Frosted Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie Bars

These Frosted Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie Bars are the perfect dessert for Spring or Easter and can be easily adapted for any occasion! Just change the sprinkles and coloring and you have a whole new look!

There’s not only cream cheese in the frosting of these cookie bars but there’s also cream cheese in the sugar cookie dough. It makes for a chewy cookie bar that adds a touch of tang and cuts the sweetness just a bit.

How to make Frosted Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie Bars:

The first step (besides heating the oven) is preparing your pan so your cookie bars won’t stick. If you plan on storing these in the pan, you can just use a non-stick spray. I like to lift them out of the pan to slice and serve these so I line my pan with either aluminum foil or parchment paper AND spray with non-stick spray.

Once your pan is ready, you can start making the cream cheese cookie bar dough. It’s a really simple dough and only uses one bowl! I just use an electric hand mixer for this part but you could also use a stand mixer if you’d like.

Once you’ve mixed the wet ingredients, you can add in the dry. Like I said before, this part is all in one bowl. Mainly because I hate washing extra dishes but it works perfectly. Just sprinkle the top of the wet ingredients evenly with the flour. Then (before mixing) sprinkle the baking powder and salt over the flour. Then you can mix the dry ingredients into the wet just until combined.

The dough will be somewhat sticky. In order to spread it into the pan, I just spray a bit of non-stick spray on my clean hands and then press the dough with my hands. You could also cover it with a sheet of parchment paper and use that to spread it out.

You’ll bake the cookie bars in the oven just until the edges are golden brown. The bad news is…you have to let these completely cool before frosting them. Because this is a cream cheese frosting with butter in it, it will just melt if it gets warm.

How to make cream cheese icing for cookie bars:

All you have to do is mix the softened cream cheese, butter, vanilla, salt, and powdered sugar together with a hand mixer. If you want to thin it out a bit, you can add in the milk. If you like a thicker frosting, just leave out the milk.

I used gel coloring to make these a fun spring color and I also found some Spring sprinkles (say that 5 times fast!!). You can change out the colors or sprinkles to make these for any holiday or party!

How to slice cookie bars:

These are so much easier to slice neatly when they are chilled a bit and the icing is on the firmer side. Also, you’ll want to wipe the knife in-between each slice to give you a nice clean edge on the cookies.

Print Recipe

Frosted Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie Bars

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Servings: 24 bars

Author: Coco and Ash

Ingredients

Cookie Bars

• 1 stick softened, unsalted butter (½ cup)
• 4 ounces softened cream cheese
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 and ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Frosting

• 4 ounces softened cream cheese
• 4 tablespoons unsalted, softened butter
• 1 small pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk (if necessary to thin the icing)
• Sprinkles and food coloring to decorate (optional)

Instructions

Cookie bars

• Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 9x13 pan wither foil or parchment paper sprayed with non-stick spray.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese, butter, and sugar for about 2-3 minutes or until it's very light and fluffy. (I use a hand mixer.)
• Add in the egg and vanilla extract and beat again just until combined.
• Now I know I should say to get out another bowl for the dry ingredients, but no one wants to clean more bowls. So just sprinkle the all-purpose flour evenly over the batter. Then sprinkle the baking powder and salt over the flour. (I do this method all the time and it works perfectly as long as you sprinkle evenly.)
• Mix the dry ingredients into the wet using a spatula or a mixer on the lowest setting. You don't want to over-mix the dough.
• Add the cookie dough to the prepared pan. Press it into an even layer. I spray a little cooking spray on my clean hands and it makes It so easy to press in by hand with no sticking.
• Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes or until you see just the edges start to turn slightly golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and let cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

• Using a hand-mixer, beat together the softened cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract.
• Add in the powdered sugar and beat to combine.
• If you want to thin the frosting just a bit, add in the tablespoon of milk.
• Frost the cooled sugar cookie bars and add sprinkles to decorate.
• Since these bars have cream cheese in the icing, they should be stored covered in the fridge for no more then 4-5 days. Keeping them cool also keeps the icing nice and firm. I just bring them to room temp to serve!

Notes

-If you need to soften the butter and cream cheese before starting, you can use the microwave. Just be sure not to melt them. (I usually only need 11-12 seconds for a whole stick of butter and about 15 seconds for the cream cheese...but everyone's microwaves can differ so watch them carefully! 

-I use parchment or foil when I make these because I like to lift the whole thing out of the pan after frosting. You can just use cooking spray if you plan on leaving them in the pan.