Strawberry lemon sugar cookie bars are what summer is made of. Fresh, sweet and tangy and made from the BEST sugar cookie dough. These are best served immediately or made ahead of time and adding the diced strawberries RIGHT before serving. This post contains an affiliate link.
You might also like our homemade lemon curd, blueberry lemon cobbler or our raspberry lemon turnovers.
Watch our step by step video!
Strawberry Lemon Sugar Cookie Bars
These sugar cookie bars are one of my favorite variations of our favorite sugar cookie recipe. Other variations include our lemon sugar cookies, red white and blue mini fruit pizzas, and cinnamon red hots sugar cookies. It's such a good recipe and can be customized so many different ways!
Sugar cookie bars are perfect for anyone who hates rolling out cookie dough and dealing with cutters. These are so quick and easy! Soft, perfectly cooked and covered in a TANGY lemon frosting. Right before serving I sprinkle them with fresh diced strawberries. Perfection!
These are so great to bring to parties. One sheet pan makes 40 bars, so there are plenty to share.
Lemon Frosting for cookie bars
If you've ever made a fruit pizza you know that fresh fruit will eventually become juicy and the cookie base can eventually become soggy. That's why it's important to have a good frosting to coat the cookie bars with. A cream cheese based frosting works great for a substantial coating. You can use your favorite cream cheese frosting recipe and add lemon zest and a bit of lemon juice to it, but my favorite lemon frosting is our lemon buttercream frosting. I thin it out just a bit with extra lemon juice. You'll find the recipe below. It is absolutely divine!
Serving Cookie Bars With Fresh Fruit
Bake up your bars, allow them to cool completely then frost. You can keep them on the counter or in the refrigerator. Right before serving, sprinkle 2 cups of diced strawberries over the bars then cut into slices!
If you don't intend on eating all of the bars in one day, cut the bars BEFORE adding the fruit, then sprinkle the strawberries over each individual bar before serving. Sugar cookie bars without fruit will stay fresh (covered) 3-5 days!
No matter what you do, these strawberry lemon cookie bars are delicious and will taste the same whether they have day old juicy strawberries or fresh, clean cut, strawberries.
Strawberry Lemon Sugar Cookie Bars Recipe
Strawberry Lemon Sugar Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 c. butter* room temperature
- ½ c. shortening
- 1 ½ c. sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ tsp. vanilla
- 2 tsp. almond extract
- 3 ½ c. flour
- ½ c. cornstarch
- 2 tsp. baking powder
Frosting:
- ½ c. butter softened
- 3 c. powdered sugar sifted
- 3-4 T. lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp. lemon zest (zest from 2 lemons)
Topping
- 2 cups strawberries diced
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl combine butter, shortening, and sugar. Beat until fluffy.
- Add egg, vanilla and almond extract. Mix.
- In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients.
- Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until a soft dough forms. Dough will be soft, but slightly crumbly.
- Press dough into a sheet pan (13" x 18")
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes.
- Cool completely.
- Mix frosting ingredients together until fluffy. Frost cookie bars.
- Sprinkle with strawberries RIGHT before serving. If making these ahead of time, frost the cooled cookie bars and store fruit seperately until ready to serve. Cookie bars can be stored in the refrigerator or on the counter. Once fruit has been added, serve imediately. Leftover bars with fruit should be kept in the refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
TIPS AND FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FOR MAKING SUGAR COOKIE BARS:
Note: If you use salted butter, no additional salt is required. If you use unsalted butter, add 1 tsp. of salt in with your dry ingredients.
Tip: sprinkle dough with a small amount of flour as you are pressing into the pan to prevent it it from sticking to your hands.
Tip: when you cut the bars, use a sharp knife and clean the frosting off with a paper towel after each line of cutting. This makes for clean edges and beautiful sugar cookie bars when they come out of the pan.
Tip: Use an angled frosting spatula for perfect spreading!
Tip: I like using sheet pans instead of a casserole dish. These are my FAVORITE sheet pans to use for baking.
Brandy says
Hi everyone! Brandy here, these cookie bars are so fresh and delicious. I made another batch to bring to a strawberry-themed dessert night this week. Always a hit!