Gluten Free Soft Orange Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars are easy to make and have a vibrant, bright burst of orange citrus flavor. These gluten free frosted sugar cookie bars are soft and cakey, and you can easily make them into cut-outs or drop cookies too!
If you have followed my blog at all, I think it is pretty obvious that I have quite the love affair with cookies. Especially soft frosted sugar cookies. I spent the first half of this week re-vamping my famous gluten-free soft frosted sugar cookie recipe and making the lastest (and best) version of that recipe available to anyone who signs up for my email newsletter.
Last month I re-did my headshot to be a cutesy picture of me eating one of my famous gluten-free soft frosted sugar cookies.
2 years ago I started developing the recipes for The Essential Gluten-Free Cookie Guide. And just more than a year ago it was PUBLISHED! (That is still one of my proudest accomplishments, right up there with birthing my kiddos.)
As a part of the cookbook promotion, I made an appearance on my local TV station, demoing my famous gluten-free soft frosted sugar cookies LIVE (btw, I’m 8 months pregnant in the video, not just really fat.)
And of course those gluten free soft frosted sugar cookies are my most requested treat. Whenever I go to a potluck or event I’m asked to bring them.
Those cookies are a classic, but who says that you can’t improve on or play with a classic? These sugar cookie bars have that same great cakey soft texture, with fluffy buttery frosting, but they get just a hint of citrus with some fresh orange zest in the cookie dough, and more orange zest and some fresh squeezed orange juice in the american buttercream frosting.
Plus, bar cookies are a piece of cake to make! All of the flavors, textures, and tastes, but at a fraction of the work. Of course, you can also do cut-outs or round “drop” cookies. Just follow the directions for rolling out the dough or use my lazy no-roll method. You can get the recipe for free, just by signing up for my e-newletter. (I won’t ever spam you or share your email. You just get an email update from me about once a week.)
Without further ado, here is the recipe for those bright Gluten Free Soft Orange Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars!
- Ingredients for 1 recipe gluten free sugar cookie dough
- Ingredients fo ½ batch of r Easy Homemade American Buttercream- minus the cream or milk
- 2 tablespoon orange zest, plus extra to sprinkle on top.
- 2-4 tablespoons fresh squeezed orange juice
- orange food coloring, optional (I used just a tiny bit to bump up the natural orange color.)
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Add 1 tablespoon of orange zest to the sugar in the cookie dough recipe. Stir to help the oils in the orange zest to distribute. Follow the rest of the recipe and prepare the cookie dough as written.
- Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper, press the cookie dough evenly into the pan.
- Prepare the American Buttercream omitting the cream or milk and using the fresh orange juice instead. Add 1 tablespoon of orange zest.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the top loses its doughy shine and the bottom just starts to turn golden brown.
- Cool and then frost and sprinkle with extra orange zest.
If you have been signed up for my newsletter for a long time (THANK YOU!!!) you would have gotten a link in the email I sent on 10/15/15 titled "Gluten-Free Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies for EVERYONE! +all my favorite pumpkin recipes". If you can't find it, shoot me an email. Happy Baking!
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These look so fun! I love a soft cookie and the orange is a wonderful flavor!
YUM! These look so soft and tangy! I can’t wait to try them!
~jules
These look oh so delicious and remind me of orange rolls like you have at Christmas time!
Yes! They remind me of that too.
I actually have a gluten free orange roll recipe too, perfect for Christmas and Easter!
These look AMAZING! Pinning!
Thank you Emily!
These bars look fabulous–I’ve been getting the newsletter for a few months now but can’t get the sugar cookie dough recipe. When I tried to sign up again, just got the message that I was already signed up! How do I get to the recipe page for the dough?
Hi Iris,
If you’ve been getting my newsletter then you would have gotten an email with a link to a google doc with the sugar cookie recipe on 10/15/15. Check your spam too to make sure it didn’t get bumped there.
Yes! Got it–thank you!
Hi Brianna,
You have a great website. However , when you are listing your recipe it would be a lot easier if the recipe were listed rather than clicking a link. The link did not work for me when i clicked on the sugar cookie recipe it gave me a spot to sign up for the newsletter. Thank you.
Hi Jennifer,
The gluten-free soft frosted sugar cookie recipe is an exclusive for those who are signed up for my newsletter. Just enter your email, and you’ll get the recipe within minutes. I used to have an old version of the recipe available on my website too, but I removed it because I didn’t want to confuse people. I wanted everyone to use the most current recipe so that they have the best results (and the current recipe has LOTS of changes to it.)
If you really don’t want to get emails from me, feel free to unsubscribe at any time.
Dreamy creamy orange! I love citrus frosting and flavors with baked goods. Divine!
Thank you Steph!
Hi, I would love to get the pumpkin Nutella bars recipe, can you tell me where I might find it? Thank you!
Hi Celeste, I’m sorry, I am not familiar with the pumpkin Nutella bars that you are searching for. Where did you see them? If I can, I’ll try and find them. Thanks! -Brianna