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dairy free cookie bars

Funfetti Sugar Cookie Bars

August 11, 2022 by Rachael Ng Leave a Comment

Ultra soft Funfetti Sugar Cookie Bars with a melt-in-your-mouth vanilla buttercream. These sweet cookie bars are the perfect base recipe for whatever sugar cookie bar you can dream up.

Funfetti Sugar Cookie Bars

First things first: do we like “confetti” or “funfetti” to describe these cookie bars? Because I truly cannot decide what to name these bars! I’ve previously used both terms to describe my sprinkle-laden treats, but for everyone else’s sake, let’s go with FUNFETTI. I think this term is more widely used.

Anyway, these cookie bars are everything you want in a simple sugar cookie bar. They’re seriously soft-baked (thanks to the powdered sugar in the dough), they’re topped with the easiest vanilla buttercream, and, of course, the sprinkles add a whole level of excitement and versatility! Turn them into holiday-themed bars, birthday bars, or, leave out the sprinkles all together for a more sophisticated cookie bar. ALSO. Flavor options. This recipe is an amazing base recipe that can be flavored with lemon, orange, peppermint, or whatever else you’re feeling. Mix up the buttercream topping and you can have pink strawberry bars! Go wild, friends. And most importantly, enjoy!

Why You’ll Love These Cookie Bars

  • Seriously soft in texture
  • Frosting to cookie ratio is *chef’s kiss*
  • The perfect base recipe for flavor add-ins
  • Can be cut into 18 or 24 bars
  • Simple recipe made with pantry staples

What You’ll Need

  • Plant-based butter adds moisture and a buttery flavor to the cookie dough and frosting. Feel free to use your favorite plant-based butter or regular salted butter.
  • Powdered sugar is used instead of granulated sugar in the cookie dough, making the dough very soft (like a Lofthouse cookie!). You’ll also need it for the buttercream frosting.
  • Eggs bind the ingredients together – I haven’t tested this recipe with any egg substitutes.
  • Vanilla bean paste lends a lovely flavor to the bars and frosting. Regular vanilla extract will work just fine, but you’ll miss out on those little specks of vanilla bean! If you’re looking to edit the flavor, this is where you can use orange extract, lemon extract, peppermint extract, etc. I recommend replacing up to 1 tsp of the vanilla bean paste with another flavor.
  • Salt enhances flavor and cuts sweetness – very necessary for these sweet bars!
  • Corn starch also keeps these cookie bars soft in texture. And helps them last longer (they stay soft for a few days on the counter).
  • All-purpose flour makes up the bulk of the cookie dough. Feel free to use a bleached or unbleached variety.
  • Jimmies sprinkles (the long ones!) are the best sprinkles to use for the cookie dough as they give those little bursts of color that we’re after. For the top of the bars, you can use whatever sprinkles you like.
  • Plant-based milk helps thin the frosting to a spreadable consistency. Feel free to use any plant-based milk, regular milk, or even water.

More Sugar Cookie Recipes

Soft & Chewy Confetti Cookies

Soft Sugar Cookies with Strawberry Frosting

Chai Spice Brown Sugar Cookies

Coconut Sugar Cookies (made with coconut sugar)

Yield: 18 or 24 Bars

Funfetti Sugar Cookie Bars

funfetti sugar cookie bars recipe

Ultra soft Funfetti Sugar Cookie Bars with a melt-in-your-mouth vanilla buttercream and plenty of festive sprinkles - for whatever you're celebrating!

Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Additional Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

Cookie Bars

  • 2/3 cup (150g) plant-based butter, softened (or regular butter)
  • 2 cups (240g) powdered sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temp
  • 2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup (32g) corn starch
  • 2 3/4 cup (358g) all-purpose flour
  • 6 Tbsp (65g) jimmies sprinkles (+ 1 Tbsp to sprinkle on top)

Vanilla Frosting

  • 1/2 cup (113g) plant-based butter, softened (or regular butter)
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
  • 1-2 tsp plant-based milk (or regular milk)
  • 2 cups (240g) powdered sugar

Instructions

Make the Bars

  1. Bring your eggs to room temperature (if needed) by adding them to a glass of warm water for roughly 10 minutes. Meanwhile...
  2. Preheat your oven to 350°F and prepare a 9x13” baking pan - coat with non-stick spray and line the bottoms + 2 long sides with a large piece of parchment paper. Fold the excess paper over the edges and trim with scissors.
  3. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and powdered sugar until combined - it will seem dry at first but will turn into a creamy mixture.
  4. Beat in the eggs and vanilla bean paste. Beat in the salt and corn starch until just combined. Use a large spoon to stir in the flour. And finally, gently stir in the sprinkles.
  5. Spoon the dough into your prepared baking pan. Gently press the dough evenly across the bottom of the pan, getting it as level as possible - you can use the back of a spoon, spatula, your fingers, etc.
  6. Bake at 350°F for 13-16 minutes. Allow the cookie bars to cool in the pan set on top of a cooling rack.

Frost the Bars

  1. Once cooled, remove the bars from the pan, set them aside, and make the frosting. In a medium bowl, beat together the butter and vanilla bean paste. Beat in the powdered sugar.
  2. Add milk 1 tsp at a time and beat, adding just enough until the frosting texture reaches a firm but spreadable and creamy consistency.
  3. Spoon all of the frosting onto the big cookie bar. Use an icing spatula to swirl the frosting across the surface of the cookie. Immediately top with extra sprinkles.
  4. Slice into even pieces (18 or 24 bars) and enjoy!
  5. Store leftover cookie bars in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature.
© Rachael | Sugared & Stirred
Cuisine: American / Category: Bars

Did you make this recipe? I would love to see!

Tag @sugaredandstirred on Instagram and hashtag #sugaredandstirred

Filed Under: Bars, Cookies, Dairy-free Tagged With: confetti cookie bars, dairy free cookie bars, frosted cookie bars, funfetti bars, funfetti cookie bars, funfetti cookies, funfetti sugar cookie bars, recipes with sprinkles, recipes with vanilla bean, sprinkle cookie bars, sprinkle cookies, vanilla bean cookie bars, vanilla bean sugar cookie bars

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookie Bars

February 11, 2022 by Rachael Ng Leave a Comment

These Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookie Bars are a soft-baked bar reminiscent of my favorite sandwich as a kid! Filled with potato chips and topped with pools of strawberry jam, these cookie bars will hit the spot for any PB&J fan.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookie Bars

I know I can’t be the only one who prefers my PB&J sandwiches with a pile of crispy potato chips on the side. There’s just something about the salty crunch of the chips that pairs so well with the peanut butter and jelly/jam sandwiched between slices of soft bread. I’ve been dreaming of baking these cookie bars for months now, and I knew I needed them to have potato chips baked right in. And let me just say that these cookie bars are good. Like, you’ll-wonder-why-you’ve-never-had-them-before good.

The recipe for these bars is pretty straightforward. I took the peanut butter dough from another popular recipe of mine and added crushed potato chips and spoonfuls of strawberry jam. I wanted these bars to be easy to make, so I found that mixing the potato chips into the dough and then, after pressing the dough into the pan, creating wells for the jam on top of the dough was the quickest and simplest way to get the PB&J flavor I was after.

What You’ll Need + Possible Substitutions

  • Natural peanut butter lends a peanut butter flavor to these bars (duh). I only recommend using a drippy, room temperature peanut butter made with just peanuts.
  • Light brown sugar adds sweetness and moisture. Feel free to use dark brown sugar, or more coconut sugar, in its place.
  • Coconut sugar is favorite sugar at my house. It’s low GI and tastes nothing like coconut. If you’d like, you can replace the coconut sugar with another granulated sugar (white, brown, raw, etc) but your bars will taste extra sweet as coconut sugar tastes less sweet than cane sugar.
  • Eggs bind the ingredients together, and adding an extra yolk keeps these bars chewy.
  • Olive oil adds moisture and a soft texture. You can use your favorite baking oil or melted butter, though using coconut oil may change the texture and taste of these bars.
  • Vanilla extract adds flavor.
  • All-purpose flour bulks up the cookie dough. I like to use an unbleached variety.
  • Corn starch enhances the chewy texture of these bars. You can leave it out, but the bars won’t be as chewy. Feel free to use arrowroot or tapioca starch instead.
  • Baking soda leavens these bars.
  • Salt cuts sweetness and enhances flavor.
  • Jam or jelly (or even preserves) are used to top the cookie dough pre-bake. I used a strawberry jam, but you can use whatever flavor you’d like.
  • Potato chips add saltiness and crunch. They’re totally optional, but I do recommend the kettle cooked potato chips for extra crunch.

More Peanut Butter Recipes

Salted Peanut Butter Marshmallow Cookies

No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Bars

Peanut Butter Monster Cookies

Peanut Butter Spelt Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Yield: 9 Bars

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookie Bars

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookie Bars

Soft-baked Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookie Bars filled with crunchy potato chips and topped with sweet strawberry jam.

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Additional Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup (135g) natural peanut butter (made with just peanuts), room temp
  • 1/2 cup (104g) light brown sugar, lightly packed
  • 1/2 cup (83g) coconut sugar
  • 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
  • 1/4 cup (45g) olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cups (163g) unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp corn starch
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2/3 cup crushed potato chips (I used kettle cooked)
  • 1/4-1/2 cup jam or jelly (I used strawberry jam)

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 325°F and spray an 8x8" baking dish or pan with non-stick spray. Line the dish with parchment paper, folding the excess over two sides of the dish. Trim the paper so you have about 1/4" folded over the sides - this allows you to pull the bars out later before slicing.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, sugars, egg, egg yolk, olive oil, and vanilla until everything is well combined; set aside.
  3. In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, corn starch, baking soda, and salt. Add these dry ingredients to the wet and use a large spoon or spatula to mix everything together.
  4. Gently stir in the crushed potato chips - this step/ingredient is totally optional and can be skipped if you'd prefer your bars without potato chips.
  5. Press the dough into your prepared baking dish, creating an even layer. Use the back of a spoon to press small wells into the top of the dough (8 or 9 will do). Spoon the jam/jelly into the wells and then use the spoon to gently swirl the jam over the surface of the cookie dough.
  6. Bake the cookie bars at 325°F for 14-16 minutes. Allow the bars to cool completely before removing from the baking dish to slice - use the parchment paper "handles" to lift the entire dessert up and out of the baking dish and onto a cutting board. Slice into 9 equal squares (or 16 smaller squares).
  7. Store leftovers in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature.
© Rachael | Sugared & Stirred
Cuisine: American / Category: Bars

Did you make this recipe?  I would love to see!

Tag @sugaredandstirred on Instagram and hashtag #sugaredandstirred

Filed Under: Bars, Cookies, Dairy-free Tagged With: dairy free cookie bars, peanut butter and jelly bars, peanut butter and jelly cookie bars, peanut butter and jelly cookies, peanut butter and jelly desserts, peanut butter bars, peanut butter cookie bars

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Meet Rachael

Hi! I’m Rachael, a home baker who creates dairy-free, indulgent treats. As a sweets lover and former candy addict, I believe we shouldn’t have to give up everything we love in pursuit of wellness. That’s why I create delicious and approachable desserts that you can enjoy, in moderation, no matter your goals! Because, let’s face it, sometimes you just need a giant slice of frosted cake, sans guilt! Read More…

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