Birthday cookie bars are easy to make, turn out perfectly chewy, and are filled with sprinkles and white chocolate chips. This recipe requires no chilling time, no mixer, and they're ready in less than an hour!
Birthday cake cookies have been a reader-favorite recipe for years. They're made from scratch but taste just like your favorite vanilla birthday cake.
I decided to make a simplified bar version, much like my chocolate chip cookie bars. I love bar cookies because the entire batch is baked at once and there's no need to portion individual cookies onto a baking sheet.
These birthday cake cookie bars turn out chewy and sweet because we're using melted butter and more brown sugar than granulated sugar. Since there's no need to form the dough into balls, we're using less flour, which enhances the flavors of the other ingredients (butter, sugar, vanilla, and almond).
Make these birthday cookie bars for your next celebration, birthday party, or just because. You can have a batch ready in less than an hour!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Unsalted butter - Can be substituted with salted butter. Reduce the amount of salt listed by ½ teaspoon.
- Brown sugar - Adds a caramelized flavor to your cookies as well as extra moisture and chewiness. Brown sugar is also slightly acidic, which reacts with the baking soda and helps your bars rise.
- Granulated sugar - Gives your cookies a crispy edge and attracts moisture, making your cookies moist. I do not recommend using sugar-free substitutes.
- Eggs - Bring eggs to room temperature quickly by placing in a bowl of warm water. They'll be ready in minutes. Adding cold eggs to room temperature batter causes the butter to solidify, creating chunks of cold butter and egg throughout the batter. Room temperature eggs incorporate evenly into the batter.
- Vanilla extract - Adds vanilla flavor to the cookie bars. I don't recommend omitting it from this recipe for best flavor.
- Almond extract - A small amount of almond extract combined with the vanilla helps create that 'boxed birthday cake' flavor. If you don't like almond, it can be omitted without affecting the recipe.
- All-purpose flour - Balances with the wet ingredients and add structure to the bars. I have not tested this recipe with other types of flour. Other flours (like almond flour or coconut flour) cannot simply be substituted at 1:1 ratio. If you would like to bake using other flours, I highly suggest searching for a recipe that has been written specifically for those ingredients.
- Baking soda - Works with the acidic ingredients in the recipe to help your bars rise in the oven. Do not substitute with baking powder - these two ingredients are different and cannot be substituted for one another.
- Salt - Salt enhances the flavor of your other ingredients and cuts the sweetness of your cookie bars. Not enough salt is added to make your cookies "salty". If using salted butter, reduce the amount of salt listed by ½ teaspoon.
- White chocolate chips - Add sweetness and reminds me of buttercream frosting on a birthday cake.
- Sprinkles - I recommend rainbow jimmies sprinkles for best results. Nonpareils (the tiny round sprinkles) tend to bleed when added to dough.
Tips and tricks
To bring eggs to room temperature quickly - Place whole eggs into a bowl and cover with very warm tap water. Eggs come to room temperature in about 10 minutes using this method.
Properly measure your flour - Too much flour can cause your bars to turn out thick and dry. Either use a kitchen scale to weigh your flour (this is what I do and recommend), or spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level off with a knife. Scooping with the measuring cup directly from a bin of flour compacts it into the cup, adding up to 25% extra flour to the recipe. Check out my flour measuring test on my post 10 tips for baking cookies to see the weight difference of each measuring method!
Don't overmix the flour - This recipe requires only a spoon and bowl. There's no need to mix for a long period of time using a hand mixer or stand mixer. Overmixing the flour can overwork the gluten, causing your bars to turn out tough. Stir gently until you no longer see streaks of flour.
Pan size - You'll need a 9x13 inch baking pan for this recipe. I recommend lining your pan with parchment paper so the bars can easily be lifted from the pan once they're done baking.
Checking for doneness - Your bars should look lightly browned all across the top of the pan. Use a toothpick inserted into the center. If it comes out with wet batter, your bars need more time. If it comes out with crumbs or nothing at all, your bars are ready to come out of the oven.
Storage
Cookie bars will keep for 5-7 days in a sealed container. To help keep bars fresh, place a slice of bread in the container with the bars. Replace the bread slice as needed.
Cookie bars also freeze well and keep for up to 3 months. To thaw, place on the countertop to bring to room temperature for 1 to 2 hours.
Frequently asked questions
No. This recipe will not bake into individual cookies. This recipe has more of a batter consistency (like thick brownie batter) rather than cookie dough, which is too thin to form individual cookies.
Check out my birthday cake cookies recipe if you'd like to make cookies with the same flavor. It utilizes more flour for stability and also requires chilling time to prevent spreading in the oven.
This bar recipe uses slightly less flour than my birthday cake cookie recipe since we're not concerned with spreading or holding shape in the oven. Otherwise, both recipes are made with the same ingredients. Bars take considerably less time to prepare since the dough doesn't need to be refrigerated or portioned into individual cookies.
Dry baked goods can happen for several reasons. If any of the moisture-adding ingredients have been reduced, like sugar, butter, or eggs, this can cause baked goods to turn out dry. If too much flour was added (I recommend weighing your flour or using the spoon and level method), baked goods can turn out dry. Lastly, baking too long in the oven can dry out baked goods. Allow your bars to cool completely before slicing and serving, because slicing into hot bars releases steam, which dries them out.
Recommended
📖 Recipe
Birthday Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup (213 g) brown sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 2 ¼ cups (270 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup (80 g) rainbow sprinkles
- 12 ounces (340 g) white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9x13 baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, add melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Stir to combine. Add eggs, vanilla extract, and almond extract and stir until incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Gradually stir dry ingredients into butter mixture until just combined. Add sprinkles and white chocolate chips and gently stir until just combined.
- Pour batter into 9x13 pan and use a spoon to spread evenly to the edges.
- Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until evenly browned across the top and set in the center. Use a toothpick in the center to check for doneness. Remove from oven and allow to cool before slicing and serving.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- Storage: Cookie bars will keep for 5-7 days in a sealed container. To help keep bars fresh, place a slice of bread in the container with the bars. Replace the bread slice as needed.
- Freezing: Cookie bars freeze well, up to 3 months in a sealed plastic container or freezer bag.
- Want to make cookies?: This batter is too thin to make into individual cookies. To make cookies instead, try my recipe for birthday cake cookies
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