkles, including pastel sequin confetti sprinkles or quins, rainbow nonpareils, and various sizes of white and pink sugar pearls.
While I love the combination of the vanilla and almond extracts, you can certainly use any flavor you like. Orange or lemon would be delicious. These bars would also be fantastic paired with a flavored buttercream, such as strawberry, raspberry, orange or lemon. I also love them with chocolate buttercream and maple buttercream.
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High Altitude Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
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
- Electric Mixer (Stand or Hand-Held)
Ingredients
Cookie Bars
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 ⅓ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract, optional
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter, browned and cooled to a room temperature solid
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 drops soft pink gel food coloring, optional
- 2 tbsp rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
Cookie Bars
- Preheat the oven to 350F.Line a 9×13 baking sheet 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.
- 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 frosting.
Frosting
- To make the browned butter, 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 and scrape the browned butter into a bowl. Let cool completely at room temperature, until the butter returns to a solid.
- Add the softened cream cheese to the butter, and beat with an electric mixer for 1 minute until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar, salt, vanilla and food coloring. Beat for several minutes until very light and fluffy.
- Lift the cooled bars out of the pan by the paper, peel the paper off, and set the bars on a cutting board.
- Spread the frosting over the bars, top with sprinkles, and cut into squares.
Those look fabulous!
Is the recipe the same if not at high altitude?
It should work at any altitude!
These are my go to baked goods to bring to parties! The recipe is super easy and the bars come out great every time.
These are amazing! The directions were very helpful for someone that’s never made cookie bars before. My whole family loved these and I think it’s an easy recipe. Thank you for sharing it!
Wow, these are delicious! My first time making a brown butter frosting- I may never go back. I made the half batch in an 8×8 and it worked great. My one suggestion to anyone baking these would be to brown the butter when you set the other butter and eggs out for room temperature. I did it later and had to wait for it to solidify.
I’m so glad you loved them! Sometimes I speed up the process of cooling the brown butter by putting it in the fridge and stirring it every 5-10 minutes until it’s solid but spreadable.
Heather strikes again! What a great recipe! Seriously, follow the directions, and they will turn out perfect. My grandsons enjoyed decorating them with lucky charms for St. Patrick’s Day. I think one of the charms of this recipe is how versatile it is. I am going to use it as a base for a fresh fruit topped cookie treat for Easter.
These were very yummy!