These sheet-pan sugar cookie bars are the easiest Christmas dessert you can make

There’s no better time of year to bake than the holidays! And while there are plenty of festive desserts to make — like these adorable Christmas wreath cupcakes or this three-ingredient red and green fudge — there are few things more perfect than the frosted sugar cookie. Sweet vanilla flavor, buttery softness, rich frosting and the ability to decorate in any way you can imagine? Count me in!

What if I told you there was an even easier way to make the beloved sugar cookie? That’s right, instead of laboriously rolling each ball of dough, why not simply spread the dough onto a large, non-stick baking pan and call it a day? That’s right. No rolling, stamping, chilling or any other unnecessary steps. With just one tray, you can easily have around two dozen sugar cookie bars to go around.

Our friends at Food52 recommend spreading a thick layer of vanilla-cream cheese frosting and finishing them off with red and green sprinkles.

Blogger Two Sisters Crafting, meanwhile, features a recipe that requires only six base ingredients and that includes a decadent buttercream frosting recipe for your bars once they’ve cooled. And to make their bars extra festive, they use red and green food coloring to dye the frosting festive colors before topping it all with fun sprinkles.

Just be aware that the bars won’t take on that golden brown hue you typically look for when baking. They should actually look a bit undone. Overcooking will cause them to dry out — and no one wants that!

For a slightly different take on the sugar cookie bar, check out blogger Dash Of Sanity’s recipe, which calls for two separate balls of different-colored dough. In just 40 minutes, you’ll have sugar cookie bars that look as impressive as they taste. And if you’re short on time, you can grab a store-bought frosting, which makes this simple-to-follow recipe even quicker!

Do you make traditional sugar cookies during the holidays?