These soft Glazed Berry Sugar Bars are bursting with summer berry flavors! The cookie is soft and buttery, the berries are sweet and flavorful and it’s all topped with a creamy sugar glaze!
I’m trying to make the most of what we have left of summer. I hate it.
I feel like in NJ we waited until July for summer to actually start and now it’s August and it’s almost over! Don’t get me wrong, I do love me some fall cozies and a good PSL, but oh summer, you’re gone too fast.
I am sure in other parts of the country you’re DYING for a reprieve from the hot temperatures. I grew up in Houston, I get it for sure. And I guess it’s not just the warmer temperatures I am already beginning to mourn, it’s the fact that my babies will be starting school soon. I love them being home. I hate it when they go to school…most of the time… and of course I know the times that they are spending with me now are fleeting. Ugh I hate time passing. Hate.
But at least we still have summer fruit. There’s always that.
Womp womp.
Today I decided to fatten up some berries by introducing them to the sugar cookie bar. They are now officially the best of friends.
The soft cookie base is the perfect partner in crime for the sweet berries. Oh and did I mention I topped the whole situation with a sweet sugar glaze.
I mean look at the gorgeousness of these berries…
I know you will ask, so please note you can use any combo of berries. I did try this recipe with strawberries, however, and I found they made my cookie base a little wetter than I like. Maybe I just got an especially juicy batch of strawberries, who knows! But if you want to use all raspberries, go for it…all blueberries, suit yourself…I just like the combo of all the berries because it looks cute and tastes cuter.
Just whip up the simple sugar cookie base and spread 2/3 of it into a lined and greased pan.
Then top it with your berries, which you will coat with sugar and cornstarch (before adding them).
And then just randomly drop the remaining sugar cookie dough on top.
Bake it and and pour your gorgeous glaze all over!
I use a ton of glaze on these bars, but you don’t have to. Feel free to use as much, or as little as you like!
When they’re cooled you can slice them up and eat them with your fingers or with a fork…depending on how civilized you want to be!
Enjoy the rest of your summer!
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Glazed Berry Sugar Cookie Bars
- Yield: 20 bars 1x
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 3 cups fresh berries, I used blueberries, raspberries and blackberries
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg, plus 1 yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups flour
Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C
- Line a 9×9 baking dish with aluminum foil and coat with cooking/baking spray. Set aside.
- In a small bowl combine 1/3 cup granulated sugar with the cornstarch. Place the berries in a medium bowl and sprinkle the cornstarch mixer on top, tossing the berries to coat them evenly. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix the butter and 3/4 cup of sugar together on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add in the egg, yolk, vanilla, salt and baking powder and mix for another minute until smooth. Turn the speed to low and add in the flour, mixing until just incorporated.
- Press 2/3 of the dough into the prepared pan. Top this evenly with the prepared berries. Next drop the remaining dough by the teaspoon-ful evenly onto the berries. This will not cover the berries completely.
- Bake the bars for 35-40 minutes until the bars are set in the middle and lightly golden on top.
- Remove the pan from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
- Meanwhile prepare the glaze by whisking the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla together until smooth. Pour this on top of the warm bars.
- Allow the bars to cool completely before cutting into pieces.
This summer has gone way to fast! These are beautiful bars. Yum!
This will soothe my raging sweet-tooth very nicely!
It does not look like anyone commenting so far actually baked this (even the 5 people who gave it 5 stars). I will say that I actually baked his recipe and followed it exactly (including the suggested three types of berries). It is truly outstanding. An explosion of flavor. Bakery quality. This needs NOTHING. No additional berry garnish, no ice cream, no whipped cream…nothing. It also looks as wonderful as it tastes. The problem is that it only uses a 9×9 pan and I promise you I did NOT get 20 (suggested servings), maybe 9 servings . And even at that everyone, including me was fighting for the last piece. BRAVO!!!!!!
I am an absolute sucker for anything with glaze or ‘icing’ on it. I’m British, and icing is a huge deal in the UK, it’s added to so many different desserts, so I’m addicted. These look amazing with the glaze. Plus, they look easy to make and I am a terrible cook (I love perusing food blogs, I’m just not always great at replicating some of the recipes :). Will definitely be trying them. Thanks 🙂
Hi Shelly,
Oh I am so glad that I found this recipe. I have some fresh berries in my frig right now and I was looking for a new recipe to try. This one fits the bill! Can’t wait to try it and will tweak it to be gluten free.
Linda
Fresh berries are so expensive in our area. I have the frozen triple berries from Costco. Do you think that if they were thawed and drained they would work? This recipe looks like the bomb! {I am a lots of glaze lover too!}
Yes, just try to dry them as much as you can before adding the thawed on the dough!
Thanks for the tip about drying the berries. I love all you recipes and photos.
Thank you so much!!
I don’t understand why you cannot use strawberries in this ?…please explzain. It still looks wonderful and I am seriously in love with blackberrys !!!
I guess I should clarify…I don’t *recommend strawberries because I tried the recipe with them and found that they made the sugar cookie base a little wetter than I preferred. But please, if you want to use them let me know how it goes!
hiii… thanks for all the great treats u post… I like the idea of this – immediately thought of using strawberries… why did u say everything *but* strawberries???
You can try it if you would like! I have made it with strawberries and found them to make the bars a little too wet. I sliced them so they would be bite sized… But certainly if you try it, let me know how it goes!
I made this tonight Shelly… I used strawberries raspberries and blueberries… I understand what you were saying about it being too moist… but I didn’t find that… I liked it – it was *delicious*…
Awesome!! So glad to hear the strawberries worked for you!!!
These bars (and that GLAAAAAZE) look so good! I haven’t baked with fruit nearly enough this summer and now I know how I am going to remedy that!
Loved the cookie base. Yum
Thank you