These easy homemade cookie bars use blueberries, raspberries and an easy white vanilla frosting to make an American flag. The homemade cookie base is part sugar cookie with a little bit of oatmeal for texture.
If you are looking for a fun patriotic dessert to serve at Memorial Day, the 4th of July, or Veterans Day, you are in the right place. These yummy soft cookie bars have a fluffy frosting and fresh fruit decoration that makes it a fun American sweet treat.
Cookie bars are such a lovely time saver of a dessert. You don’t have to chill the dough.
You also save the time of scooping out dozens of cookies and rotating trays through the oven. Instead you just pat it into a pan and toss it in the oven.
The resulting cookies usually have a crispy edge and soft center, so there is a piece for every preference. Plus you can frost and decorate the whole thing in a matter of minutes.
This particular cookie bar recipe is topped with fruit like a cookie pizza, but obviously the rectangle shape makes it look like a flag. Using blueberries and raspberries for decoration makes it patriotic in a flash.
The Cookie Layer
The base of these bars is a super simple cookie recipe. It is very much like a vanilla sugar cookie bar, but has a little oatmeal mixed in for texture.
I tend to use a lot of salted butter. It is easy and versatile, plus you can keep a stick on the counter to butter your bread.
If you use unsalted butter, add a quarter teaspoon of salt to the recipe. It adds a little bit of balance to the dough.
Otherwise the dough is simple and can be. You could make it without a mixer, but it is easier to use one.
Just cream together the room temperature butter and some white sugar. Stir in some vanilla and an egg.
Then add some flour and oatmeal, mixing to combine. Press the dough into a parchment lined 9×13″ pan and bake it until it is lightly golden brown.
Allow it to cool completely before decorating. You can serve it in the pan, but once cooled the cookie bars can be easily lifted out using the parchment paper.
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Place on a serving tray or large cutting board for a nice presentation. Then get ready to decorate.
The Fluffy Frosting Layer
Of course a good fruit pizza needs a yummy frosting. This easy recipe uses instant pudding and Cool Whip for big vanilla flavor.
Just quickly whisk together a package of vanilla instant pudding with a cup of cold milk. It should start to thicken up as you go.
Now stir in a little bit of powdered sugar for stability. Once it is combined, fold in a container of whipped topping.
Now chill the frosting until you are ready to use it. Giving it a few minutes in the refrigerator will help it to finish setting up.
Decorating the Fruit Pizza Like a Flag
If you prefer keeping it simple, you can just spread the icing over the cooled cookie bars.
If you want a little bit more pizzazz, put a star tip in a piping bag. Pipe stars of white frosting across the whole cookie.
Alternatively you can spread half of the frosting on the cookie and pipe the rest of the frosting between the stripes of raspberries.
Arrange the blueberries in a square in the upper left corner. Then arrange the raspberries to make the red stripes across the cookie flag.
If you don’t have raspberries, you can use halved strawberries instead. You could even use some cherry pie filling to make the red stripes if you want.
The possibilities are endless and they would all be delicious. No matter how you decide to go, it is sure to be a hit at the party.
Serve this with an American flag vegetable tray and you will be the most patriotic host around!
American Flag Cookie Bars
Ingredients
Cookie Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter softened
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
Frosting Ingredients
- 3.4 oz vanilla instant pudding mix
- 1 cup milk
- ⅓ cup powder sugar
- 16 oz whipped topping from the freezer; thawed
For Decoration
- 1 cup blueberries
- 12 oz package raspberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13 cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Using the paddle attachment on an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth.1 cup butter
- Add sugar mix until light and fluffy.⅔ cup granulated sugar
- Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined.1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Gradually add flour mixing well.2½ cups all purpose flour
- Mix in oats until well incorporated1 cup old fashioned oats
- Press cookie dough into your lined baking sheet until even. Poke holes with a fork throughout the dough to keep the cookie from puffing up too much.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Put on a wire rack until completely cool before decorating.
- Whisk instant pudding with milk until pudding consistency.3.4 oz vanilla instant pudding mix, 1 cup milk
- Whisk in powder sugar until well incorporated.⅓ cup powder sugar
- Fold in whipped topping16 oz whipped topping from the freezer; thawed
- Refrigerate until ready to use
- Once cool, spread a thin layer of frosting across the entire sugar cookie cake.
- Add blueberries to the top left corner. Add raspberries in rows to resemble the red stripes in our flag.1 cup blueberries, 12 oz package raspberries
- Add a star frosting tip to the end of a large bag. Snip the corner and set the frosting tip in place. If you do not have a frosting tip you can just cut a corner of the ziplock and use it with no frosting tip.
- Add frosting to the zip lock and add a pipe in between the red stripes to represent the white stripes in our flag.
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At first I thought it was a cake but I love that these are bars! Happy memorial day my sweet friend!
It would be a fun way to decorate a cake too! Thanks, Andrea!