This Christmas, when you plan your family movie night to watch How The Grinch Stole Christmas, you’ve got to make these! Grinch Sugar Cookie Bars are homemade sugar cookie bars with green sprinkles inside, topped with green frosting and a heart that’s two sizes too small.
Grinch Sugar Cookie Bars
Whether you like the classic version of the movie, the fun Jim Carrey version of the newer animated one, everyone loves The Grinch. It’s one of those Christmas movies that you just have to watch every year. It’s tradition!
At our house, each year that we sit down to watch, we make a couple Grinch-inspired treats. You could even have a whole party if you wanted with Grinch Punch, Grinch Pretzels or Grinch Popcorn. Heck, make all of them!
Ingredients You Need
To make the sugar cookie bars here is what you’ll need to have on hand. Most of these things are pantry staples you might already have.
- All-Purpose Flour: Not self-rising or cake flour for these.
- Cornstarch: This is key for the right texture in cookies and cookie bars.
- Baking Powder: Also for the proper texture and consistency.
- Fine Sea Salt: This dissolves in batter quickly.
- Sugar: Regular, granulated sugar.
- Butter: Unsalted and at room temperature.
- Vanilla Extract: Using pure vanilla will help you get the best flavor.
- Eggs
- Sprinkles: We used Jimmy sprinkles (these are usually for ice cream toppings) simply because the color doesn’t bleed as much as regular.
Here are the ingredients you need for the homemade icing. Many of these ingredients were also in the bars. If you want to save some time you’re welcome to grab a container of white icing and simply color it green.
- Unsalted Butter: This helps control the amount of salt in the bars.
- Powdered Sugar: Also called confectioners sugar.
- Fine Sea Salt: You can exchange for regular table salt as well.
- Vanilla: Pure vanilla extract.
- Whole Milk: Milk with high fat content is best for baking.
- Food Coloring: Red, yellow and green.
How To Make Grinch Sugar Cookie Bars
- Prepare. Line your baking dish with parchment paper and preheat the oven.
- Make the dough. For the bars, first stir dry ingredients together. Separately, cream together the butter and sugar and add in one egg at a time. Next, the vanilla. Once that is all creamy, you can stir in the dry ingredient mix. The last step is to fold in sprinkles.
- Bake. Press the batter into your prepared pan and bake for about 25 minutes.
- Make the frosting. Start by mixing softened butter and small amounts of powdered sugar slowly until it is all mixed. Then, add in salt, vanilla, and milk and whip until it looks creamy like frosting. Color half the frosting bright green by using a combination of green and yellow dye and the other half red.
- Decorate. Ice the sugar cookie bars and slice them into squares. Add red hearts ton each. Wilton has a great, easy to follow tutorial on how to pipe out these little hearts!
How To Store Grinch Cookies
You can store any leftover cookie bars in an airtight container for up to 5 days at room temperature. Or, you can freeze these for up to 3 months.
Cookie Flavor Variations
Add different flavored extracts with the vanilla, like mint, almond, or cake batter for a fun flavor twist.
More Delicious Christmas Treats:
Grinch Sugar Cookie Bars
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 4 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup green jimmie sprinkles
Frosting Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- pinch of fine sea salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ tablespoons whole milk
- green gel food coloring
- yellow gel food coloring
- red gel food coloring
Instructions
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper or foil and spray with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside.
- In a separate bowl with an electric hand mixer, cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy, 2 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time, letting the first egg mix all the way in before adding the next.
- Add the vanilla and mix it in until combined.
- Add the flour mixture and stir it in until combined, scrape down the sides, and mix it in a few more times until fully mixed in.
- Add the sprinkles and stir them in.
- Press the cookie dough into the prepared baking dish.
- Bake for 25-28 minutes until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Place on a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the bars cool, make the frosting by placing the butter into a large bowl.
- With an electric hand mixer, add in the powdered sugar a little at a time until fully mixed.
- Add the salt, vanilla, and milk, stir it in until combined then place the mixer on medium-high speed and whip for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Place about ½ cup of the frosting in a small bowl. Color the larger amount of frosting with the green and yellow food coloring until it reaches your desired color. Add red food coloring to the smaller bowl of frosting.
- Once the cookie is cool, take it out of the baking dish and frost the top with the green frosting.
- Place the red frosting into a piping bag fitted with a number 12 round tip.
- Add the hearts and serve.
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