Red, white and blue, and no cookie sheet required. The July Resident Recipe is a pan of frosted sugar cookie bars, printed courtesy of Your Cup of Cake.
These red, white and blue cookie bars are built for a Fourth of July table: a soft sugar cookie base pressed into one pan, a vanilla buttercream on top, and strawberries and blueberries for the colors. The recipe gives you a from-scratch base, or you can use your favorite prepared cookie dough and skip to the frosting.
The bars are baked in a 9-by-13-inch dish lined with parchment paper, which lets you lift the whole slab out once it has cooled. The recipe makes 24 bars.
Ingredients
Bars
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1 egg yolk, room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup sprinkles (optional)
Frosting
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2–3 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a 9-by-13-inch casserole dish with parchment paper. Lightly grease the sides of the pan. The parchment makes it easy to lift the cookie bars out after they have cooled.
- Using a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar for 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the egg, egg yolk, vanilla and almond extract and mix again. To bring eggs to room temperature fast, set them in a bowl of warm-to-hot water for a few minutes.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet, then add the sprinkles and mix only until combined. Turn the dough into the prepared pan and press it flat.
- Bake for 16 to 20 minutes. The edges will just barely start to turn golden. Take the pan out of the oven and set it on a cooling rack.
- For the frosting, beat the butter, vanilla and 2 cups of powdered sugar. Keep adding powdered sugar until you like the sweetness. The frosting should still be soft enough to spread easily with a knife; if it gets too thick, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of milk.
- Once the bars have cooled, lift the parchment to remove them from the pan. Frost, then top with strawberries and blueberries for the red, white and blue look. If you would rather use sprinkles, add them immediately after frosting, before it sets, or they will not stick. Cut into bars.
This story appears in the July 2026 issue of Stroll Dilworth.