Funfetti Sugar Cookie Bars
Colorful, fun, and festive, these super-soft frosted Funfetti Sugar Cookie Bars are perfect for any celebration! Just like your favorite sugar cookie, but baked in easy bar form with a thick layer of buttercream frosting and filled with sprinkles!
Happy 2018! A brand new start to a brand new year. I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year’s Eve/Day and is ready to kick things off with a bang!
Now, look. I know most people jump in with New Year’s resolutions to eat better. Buuuut… we do things a little differently around here. We kick off a new year with SPRINKLES – and lots of them.
Every year, I make the most sprinkly sprinkled dessert possible for our New Year’s Eve party. There’s just something about welcoming a new year with bright and festive sprinkles. And then that sprinkly recipe is the first recipe I share on Bunsen Burner Bakery in the new year.
This year, I decided to convert my favorite rolled sugar cookie recipe into cookie bars. I love the rolled version so much because of the addition of cream cheese, which keeps them nice and soft. These sprinkle sugar cookie bars are nice and soft, too (in fact, I add a little more cream cheese!).
One of my friends at our holiday party declared these frosted sugar cookie bars his favorite thing I’ve ever baked, and that’s pretty high praise from someone who constantly talks about how much he loves my chocolate chip pumpkin bread.
And I just might agree with him… these were really, really good. All our company just cleared out of our house this morning. I’m not sure if I’m more sad that our friends left… or that there are only two cookie bars left to get me through the rest of the week.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Butter: The butter should be at cool room temperature, around 65°F. I always bake with unsalted butter.
- Cream Cheese: Make sure the cream cheese is also at room temperature.
- Sugar
- Egg: To keep these frosted sugar cookies egg-free, a flax egg can be used instead.
- Vanilla Extract
- Almond Extract: The almond extract is essential for the classic funfetti flavor, but you can replace the almond extract with additional vanilla extract to accommodate allergies.
- Flour: Use all-purpose flour or a 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour blend with xanthan gum to keep these sugar cookie bars gluten-free.
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Sprinkles
- Confectioners’ Sugar
- Heavy Cream: Heavy cream makes the frosting extra fluffy and thick, but whole milk can be used if necessary.
How to Make Easy Sugar Cookie Bars
- Cream the Butter and Sugar: In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add in the sugar and continue to mix until light and fluffy.
- Add Eggs and Vanilla: Add in the egg, followed by the vanilla and almond extracts. Mix until well combined.
- Combining Dry Ingredients: Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt, beating until just combined. Add the sprinkles and mix until dispersed throughout the batter.
- Bake the Funfetti Cookie Bars: Spread the dough into a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until the top is puffy and the bars are cooked through. Cool completely.
- Make the Frosting: Beat together the butter and confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Add in the heavy cream, vanilla and almond extracts, and salt. Spread the frosting over the cooled cookie bars, then cover with additional sprinkles.
Cream Cheese for Soft Cookie Bars
The key to keeping these cookie bars soft (and soft for days!) is all in the cream cheese. Cream cheese is a big inhibitor of gluten development, resulting in soft and tender frosted sugar cookie bars. How does this work? It’s time for my favorite subject – kitchen chemistry!
Kitchen Chemistry
cheese coats the flour participles, forming a barrier that inhibits gluten development, resulting a softer and more tender texture. Furthermore, the lactic acid in the cream cheese is acidic. This acidity can weaken gluten structure, further promoting tenderness.
Not only does cream cheese help prevent gluten development, it also plays a key role in moisture. The moisture content in cream cheese is higher than that of many other dairy products. As a result, incorporating cream cheese into the dough retains moisture, which prevents the cookie bars from drying out. The bars will last longer before becoming stale (making them ideal to make in advance or gift to others!).
Recommended Tools to Make Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars
- Baking Pan: Use a 9×13-inch metal pan – metal is a better conductor of heat than glass.
- Parchment Paper: Line the pan with parchment paper for easy removal and cleanup.
- Stand Mixer: This stand mixer has been going strong for 15+ years in my kitchen!
- Beater Blade: A beater blade scrapes down the sides of your stand mixer bowl for you.
- Almond Extract: My favorite brand to add a little pop of almond flavor.
- Sprinkles: The most important part of the funfetti sprinkle bars, of course! I love this mix because it contains bright, vibrant colors (and has purple and pink).
Tips and Tricks for the Best Funfetti Cookie Bars
- Room Temperature Ingredients: Ensure that your butter and cream cheese are softened to room temperature. This allows ingredients to incorporate butter, resulting in a smoother and more uniform cookie dough.
- Proper Creaming Technique: Take the time to cream the butter, cream cheese, and sugar thoroughly. Creaming incorporates air into the mixture, resulting in a lighter texture in the final product. This step usually takes at least 2-3 minutes until the mixture becomes light and fluffy.
- Fold In Sprinkles: Fold in the sprinkles gently using a spatula. This helps prevent them from bleeding color into the dough, maintaining the vibrant colors throughout the bars.
- Cool Completely: Make sure the bars cool completely in the pan before frosting. This prevents the frosting from melting and ensures a smooth and firm layer on top as the buttercream crusts.
- Color the Frosting: For an extra-colorful frosted sugar cookie bar, use a few drops of food coloring to dye the frosting a color to match the celebration or holiday!
- Store at Room Temperature: Leftover funfetti sugar cookie bars can be stored at cool room temperature for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 3 months.
More Sprinkle Desserts
- Funfetti Cheesecake
- Chocolate Sprinkle Cookies
- Homemade Funfetti Cake
- Frosted Sprinkle Brownies
- Funfetti Babka
- Sprinkle Rice Krispie Treats
- Funfetti Bundt Cake
- Sprinkle Sugar Cookies
Funfetti Sugar Cookie Bars
Colorful, fun, and festive, these super-soft frosted sprinkle sugar cookie bars are perfect for any celebration!
Ingredients
For the Cookie Bars:
- 1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 ounces (113 grams) cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup (198 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 1/2 cups (300 grams) all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (192 grams) sprinkles
For the Frosting:
- 1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups (284 grams) confectioners' sugar
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- additional sprinkles, for decorating
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 °F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan or line with parchment paper.
- Using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until smooth. Add in the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy, another 3 to 5 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract, mixing until combined.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add in the flour, baking powder, and salt, beating until just combined and no dry streaks of flour remains. Add in the sprinkles and fold into the batter.
- Spread the dough into the prepared pan. The dough will be quite thick. Bake 22 to 25 minutes, until the top is puffy and starting to brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
- To make the frosting, use an electric mixer on medium speed to beat together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add in the heavy cream, vanilla extract, almond extract, and salt, continuing to beat for an additional 5 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Spread a thick layer of frosting over the cooled cookie bars and decorate with lots of sprinkles!
Notes
- Make sure the butter and cream cheese are at cool room temperature. If the butter for the frosting is too warm, it will result in a greasy-textured frosting.
- For an extra fun pop of color, add a few drops of food coloring.
- For neat cuts, refrigerate the cookie bars for 10 to 15 minutes before cutting with a sharp knife to stiffen the frosting a bit.
- Leftover funfetti sugar cookie bars can be stored in an airtight container at cool room temperature for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 3 months.
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