Funfetti Sugar Cookie Bars are likely my new favorite treat. Made with simple ingredients in under an hour, this treat is the perfect dessert to share for any occasion. These bars are buttery, chewy in texture, and filled with sprinkles.
Ingredients Overview
- Unsalted Butter: You'll use unsalted butter in this recipe. If you need to use salted butter, leave the salt out in the recipe! Using room temperature butter is so important. Leave your butter out 1-2 hours before baking.
- Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar provides sweetness, flavor, moisture, and structure!
- Light Brown Sugar: Light brown sugar needs to be packed into your measuring cup. This means you should use your hand or the back of a spoon to push the sugar down when measuring. As always, you can just weigh your ingredients to ensure accuracy!
- Eggs: Use room temperature eggs by leaving them out 1-2 hours ahead of time or placing them in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before baking.
- Vanilla Extract + Butter/ Almond Extract: Though there are small amounts of these extracts, they are POWERFUL. Using pure vanilla extract will create an incredible flavor. Where you really get that funfetti flavor is butter or almond extract. I use butter extract because it creates the deepest flavor.
- Flour: All purpose flour needs to be spooned and leveled into your measuring cups to ensure the bars stay soft and chewy. Packing your flour into your measuring cups will lead to over-measuring, creating dry, dense bars.
- Salt: Salt brings out sweetness and rounds out the flavor in these bars. DO NOT skip it.
- Baking Soda: Baking soda helps these bars rise a bit. They help with the chewy texture too! Do not substitute baking powder for baking soda.
What Are Funfetti Cookie Bars?
Funfetti: The best way I can describe funfetti if you have never had it is that it's a more buttery, flavorful vanilla with sprinkles mixed in. There is a distinct kick in flavor from almond or butter extract, and rainbow sprinkles are usually involved!
Cookie Bars: Cookie bars are basically cookies in brownie form. Instead of rolling the dough into balls, you'll spread it into a 9x13 inch pan and bake. Then, you can cut the sheet pan into bars.
Cookie Bar Tips and Tricks
- Room Temperature Ingredients: This recipe could not be more simple. It uses such classic ingredients and approachable techniques, but using room temperature ingredients will guarantee best results. Doing so helps the batter come together more cleanly and will impact the soft, chewy texture of the bars. You'll need room temperature butter and eggs. Leave them on the counter 1-2 hours ahead of baking.
- Measuring: Measuring in grams using a kitchen scale will be most accurate. However, when measuring in cups, make sure to pack the light brown sugar into your cups and spoon and level flour into your measuring cups.
- Slicing and Storing: If you are looking for clean bars, do not slice them until the pan has fully cooled. I recommend slicing with a plastic knife to help cut cleaner, more even bars. Store at room temperature in an airtight container or individually wrapped for up to 5 days. Read below in "FAQ" for freezing tips.
FAQ
Using jimmies rather than sugar crystals, nonpareils, confetti sprinkles, or dragees will create the most gorgeous and flavorful bars. I recommend using soft sprinkles rather than crunchy sprinkles for best texture. These are the sprinkles I use.
Cookie bars are done baking when the tops look slightly shiny, are lightly golden brown in color, and a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan comes out with crumbs
You absolutely can halve this recipe. If you have a scale, follow the measurements by weight. If you do not have a scale, use 2 tablespoons of light brown sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, and the full egg yolk. Bake in an 8x8 inch pan until
Freeze these cookie bars either uncut or individually sliced. If looking to freeze the pan whole, wrap the cooled sheet of cookie bars in at least 3 layers of cling wrap. For individually sliced bars, wrap each bar in 2 layers of cling wrap before placing them all in a freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months and bring to room temperature or briefly microwave before eating and serving.
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Funfetti Sugar Cookie Bars
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 9x13 pan 1x
- Category: Sugar Cookie, Cookies, Cookie Bars, Funfetti
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
Funfetti Sugar Cookie Bars are made with simple ingredients in under an hour. This treat is the perfect dessert to share for any occasion. They are buttery, chewy in texture, filled with sprinkles, and customizable in color!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (220g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 ⅓ cup (300g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (50g) light brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs (100g), room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk (20g), room temperature
- 2 teaspoons (8g) pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon (2g) butter or almond extract
- 3 cups (420g) all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ¾ teaspoon (7g) salt
- 1 tablespoon (8g) corn starch
- ½ teaspoon (3g) baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9×13 inch pan with sheet of parchment paper and spray the paper with cooking oil to ensure the bars come out of the pan cleanly.
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer that is fitted with a paddle attachment, beat your room temperature butter, granulated sugar, and light brown sugar together until smooth, fluffy in texture, and light in color. This should be 2-3 minutes of mixing on high speed.
- Add in room temperature eggs and egg yolk one at a time, mixing between each addition. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula between each egg addition.
- Add vanilla extract and butter or almond extract to your batter. Mix until combined.
- Slowly, add all purpose flour to your mixture while beating on low speed. Then, sprinkle salt, corn starch, and baking soda into the batter. Mix on low speed until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl before pouring jimmies into the batter. Mix until the sprinkles are evenly dispersed throughout the dough.
- Transfer batter to your prepared pan. Use a knife to smooth the dough in the pan.
- Bake bars for 30-35 minutes or until the bars are light golden brown in color and a toothpick inserted into the center of the bars comes out almost clean. Do not overbake, as the bars will lose their soft, chewy texture. It’s better to underbake these bars, as they will continue to bake as they cool in the pan.
- Allow the bars to cool before slicing.
Keywords: Sprinkle Cookie Bars, Jimmies, Sprinkle Desserts, Funfetti Cookie Bars
Bianca says
My dear friend Ann made these for my birthday, and I absolutely LOVED them!! The perfect dessert for any birthday festivity!
★★★★★
Elise says
Yay! This makes me so happy to hear, Bianca! Thank you for this kind message!