For the Fourth of July, serve Easy Sugar Cookie Bars with red, white, and blue fresh berries on top. Made with a delicious cream cheese frosting!

easy sugar cookie bars in a pan with white frosting and summer berries

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Friends, this is the BEST fruit pizza recipe–made with any kind of fruit on top, with a dreamy cream cheese frosting! I promise, it’s a family favorite. I’d say “crowd-pleaser” but now with our gatherings being smaller, we’re not really cooking for the crowds, are we?

Easy Sugar Cookie Bars

We still love a big family or friend gathering through! And we’ll be hosting for the 4th of July this year, and serving this Sugar Cookie Bars recipe!

red, white, and blue dessert of sugar cookie bars with white frosting and red and blue berries

What to serve this year for the 4th?

This easy appetizer: 4th of July Blueberry Caprese Skewers or for a larger gathering, this Epic July 4th Charcuterie Board.

This lovely salad: Grilled Avocado Mango Shrimp Salad or Quinoa and Currant Summer Salad Recipe or the most popular salad on my blog, Summer Italian Spaghetti Salad Recipe.

Grill this chicken: Best Grilled Chicken Thighs or Pineapple Mango Grilled Chicken Skewers or Asian Grilled Chicken.

Dessert? Easy Sugar Cookie Bars and Millie’s Old Fashioned Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream! (Millie is my mom!)

holding a baking sheet of sugar cookie bars with frosting and berries

What are Sugar Cookie Bars?

This recipe crust is made up of 5 ingredients:

  • Butter
  • Powdered sugar
  • Flour
  • Egg
  • Almond extract

The cream cheese frosting is made up of:

  • White chocolate chips
  • Heavy cream
  • Light Cream Cheese

Add your favorite toppings

Sugar Cookie Bars are baked on a cookie sheet, and then frosted with a thick white chocolate chip frosting.

Change up the frosting color and sprinkles, or the seasonal berries, according to the occasion or holiday!

We love this dessert with fresh blueberries!

a baking pan of easy sugar cookie bars (crust) with white cream cheese frosting and fresh summer berries

Fresh summer blueberries

I’m a huge blueberry fan, and I came across this that I had written in my journal awhile back from Jack London in 1906:

“I shall never forget the first time I saw blueberries served on the table. I had never seen blueberries before, and yet, at the sight of them, there leaped up in my mind memories of dreams wherein I had wandered through swampy land, eating my fill of them. My mother set before me a dish of the berries. I filled my spoon, but before I raised it to my mouth, I knew just how they would taste. Nor was I disappointed. It was the same tang that I had tasted a thousand times in my sleep.” –The Complete Novels by Jack London

close up of sugar cookie bars in a pan, with fresh blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and white frosting

How to make Sugar Cookie Bars

  1. Prep your pan with cooking spray. Grease either a quarter sheet pan, a 9 x 13-inch baking dish, or a 12-inch round pizza pan with cooking spray.
  2. Make the sugar cookie dough with 3 simple ingredients. Mix with a wooden spoon—no hand or standup mixer needed!
  3. Press the dough into the baking pan.
  4. TIP: Spray your fingertips with cooking spray as you press the crust.
  5. That’s it—bake and cool!

a baking sheet of sugar cookie bars with frosting and berries

Now for the cream cheese frosting

  1. Whisk together the frosting ingredients until smooth. I like to melt (on 50%) in the microwave the chips to get them soft, and then do the same for a few seconds with the cream cheese.
  2. The frosting comes together very nice and smooth.
  3. Spread on top of the cookie crust.
  4. Prepare your fruit (wash and dry) and lay down on the bars. Do this while it’s semi-wet, so the berries will stick to the frosting.

Best served immediately, but okay to make a few hours ahead.

Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to 48 hours.

a baking sheet of sugar cookie bars with frosting and red and blue berries

Possible variations:

  • 4th of July: Festive red and blue berries. Or get creative and make a flag, with white coconut or bananas, and berries.
  • Valentine’s Day: Red cherries, strawberries, or raspberries in the shape of a heart. Or, add anything chocolate, or candy!
  • Easter: Make an egg with fruit or berries or pastel M&Ms.
  • Halloween: Candy corn!
  • Thanksgiving: Use fruit or candy to spell out “GIVE THANKS”.
  • Christmas: Make a wreath or tree on top with candy or fruit.

You can also make individual bars!

Have fun creating, and ENJOY!

holding a baking sheet of sugar cookie bars with frosting and berries
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Get the Recipe:

Easy Sugar Cookie Bars

The pan size we used was a 11 1/2 x 15 1/2 baking sheet.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 16
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Ingredients
 

Cookie:

  • ¾ cup butter
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 1 ½ cups flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract

Frosting:

  • 11 oz. package white chips
  • ¼ cup cream
  • 8 oz. cream cheese, we used light cream cheese
  • Berries: blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries

Instructions
 

  • For the crust: Mix the first 5 ingredients well and press onto a cookie sheet or pizza pan. Bake at 300° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool.
  • For the filling (next 3 ingredients): Melt the chips in the microwave or stove top; soften the cream cheese. Mix together and add the cream. Stir until smooth. Spread onto the cooled crust.
  • Arrange a variety of berries (or favorite toppings) on top while the frosting is soft.
  • Dessert should be served within 24 hours (or the crust gets soft).
Cuisine: American
Course: Dessert
Did you make this recipe?Tag @reluctantentertainer on Instagram and hashtag it #reluctantentertainer!

close up of a pan of sugar cookie bars with fresh berries