Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars
Baked in a sheet pan, dipped in royal icing, and decorated with festive sprinkles, these soft and chewy Christmas sugar cookie bars are your favorite classic sugar cookies in bar form!
Equipment
Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Dough
- 1 cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour *See notes below for measuring*
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
Royal Icing Frosting
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp + 1 tsp meringue powder
- 3-5 tbsp water
- 1/4 tsp clear vanilla extract
- Christmas colored sprinkles
- Red and green gel food coloring *See notes below for specific names*
Instructions
- Before you start. Line a metal 9x13 baking pan with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C.
- Whisk the butter and sugar. In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and granulated sugar until well combined.
- Whisk in the wet ingredients. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.
- Fold in the dry ingredients. Fold in the flour, cornstarch, and salt until just combined.
- Press the dough into the pan. Press the sugar cookie dough into the pan, using lightly greased hands, then use an offset spatula to smooth the top and evenly spread it to fill the pan.
- Bake the cookie bars. Bake in the preheated oven for 18-25 minutes, or until the cookie dough is set and the edges near the pan are barely golden brown. Baking them past this point will result in more crispy/less soft cookie bars. Let the pan cool on a wire cooling rack completely.
- Cut the bars. Flip the cookie bars onto a cutting board so that the bottom is now the top. Cut into rectangles, squares, or triangles (for Christmas trees). See notes below for specific measurements! Transfer the cut bars to a wire rack with a sheet pan underneath. It's best to distribute them amongst 2 pans to keep them from crowding.
- Make the royal icing. Combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder, vanilla extract, and water in a stand mixing bowl. Whisk on medium speed for 3 minutes until fluffy. At this point, you can set aside a few tablespoons of the icing for piping. You won't need much unless you plan on more intricate designs. If the icing is too thick, add 1 teaspoon of water at a time until it's thick but pipeable.
- Color the icing. Split the rest of the icing into thirds, scooping each portion into its own bowl and immediately covering the top with plastic wrap. Working with one bowl at a time, add about 2-3 teaspoons of water to the icing and use a spoon to mix it in well. It should have a consistency of runny peanut butter! Add red and green food coloring to two bowls, leaving the last one white.
- Decorate the sugar cookie bars. Dip the flat side of the bars into the icing, using your finger to gently scrape off any excess glaze. Place the frosted bar back onto the wire rack. Decorate with sprinkles. If using the thick icing, you can color it or keep it white. Fill it into a piping bag with a very small round tip and use it to pipe on the frosted tops.
- Allow to set before packaging. Allow the cookies to be fully set before boxing or packaging them, otherwise, it will ruin the icing. Depending on the humidity in your kitchen, this can take about 1-2 hours.
- Store leftover cookie bars in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days. The frosted cookies should not be frozen, however, they can be frozen and defrosted before decorating!
Video
Notes
*Measure your flour properly. This is my #1 baking tip! Do not ever scoop a measuring cup into your flour as this always leads to using too much flour. Instead, use the spoon-level method. This means fluffing the flour first, then spooning it into your measuring cup/spoon. For the BEST results, use a kitchen scale!*
Food coloring: We used Americolor Gel: Super Red and a mix of Forrest and Electric Green.
For rectangle bars: cut 2 1/2 x 1 1/4 rectangles
For squares/triangles: cut 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 squares, cut each one in half diagonally for triangles.
For 8x8 pan: Half the recipe and press it into a metal square edge 8x8 pan. They will bake around 18-20 minutes. You will have about 15-18 cookie bars.
For glass or ceramic pans: While they are not recommended they can be used. They may need a longer bake time- start checking on them every 2 minutes after the 18-minute mark.
Do not over-bake. Look for the edges of the bars to be a very light golden brown- remember that they will continue to bake in the hot pan once out of the oven!
Keep the icing covered with plastic wrap when not in use. This will keep the icing from hardening!
