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Easter sugar cookie bars are the perfect sweet treat! Topped with a homemade coconut frosting, shredded coconut flakes, Peep candies, and jelly beans. They’re fun, festive, and so easy to make.
I love a good Easter treat like carrot cake cupcakes or a full-blown carrot cake. However, there’s a special place in my heart for these Easter sugar cookie bars.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- One batch makes 12 bars, making it perfect for family gatherings, bake sales, and more.
- From start to finish, it’s ready in just about 40 minutes.
- More than your average sugar cookie bars, this recipe is infused with sprinkles for a pop of color that makes them festive and fun.
- Leftovers keep well, meaning you can enjoy them for days.
- It’s a great way to get the kids involved in the kitchen, and they’ll love getting to decorate their own cookies!
Ingredient Notes
For this Easter sugar cookie bars recipe, I kept the ingredient list short and sweet, incorporating similar items in both the cookie dough and the frosting. Here’s everything you’ll need:
For the Sugar Cookie Bars Base
- Flour – Regular all-purpose flour forms the base of the dough. If needed, a gluten-free all-purpose flour could be used in its place.
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda – These help make the bars fluffy and soft.
- Salt – Just a pinch helps enhance the rest of the ingredients.
- Butter – Unsalted butter is softened and creamed with sugar to create a rich flavor and soft texture.
- Sugar – Regular granulated sugar is all you need to sweeten the dough.
- Eggs – Used to help provide structure to the sugar cookie bars.
- Vanilla and Almond Extract – When combined, these help enhance the natural sweetness of the dough.
- Sprinkles – I used confetti sprinkles, but any sprinkles you have on hand will work great.
For the Coconut Frosting
- Butter – Unsalted butter is whipped until creamy to form the base of the frosting.
- Powdered Sugar – This melts into the mixture, creating a smooth texture and sweet taste.
- Cream of Coconut – This helps create a smooth texture and rich flavor with subtle hints of coconut.
- Vanilla and Coconut Extract – These extracts help tie the flavors of the dough in with the frosting.
- Salt – Helps enhance the natural sweetness.
- Toppings – I used unsweetened coconut flakes, green food coloring, Easter peeps, and jelly beans to decorate the cookies.
Top Tips
- Don’t overmix! Create the batter slowly, adding ingredients one at a time and mixing just until they are smooth and well incorporated.
- Adjust the baking time. Typically, these cookie bars take between 20-24 minutes to bake. However, every oven is different. So, be sure to keep a close eye on them in the oven, and remove them as soon as the edges are golden brown and a toothpick can be inserted into the center and comes out mostly clean.
- Transfer the baked Easter sugar cookie bars to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating. This step is crucial. If you decorate too soon, the cookies are likely to crumble and fall apart under the weight of the toppings.
- Slice your cookie bars before decorating. Trust me. This makes the process so much easier!
- Feel free to use different toppings to make these Easter sugar cookie bars your own. For example, some of my favorite variations include Easter M&M’s, Chocolate bunnies, creme eggs, robin eggs, or mini eggs.
Storage
This Easter sugar cookie bars recipe is pretty much guaranteed to disappear right away. However, if you plan on making them ahead of time, they will stay fresh for several days.
For the best results, I recommend refraining from decorating them until just before serving.
When transferred to a sealable bag or airtight container, they will stay fresh at room temperature for up to 5 days. Or, feel free to freeze the plain, undecorated bars for up to 3 months!
More Recipes You Might Enjoy
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Easter Sugar Cookie Bars
Easter sugar cookie bars are the perfect sweet treat! Topped with a homemade coconut frosting, shredded coconut flakes, Peep candies, and jelly beans.
Ingredients
For The Cookie Base
- 3 & 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter , softened
- 1 & ½ cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract , optional
- ¼ cup confetti sprinkles
Coconut Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter , softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup cream of coconut
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
- pinch of salt
For assembly
- 1 & ½ cups sweetened coconut flakes
- green food coloring
- Easter Peeps
- Jelly beans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper and spray with baking spray, set aside.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to a large bowl and whisk until combined, set aside.
- In the body of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or with a hand mixer and a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time until incorporated. Add in the vanilla and almond extracts, mix until combined.
- Add the flour mixture a little at a time to the wet ingredients and mix in until just combined, with no dry patches, but do not overmix. Scrape down the sides as needed.
- Add the sprinkles and stir until just incorporated.
- Press the cookie dough into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Bake for 20-24 minutes until lightly golden brown along the edges and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
- While the cookie bar cools, make the frosting. Place the butter in the body of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer and whip the butter until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar a little at a time and mix until combined.
- Add in the cream of coconut, vanilla, coconut extract, and salt, and stir in until combined. Scrape the sides as needed. Whip on medium-high speed for 3 minutes until fluffy.
- Take the cookie bars out of the baking dish, you can use the parchment paper to help. Evenly spread the frosting on top of the bars.
- In a gallon-sized zip-topped bag, add the coconut flakes and a couple of drops of green food coloring. Close the bag and toss around until the coconut is dyed green, add more food coloring if needed to reach your desired shade.
- It is easier to serve if you cut the bars first and then sprinkle the dyed coconut on top.
- Add an Easter peep to each slice and jelly beans, and serve immediately.
Notes
- Don’t overmix! Create the batter slowly, adding ingredients one at a time and mixing just until they are smooth and well incorporated.
- Adjust the baking time. Typically, these cookie bars take between 20-24 minutes to bake. However, every oven is different. So, be sure to keep a close eye on them in the oven, and remove them as soon as the edges are golden brown and a toothpick can be inserted into the center and comes out mostly clean.
- Transfer the baked Easter sugar cookie bars to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating. This step is crucial. If you decorate too soon, the cookies are likely to crumble and fall apart under the weight of the toppings.
- Slice your cookie bars before decorating. Trust me. This makes the process so much easier!
- Feel free to use different toppings to make these Easter sugar cookie bars your own. For example, some of my favorite variations include Easter M&M’s, Chocolate bunnies, creme eggs, robin eggs, or mini eggs.
Nutrition
Calories: 656kcal | Carbohydrates: 95g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 19g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 108mg | Sodium: 199mg | Potassium: 125mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 63g | Vitamin A: 777IU | Calcium: 29mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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