We’re whippin’ up a small batch of our favorite sugar cookie bars!

We’ve shared our favorite Swig Style Sugar Cookies here a few years back, and this time we cut the recipe in half and we’re serving them up as bars rather than pressed cookies, and it could not be easier! We even made a quick video so you can see them in action!

Enjoy these Sugar Cookie Bars Year Round:

We love these for Valentine’s Day, but these cookie bars work year round with a simple change of the food coloring and sprinkles. I’m thinking red or green frosting for Christmas, white frosting with red, white and blue sprinkles for the 4th of July…orange frosting for Halloween. You really can have fun with these for all the holidays!

Sugar Cookie Bar Ingredients:

flour
salt
baking soda
cream of tartar
salted butter (softened to room temperature)
veg oil
sugar
powdered sugar
water
eggs (room temperature)
teaspoon vanilla
Frosting Ingredients:
salted butter (softened to room temperature)
sour cream
salt
milk
powdered sugar
teaspoon vanilla
food coloring *optional
sprinkles *optional

Tips and Tricks:

Bake these in a metal pan lined in parchment paper.
This is the key: only mix the sugar cookie dough until the flour is just combined. This will keep the cookies soft and tender.
Before baking, the cookie dough might seem dry and crumbly. Make sure to firmly press the dough into the baking pan.
After baking let the cookies completely cool in the pan, and then refrigerate.
The baked frosted cookie bars hold their shape best when cut if they have had time to chill in the fridge.
Bake for the short time on the recipe, you don’t want to over bake.

Sugar Cookie Frosting with sour cream:

One of my favorite things about this recipe is the sweet and tangy flavor the sour cream adds to the frosting. The sour cream is my favorite addition. Because there is sour cream in the frosting, you will want to keep these sugar cookie bars stored in the fridge.

Watch the video of these cookie bars in action:

Here’s the short video for when we made them into pressed cookies:

Variations:

You can change these up in so many ways with frosting colors and sprinkles, but here are more ways to make them your own:

add 1/2 tablespoon of lemon zest (if you love lemon flavor)
add almond extract rather in addition to the vanilla extract
double the recipe and bake on a sheet pan. Just make sure to line with parchment.

Sugar Cookie Bars

Thick delicious Sugar Cookie Bars with sour cream in the frosting.

Author Kami | NoBiggie.net

Ingredients

For the Cookie Bars:

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup salted butter (1 stick) softened to room temperature
3 oz. veg oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon water
2 eggs room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the Frosting:

1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick) softened to room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
food coloring a few drops until desired color is achieved
sprinkles of your choice *optional

Instructions

For the Cookie Bars:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a mixing bowl with a metal whisk, mix together flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tarter. Set aside.
In the bowl with a mixer, cream together the butter and sugars for 2 minutes. Slowly stream in the oil while beating. Add the water and vanilla and then beat the egg until combined. Now add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a little at a time, mixing until combined (scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed).
Move the cookie dough into a parchment lined 8x8 or 9x9 baking pan. Press the cookie mixture down into the pan.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, depending on your oven. Do not over bake. Out of the oven, let the bars cool completely in the pan.

For the Frosting:

Cream the butter, sour cream, and salt together. Add powdered sugar a little at a time, alternating with adding the milk. Add extra milk or powdered sugar if needed to reach your desired consistency. Add food coloring and vanilla and mix until combined. Using a rubber spatular add big dollops of icing onto the cookie bars and spread it evenly. Add sprinkles on top if you would like. Move the pan into the fridge to chill.
Let the icing set to the touch before cutting them. These cookie bars are best served chilled, also because there is dairy in the icing, it's best to store them covered in the refrigerator.
When ready, cut into bars. Serve chilled.

Making This Recipe? Tag us on Instagram: @NoBiggie using the hashtag #NoBiggieRecipes, so we can see what you are making in the kitchen!