Candy Cane Crunch Funfetti Sugar Cookie Bars (So Easy!)

Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars are super festive with red and green funfetti sprinkles in the bars and crushed candy cane pieces on top!

Creating This Recipe for Christmas Cookie Bars

One of the great opportunities with being in a new house in a neighborhood that is still relatively new (less than 2 years) this time of year is that everyone is still getting to know the neighbors because we’re all new.

What better way to stop by and introduce ourselves to the new families we live near than with some sweet treats to drop off for a gift?

We recently made these fun Christmas sugar cookie bars. I won’t lie, I think the kids would have been more than happy to eat them all themselves.

But, I was glad to package up more than half of them in these super cute Glad® Holiday Containers (available at Walmart this Holiday season) and share them with some people in the neighborhood.

I love that Glad Holiday Containers are BPA-free, super cute and festive, easy to use and easy to clean, and help keep holiday treats fresh.

The Best Sugar Cookie Bar Recipe

This is one of my favorite easy Christmas cookie recipes to make. Here are 3 reasons I love these Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars:

1. It is an easy way to make sugar cookies. This recipe is so much less work than rolling and cutting all the dough out
2. You still get to enjoy a chewy sugar cookie with a thick layer of frosting. These cookies have a nice, tender crumb just like soft sugar cookies.
3. You can customize these buttery sugar cookie bars for any holiday or occasion.

Tools Needed to Make these Christmas Sugar Cookies

• Measuring Cups and Spoons – to measure the dough ingredients and frosting ingredients.
• Stand Mixer – to make the sugar cookie dough.
• Paddle Attachment – to beat the butter and mix in the remaining ingredients for the for the sugar cookie base.
• Large Bowl – to combine the dry ingredients.
• Flexible Spatula – to scrape the sides of the bowl down while preparing the dough and the frosting.
• Whisk Attachment – to make the frosting recipe.
• Baking Sheet – you’ll need an 11×16 inch baking pan to bake the sugar cookie bars.
• Sharp Knife – to cut the sugar cookie bars.
• Ruler – if you’d like a straight edge for cutting.
• Offset Spatula – to spread the sweet buttercream frosting.

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Ingredients for Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars

This recipe has three parts to it: the cookies, the frosting, and the decorations. Here’s what you’ll need to make the frosted sugar cookie bars:

For the Chewy Cookies

• Butter
• Granulated Sugar
• Eggs
• Sour Cream
• Vanilla Extract
• All-Purpose Flour
• Salt
• Baking Soda
• Green Confetti Sprinkles
• Red Confetti Sprinkles

For the Vanilla Buttercream

• Butter
• Powdered Sugar
• Vanilla Extract
• Sour Cream
• Whole Milk

For Decorating

• Food Coloring, if desired
• Crushed Candy Canes
• Festive Sprinkles

For the complete ingredient list and detailed instructions, scroll to the bottom of this post for the FREE printable recipe card.

How to Make Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars

Making Christmas cookie bars is so much easier than making individual cookies! Here’s a look at how the sugar cookie bars come together:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter and the granulated sugar and beat until fluffy and creamed.
2. Next, add the eggs one and a time, mixing well after each addition.
3. Then, stir in the sour cream and vanilla extract.
4. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and sprinkles.
5. Add the flour mixture 1 cup at a time to the stand mixer bowl.
6. Press the dough into a parchment paper-lined 16×11-inch baking sheet, ensuring that it is evenly level across the top and that it fully reaches the corners of the pan.
7. Bake at 350 degrees F until lightly golden on the top and done through the center.  
8. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature.
9. After cooling, top with frosting, crushed candy cane pieces, and sprinkles.

The above is simply a quick summary of this recipe. Check out the full recipe in the free printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for all the detailed instructions.

Tips for Making Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars

For best results, use room temperature butter. If you forgot to set your butter out to soften before making this, don’t panic! There are 8 different ways to soften butter quickly.

Make sure you let the bars completely cool before adding the buttercream and decorations. If the bars are still warm, the frosting will melt.

Line the pan with parchment paper to prevent the cookies from sticking to the cookie sheet.

Ways to Decorate these Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars

This easy recipe is so fun to customize! Here are some ideas for Christmas decorating, but you’re definitely not limited to this holiday:

The easiest thing you can do to decorate these holiday sugar cookie bars is to add sprinkles on top of the frosting in addition to the crushed candy cane. Try mixed holiday sprinkles, red sprinkles, green sprinkles

Switch up the frosting color if you like – I prefer gel food coloring. Green is great if you cut them in triangles and make small Christmas tree shaped cookies.

Cut the pan out using different shaped Christmas cookie cutters. This allows you to make cut-out sugar cookies out of the entire pan with a lot less work.

How to Store the Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars

Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.

So that I could stack them in the container without smudging the frosting everywhere, I simply refrigerated the frosted and decorated bars on a baking sheet for an hour or so before stacking them so that the frosting was firm.

For this storage method, you’ll need to keep them refrigerated. Then, bring to room temp before eating.

Freezing these Easy Bar Cookies

Want to get ahead on your holiday baking? These Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars can be frozen in advance of decorating. Here’s how:

• Bake the cookie recipe according to instructions, then cool completely.
• Lift the baked cookie out of the baking sheet.
• Then, wrap in a double layer of plastic wrap followed by a layer of foil.
• Freeze for up to a month. Thaw before frosting and decorating.

A vacuum seal bag or ziptop bag would work in place of foil if you have one large enough.

Freezing Leftover Sugar Cookie Bars

I purposely created this recipe to serve a crowd, but if you have leftovers note that the bars freeze well! Just transfer leftovers to an airtight container and freeze for up to a month.

Gifting these Christmas Sugar Cookies

I delivered the Candy Cane Crunch Funfetti Sugar Cookie Bars completely frosted and decorated, but here are some other fun gifting ideas:

• For families with children, deliver a container of the cut bars, undecorated, along with tubs of this tasty Vanilla Buttercream, a bag of crushed candy cane, and container of Christmas sprinkles so that the kiddos can enjoy decorating the bars themselves. You’re gifting a tasty treat packaged as a fun holiday family activity!
• If the recipients celebrate Christmas, you might like to include a copy of this Christmas Book Bingo for them to play while they enjoy the yummy bars. These two gifts paired together are inexpensive and make for fun Christmas Snacks, Activities, and Treats for Kids.

Try this Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars Recipe!

Next time you’re looking for simple recipes to bake during the holiday season, give this bar sugar cookie recipe a try! Did you think they were a great alternative to traditional frosted sugar cookies? Leave a comment below and give it a review for others to see what you thought of them!

On Instagram? Share your photo and tag me with @goodlifeeats and #goodlifeeatsrecipes. I’d love to see your photo of this Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars!

More Easy Christmas Cookies:

Looking for more creative sweet treats to gift friends, neighbors and teachers? Or maybe you’d like to host a Cookie Exchange or a Cookie Decorating Party this holiday season. Here are some great ideas:

Hosting a cookie decorating party, especially with kids, can be a bit overwhelming. Take a look at my Tips for Hosting a Successful Kids’ Holiday Cookie Party to help create a fun and stress-free get together.

Gingerbread Cookies are traditional this time of year, but these Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies offer a fun and unique twist on the classic.

Swedish Cookies are a unique Christmas cookie recipe that your family will love! They feature buttery crescent cookies studded with chopped almonds.

A tasty ginger recipe that doesn’t require cut outs is this Caramel Pecan Gingersnap Thumbprints Recipe. 

These Almond Butter Cookies are the tastiest I’ve tried and make a great addition to your regular cooking baking. They’re the perfect alternative if you have a peanut allergy!

Classic chocolate chip cookies get a make over with white chocolate, coconut, macadamia nuts, and lemon. These White Chocolate Lemon Coconut Cookies are the perfect spring and summer cookie with a little tropical twist.

Don’t see what you’re looking for here? You can always head over to check out the recipe index to look for more recipes.

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Glad. The opinions and text are all mine.