This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Valentine’s week is here and one of the many recipes I have created for this week of celebrating love (and football) is this fun and unique dessert, Frosted Sugar Cookie Bark! You will love this recipe. Not only does the super thick, chewy sugar cookie base just melt in your mouth and provide the most satisfying and addictive texture, but the frosting is just sweet enough, reminiscent of cinnamon roll icing. The sprinkles on top add a crunchy bite making this recipe a fan favorite of all ages. The best part is that you can adapt this recipe to any holiday or occasion. Cutting this bark into shapes was almost as fun as eating it. There is something so appealing about these cookies being broken into rustic pieces that just makes them even more craveable.
What is cookie bark?
A thick and chewy sugar cookie (or cookie flavor of your choice) with crisp edges serves as a base. It’s then frosted with buttery hardening frosting, lots of sprinkles and broken into rustic pieces making this a unique a fun frosted sugar cookie bark!
Ingredients in Frosted Sugar Cookie Bark:
I use my favorite thick and chewy sugar cookie recipe along with my favorite hardening buttercream recipe (very similar to a cinnamon roll frosting). Let’s review what ingredients you’ll need:
Cookie Base:
- Flour: All-purpose flour is the base of this cookie bark
- Baking Soda & Baking Powder: These help the cookie bark rise.
- Salt: Salt brings all the flavors to the forefront!
- Butter: Use room temp butter by leaving it out for a few hours on the counter. If you’re in a pinch for time, heat it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, turning every 5 seconds.
- Granulated Sugar: No brown sugar here. We use all granulated sugar – a ecessary ingredient for the classic sugar cookie taste and color.
- Eggs: We use 1 egg and 1 egg yolk for the chewiest sugar cookie bark. The extra egg yolk also adds tenderness and extra richness to this frosted sugar cookie bark.
- Vanilla Extract: A full tablespoon of pure vanilla extract adds delicious vanilla flavor.
Frosting:
- Butter: use room temperature butter for the base of this buttercream-like frosting
- Powdered Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the frosting harden so these cookie bark pieces can be easily bagged up for gifting.
- Almond Extract: A tad of almond extract adds just a little “oooh hello, what’s that!?” flavor to the frosting.
- Vanilla Extract: Pure vanilla extra adds a delicious vanilla flavor. Be weary of vanilla “flavor” as it’s artificial and can add an icky taste to your baked goods.
- Whole Milk: thins out the texture of this frosting so it’s easily spreadable – very similar to a cinnamon roll frosting.
No Cookie Dough Chilling Needed!
Because we’re baking the cookie bark in a 9×13 baking dish, we don’t have to chill the cookie dough or roll individual cookies. Simply make the cookie dough and spread it into your prepared greased baking dish. It will never overspread because it’s contained in the dish– simple and easy!
How to make Frosted Sugar Cookie Bark?
1) Start with this perfect sugar cookie recipe as the base – extremely thick and chewy (some say it tastes like pound cake meets sugar cookie) but crisp on the outer edges. These are the perfect combination of chewy and crispy cookies that hold firm but melt in your mouth!
2) Bake the cookie base – in a greased 9×13 baking dish, bake the cookie cake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
3) Allow cookie bark base to cool – since the cookie bark base is so thick, it will take a full hour to cool. Keep it in the pan and allow it to cool on a cooling rack so air can circulate under the baking dish.
4) Turn out cookie base – Once it’s fully cooled, turn it out onto a parchment paper lined sheet pan, flipping it right side up.
5) Prepare the frosting – make the frosting following the recipe instructions and immediately pour it onto the cookie base, spreading out evenly with an offset spatula.
7) Just add sprinkles! – Using sprinkles of your choice based on the holiday or occasion, layer on the sprinkles immediately before the frosting sets up (within two minutes).
8) Cut into pieces – A large kitchen knife can be used to cut into random shapes to break the cookie bark into pieces.
My Valentine’s Sprinkles (Pictured):
Here are the products I used for the cookie bark photos in this post. I bought all of them on Amazon:
Looking for More Cookies & Dessert Recipes:
- Soft-Batch Triple Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
- Peanut Butter & Chocolate Shortbread Cups
- Reese’s Pieces Chocolate Cookies
- Girl Scout Tagalong Cookies Copycat Recipe
- Sweet Martha’s Cookie Jar Cookies
- Copycat Double Dark Milano Cookies
Frosted Sugar Cookie Bark
Ingredients
Cookie Bark Base
- 1 cup salted butter
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- nonstick baking spray
Hardening Buttercream Frosting
- ½ cup butter softened (one stick) room temperature, salted or unsalted
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 4-5 tablespoons heavy cream substitute half and half or milk
- Sprinkle variety of choice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9x13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Place the butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. or in a large mixing bowl using a hand mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add egg + extra yolk, one at a time and mix on low until smooth, about 30 seconds. Beat in vanilla.
- Slowly mix in dry ingredients, being careful not to over mix. I usually stop when I still have some flour remnants around the bowl.
- Evenly spread the cookie dough to the bottom of the prepared baking dish. I used gloved hands as it takes a lot of handling to smooth out evenly.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, turning the dish halfway through. Cookie base is done when the edges are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Be careful not to over bake. Allow to cool in the baking dish until fully cool (about an hour).
Frosting
- Once the cookie base has fully cooled, turn out onto a parchment lined sheet pan, flipping right side up.
- In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, whip butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar. Add vanilla and almond extracts and heavy cream and mix until smooth. Texture will be thick. Melt your icing in the microwave for about 30-45 second until it's smooth and runny.
- Pour icing directly onto the cookie base. Use an offset spatula to smooth out corner to corner. Immediately add sprinkles before the frosting has a chance to cool.
- Once frosting has hardened (about 20 minutes), use a large kitchen knife to break into cookie bark. You should get about ~24 pieces of bark.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
