Name: Happy Halloween Sugar Cookie Bars
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 22 min
Total time: 37 min
Yield: 16
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 cup unsalted butter, softened; 1 cup sugar; 2 tablespoons brown sugar; 1 egg; 2 teaspoons vanilla; 1/2 cup assorted Halloween sprinkles; 2 cups all purpose flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened; 2 1/2 - 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk; a pinch of salt; green food coloring; green sanding sugar and pumpkin candy corns to decorate

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Soft sugar cookie dough pressed into a pan make these Happy Halloween Sugar Cookie Bars an easy, simple, and sweet Halloween treat!

Oh hi. More Halloween from me! Because I LOVE IT. This is an old post — it’s from 2014. But I made these cookie bars again last week and they turned out extra pretty, so I HAD to share them again. I adjusted the recipe slightly (the original had less leavening agent and less salt), plus I added some short cut things! Halloween will be gone before we know it. Let’s embrace it while we can!

Let me just clear it up for you right here: I am no kind of dessert decorator. So apologies in advance for the hilarious attempt at making these Happy Halloween Sugar Cookie Bars look pretty.

I think I probably should have let my kids work out the frosting. But I didn’t. So here they are in all their I-wish-I-could-say-a-5-year-old-is-responsible-for-this decorated glory.

Because what matters here is that they taste SO FREAKING GOOD.

Like Chad called me from work to tell me they were awesome. And when I picked Andrew up from school he was telling me they were so so so delicious a full 3 hours after he ate his. Evan got off the school bus and busted in the front door all breathless from a full-on run to ask if there were any left.

Sooooo… I think they were a hit.
And no one cared that they are lookin’ a little crayzay.

I make cakes for friends and friends of friends here locally – just fun little birthday treats and holiday party kinds of things. When a new person contacts me I always give them the same disclaimer: It will be made totally from scratch and will taste amazing, but decorating is not my skill. I can frost things and add sprinkles, but that’s basically where the buck stops.

As you can probably tell.

But you are going to make these anyway. Because they make people happy. Plus they are so easy!! And decorating skills are clearly not required.

This is actually not a new recipe. I just dolled it up for Halloween. It’s these Frosted Funfetti Sugar Cookie Bars (apologies for the disaster photos, ya’ll. I’ll get them all looking good one of these days) with assorted Halloween sprinkles jimmies instead of rainbow, green frosting instead of pink, and some sanding sugar sparkle. I added those cute pumpkin candy corns and bam! Decorated.

16 cookie bars

Happy Halloween Sugar Cookie Bars

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 22 minutes

Total Time: 37 minutes

Happy Halloween Sugar Cookie Bars are soft, buttery, and loaded up with Halloween sprinkles! The perfect cookie bar for serving at Halloween parties.

Ingredients

For the Sugar Cookie Bars:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup assorted Halloween sprinkles
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt

For theButtercream Frosting:

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 - 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
a pinch of salt
green food coloring
green sanding sugar and pumpkin candy corns to decorate

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a 9 X 9 baking pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, beat 1 cup of the butter, the granulated sugar, and the brown sugar until creamy and smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry to the wet ingredients and mix until combined completely. Fold in the sprinkles.
Bake for 20-25minutes or until the center is slightly firm and the edges are a little golden brown.
Let the pan of cookie cool completely.
While the cookie bars cool make the buttercream. Beat the butter for about a minute. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, alternating with the cream or milk. Then add the vanilla, salt, and food coloring, and beat until fluffy and creamy with the color distributed evenly throughout.
Spread the frosting over the cooled cookie bars and then top with the sanding sugar. Place a pumpkin candy corn on top of each cookie bar, slice, and serve!