4th of July Sugar Cookie Bars

Looking for a quick holiday dessert for your 4th of July celebration? These sprinkle sugar cookies are quick and easy to make and you will be in and out of the kitchen in no time. After all, there are BBQs and fireworks to attend.

These cookies are soft and chewy with a creamy buttercream frosting on top, and of course, a patriotic cookie needs some colorful sprinkles for decoration.

• This is the easiest sprinkle cookie recipe to make, just mix the dough and pat it in the pan. You don't even chill the dough.
• No rolling the dough or cutting out with cookie cutters. Just bake, frost, and cut.
• If you want, color the frosting or use different sprinkles. There are tons of variations you can do here.
• These cookies are perfect for Memorial Day too!
• You can make these cookies ahead of time to serve later. Perfect for a busy time.

For more Fourth of July cookies, bake a batch of these awesome Patriotic Red, White, and Blue Thumbprint Cookies. These Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles are a favorite and each cookie has a colorful surprise inside.

As you can see the ingredients for these sugar cookies are just basic pantry staples plus some awesome 4th of July sprinkles.

Step 1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F., and prepare a 13" x 9" baking pan using either cookie spay if you are going to leave the cookies in the pan, or lining the pan with parchment paper if you want to remove the whole baked cookie.

Step 2. In a large mixing bowl add the room temperature butter and both of the sugars and beat on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Step 3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla until combined.

Step 4. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the mixing bowl and start mixing on low speed to get the flour incorporated, then mix on medium speed just until all the dry ingredients are combined.

Step 5. Scrape the bowl, and mix to combine so you have a nice soft dough.

Step 6. Drop spoonfuls of the dough in the baking pan, then with your fingers, press the dough into an even layer. Lightly butter your fingers if the dough is sticking.

Step 7. Bake the cookie for 14-16 minutes. The dough might be a bit puffy when it's done. Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool completely before frosting.

Step 8. If you want to remove the cookie to a cutting board, pull the cookie out of the pan by the parchment paper.

Step 9. Make the frosting by adding the softened butter and powdered sugar to a large mixing bowl. Beat until nice and fluffy.

Step 10. Add the milk and vanilla and beat on medium speed until nice and creamy, and of spreading consistency. If necessary, add a small amount of milk.

This is the time to add food coloring if you want a colorful frosting.

Step 11. Drop spoonfuls of frosting over the top of the cookie then spread the icing to the edges and top with the sprinkles. Add the sprinkles on top immediately so they will stick to the icing.

Step 12. Cut the cookies into squares, logs, or diamond shapes.

Baked, frosted, and decorated, these are such an easy Fourth of July Cookie creation to make for your patriotic celebration.

I love cutting cookie bars into diamond shapes, it just makes them more fun than just squares.

Cut the cookie into 3 or four long strips with a sharp knife, then simply cut each strip at an angle to make the diamond shape. You will have odd shapes at the ends of each strip.

• To store the cookie just place them in an airtight container for up to three days.
• If you need to stack the cookies just place a piece of parchment paper between the layers of the cookies so they don't stick together.
• You can freeze the large uncut cookie. Just take the cookie out of the pan then wrap it in plastic wrap, then wrap in aluminum foil, and pop that into your freezer.
• When you are ready to serve the cookie, unwrap the cookie and let it thaw at room temperature then frost and decorate.
• Want to freeze the frosted cookie bars. Just place them in an airtight container, with parchment between the layers and freeze for up to three months. Let the cookies thaw at room temperature before eating. There is a possibility the colors from the sprinkles could bleed color when defrosting.

• You can change the flavor of the bars by swapping out the vanilla and adding almond flavor, maple flavor, or even lemon or orange extract. For the almond flavoring add ½ teaspoon and for all others add 1 teaspoon.
• With a little bit of food coloring, you can change the color of the icing for any occasion, or just because you want some color.
• There are so many options for sprinkles these days that can go with all the holidays, wedding colors, birthday colors, or even your team colors. Truly the sprinkle combinations are endless!

Dark Chocolate Cookies

Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

St. Patricks Day Cookies

Red Velvet Stuffed Cookies

Thank you for stopping by the One Hot Oven blog. Please leave a comment to say Hello or just let me know what you are baking these days; I always love hearing from fellow bakers. Have any questions or want to chat about the recipe? My contact information is on my about page, and I’ll be happy to help.

From learning to cook on a farm in Indiana to culinary school in California, my passion for food is never-ending. Turning on my oven to bake something for friends and family is my happy place, and I am glad to be here at One Hot Oven sharing both sweet and savory family-friendly recipes for your cooking and baking inspiration.