Get ready to discover your new favorite holiday tradition! These Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars are the ultimate festive treat, delivering all the classic sugar cookie flavor you love without any of the fuss. Forget spending hours rolling out dough and using cookie cutters. With this simple recipe, you get a thick, soft, and perfectly chewy cookie base topped with a luscious, creamy buttercream frosting. They’re perfect for holiday parties, cookie exchanges, or just a cozy night in.
We’ve designed this recipe to be foolproof, ensuring you get tender, melt-in-your-mouth bars every single time. Decorate them with your favorite Christmas sprinkles for a truly joyful and crowd-pleasing dessert that looks as good as it tastes.
Why This is the Only Holiday Bar Recipe You Need
In the whirlwind of the holiday season, you need recipes that are both delicious and simple. These Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars are the perfect solution, and here’s why they stand out from the rest:
- Absolutely No Chilling or Rolling: This is the biggest timesaver! The dough is simply pressed into a pan and baked. It’s a game-changer for holiday baking.
- Perfectly Soft & Chewy Texture: We’ve perfected the ingredient ratios to create a bar that is wonderfully soft and chewy, staying moist for days.
- Simple, Everyday Ingredients: No need to hunt for special ingredients. This recipe uses pantry staples you likely already have on hand.
- Infinitely Customizable: From the frosting color to the sprinkles, you can easily customize these bars to fit any holiday theme. For a fun green alternative, check out the festive colors used in these Grinch Cookies.
- Crowd-Pleasing Favorite: These bars are a guaranteed hit with both kids and adults, making them the ideal dessert to bring to any gathering.
Key Ingredients for Perfect Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars
The magic of these bars comes from simple, high-quality ingredients working together. Here’s what you’ll need:
For the Cookie Bars
- All-Purpose Flour: Provides the main structure for the bars. Make sure to measure it correctly by spooning it into your measuring cup and leveling it off.
- Baking Powder: Gives the bars a slight lift, contributing to their soft, tender texture.
- Salt: A crucial ingredient that balances the sweetness and enhances all the other flavors.
- Unsalted Butter: Use softened, room temperature butter. It’s the key to a rich flavor and chewy texture.
- Granulated Sugar: Provides the classic sweetness and helps create that perfect cookie texture.
- Egg: One large egg, at room temperature, binds the dough together.
- Vanilla Extract: Use pure vanilla extract for the best, most authentic flavor.
For the Creamy Buttercream Frosting
- Unsalted Butter: Again, make sure it’s softened to room temperature for a smooth, creamy frosting.
- Powdered Sugar: This dissolves completely, creating a silky-smooth frosting without any graininess.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds a layer of warm, delicious flavor.
- Milk or Cream: Just a splash to get the frosting to the perfect spreading consistency.
- Christmas Sprinkles: The finishing touch! Use any festive sprinkles you like.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Follow these simple steps to create the most delicious Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars. We’ve broken it down to ensure success, even for beginner bakers.
Making the Sugar Cookie Dough
- Preheat and Prep: First, preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Line a 9×13 inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving some overhang on the sides to act as handles. This will make lifting the bars out later a breeze!
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Set this aside.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a large bowl, using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add Egg and Vanilla: Beat in the room temperature egg and pure vanilla extract until they are just combined. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is evenly mixed.
- Combine Wet and Dry: Gradually add the dry flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing on low speed until just combined. It’s very important not to overmix the dough, as this can lead to tough bars.
Baking the Bars
- Press Dough into Pan: Transfer the dough into your prepared 9×13 inch pan. Use your hands or a spatula to press the dough into an even layer across the bottom of the pan.
- Bake to Perfection: Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool Completely: Let the bars cool completely in the pan before you even think about frosting them. Frosting warm bars will result in a melted mess!
Whipping Up the Frosting
- Beat the Butter: In a large bowl, beat the softened butter with a mixer on medium speed until it’s creamy and smooth.
- Add Sugar and Vanilla: Gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing on low speed until it’s incorporated. Then, add the vanilla extract.
- Reach Perfect Consistency: Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat for 2-3 minutes until the frosting is light and fluffy. Add milk or cream, one teaspoon at a time, until you reach your desired spreading consistency.
Frosting and Decorating
- Frost the Bars: Once the bars are completely cool, spread the buttercream frosting evenly over the top.
- Add Sprinkles: Immediately cover with a generous amount of Christmas sprinkles.
- Chill and Cut: For the cleanest cuts, it helps to chill the frosted bars in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before slicing. Use the parchment paper handles to lift the entire slab out of the pan, place it on a cutting board, and slice into bars.
Pro Tips for Bakery-Quality Results
Want to make your Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars truly spectacular? Follow these expert tips.
- Room Temperature Ingredients are Key: Using room temperature butter and egg is non-negotiable. They emulsify better into the batter, creating a more uniform texture.
- Do Not Overmix: Once you add the flour, mix only until it’s just combined. Overmixing develops gluten, which will make your bars tough instead of soft and tender.
- Line the Pan: Using parchment paper with an overhang is the easiest way to remove the bars for clean cutting. No sticking, no mess.
- Cool Completely Before Frosting: I can’t stress this enough! Be patient. A warm base will melt your beautiful frosting.
- For Clean Slices: A brief chill in the fridge firms up the frosting and bars. Use a large, sharp knife and wipe it clean between each cut for perfectly neat squares.
More Holiday Desserts You’ll Love
If you’re in the holiday baking spirit, don’t stop here! For a classic cookie experience, try these amazing Christmas Sprinkle Cookies. If you’re looking for an elegant and impressive treat, these festive Peppermint Macarons are a must-try. And for a decadent, no-bake option that everyone will love, you can’t go wrong with this No-Bake Christmas Oreo Lasagna.
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! You can bake the bars and store them, unfrosted, in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days before frosting and serving. You can also freeze the unfrosted bars for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before frosting.
This recipe is optimized for a 9×13 inch pan. You can use an 8×8 or 9×9 inch pan for thicker bars, but you will need to increase the baking time by 5-10 minutes. Keep a close eye on them to prevent overbaking.
For the cleanest cuts, chill the frosted bars in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. This helps the frosting set. Use a large, sharp knife and wipe the blade clean with a damp paper towel between each cut.
Store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to a week. Storing them in the fridge will make them firmer, so you may want to let them sit out for a few minutes before serving.
A classic American buttercream is the best choice for its stability, creamy texture, and rich flavor that perfectly complements the sugar cookie base. You could also use a cream cheese frosting, but it will need to be refrigerated.
The two most common reasons for dry or tough bars are overmixing the dough after adding the flour, or overbaking. Mix the flour in only until it’s just combined, and pull the bars from the oven when the edges are just lightly golden brown. They will continue to set as they cool.
The Easiest Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars Recipe
Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars (The Easiest Holiday Treat!)
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the sides.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl, cream the softened butter and granulated sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until just combined.
- On low speed, gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Press the dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let the bars cool completely in the pan.
- In a large bowl, beat the softened butter until creamy.
- Gradually beat in the powdered sugar on low speed. Add the vanilla extract.
- Increase speed to medium-high and beat for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add milk, one teaspoon at a time, until you reach a spreadable consistency.
- Spread the frosting over the cooled cookie bars. Immediately top with Christmas sprinkles.
- For best results, chill for 30 minutes before lifting from the pan and slicing into 24 bars.
Notes
Do not overbake the bars; they will continue to set as they cool. This is the secret to keeping them soft and chewy.
Wipe your knife clean between cuts for perfectly neat, professional-looking bars.
Pin This Recipe For Later!
If you loved this simple and delicious recipe for Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars, be sure to save it for later! Pin it to your favorite holiday baking board on Pinterest so you can easily find it year after year. Your friends and family will thank you!
