Red White & Blue Sugar Cookie Bars

Easy red white and blue sugar cookie bars are soft cookie bars topped with vanilla buttercream and patriotic sprinkles.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 15

Total Time 35

Servings servings

Calories 376kcal

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease or use parchment paper to line a 9x13-inch metal baking pan. If using a glass pan, preheat the oven to 350F. Set aside.
To make the sugar cookie bars, beat butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together until fluffy and well-combined.
1 cup salted butter, 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar, ¼ cup brown sugar
Add egg and egg yolks. Beat until eggs are well-incorporated, about 2-3 minutes.
1 large egg, 2 large egg yolks
Stir in vanilla and almond extract, if using.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon almond extract
Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir until just incorporated.
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
Add batter to the prepared pan.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until the edges are very light golden brown. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean. It's better to slightly underbake the bars than to overbake them.
Let the bars cool in the pan until they reach room temperature.
To prepare frosting, beat butter until fluffy.
1 cup salted butter
Add powdered sugar, and mix until combined.
3 cups powdered sugar
Stir in vanilla extract.
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Mix in enough cream to make a spreadable frosting.
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream
Spread the frosting over the cooled bars and top with sprinkles.
Red, white, and blue sprinkles

Butter: If using unsalted butter, increase the salt to 1 teaspoon.
Brown sugar: I use light brown sugar in this recipe.
Almond extract: Almond extract adds a nice depth of flavor and more of that classic bakery-type flavor. However, you can omit it if needed.
Flour: It's import to properly measure the flour to avoid dry, heavy, or crumbly bars. To properly measure either weigh the flour (click "metric" just above the ingredients) or sift, lightly spoon into a measuring cup, and level.
Nutrition values are estimates.