Strawberries and Cream Bars
Strawberries and Cream Dessert Bars have a sugar cookie base, topped with a sweet creamy layer, ending with a sweet fresh strawberry topping.
AN EASY TO MAKE STRAWBERRY DESSERT
Looking for an amazing and easy dessert that is perfect for strawberry season? These delicious dessert squares are made of a soft sugar cookie crust, topped with a dreamy layer of cream cheese and white chocolate. A strawberry glaze, with fresh strawberries, are what top it off to perfection. It is out of this world, delicious! One of my absolute favorite desserts because it tastes like summer in a dessert!
Absolutely delicious! Perfect for strawberry season. This was a huge hit at our women’s meeting at church and everyone wanted the recipe. Thanks so much!
– Carol
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Yes, to save time, you can grab a roll or tub of the premade cookie dough and use that as the cookie bar base.
Try switching up the flavors in this recipe. A chocolate chip or chocolate cookie base can be used instead of a sugar cookie base.
Other fruits can be used: blueberries, raspberries and blackberries all work well in this recipe.
You could try chocolate chips for a chocolate covered strawberry type flavor. You could use Cool Whip instead for a Cool Whip and cream cheese mixture. You could try marshmallow fluff and cream cheese mixture too.
Yes, this is a great dessert for making ahead of time. Since this recipe needs a minimum of one hour to chill, it’s great for making earlier in the day or even the day before. I wouldn’t make it more than a day in advance though.
I don’t recommend it. Only because even when thawed, frozen strawberries will release water and it will cause the glaze to break down. This is one of those desserts that really is best with fresh.
Sure. If you want to use strawberry pie filling (or other fruit pie fillings) instead of making the strawberry layer, I do believe that would work instead.
Yes, you can use store bought strawberry glaze if desired and just add the fresh sliced strawberries to it.
If you have leftovers, you can place them in an airtight container and refrigerate them. They’ll last 4-5 days. You can try to freeze them in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months. The texture may change when thawing.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)
- Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix – see my ingredient image below so you know what to look for.
- salted butter – you could use unsalted butter but I think the very little bit of salt in the salted butter helps balance out the overall sweetness.
- egg – if you have time, allow the egg to come to room temperature, this is going to help it mix with the other ingredients much easier.
- white chocolate chips – these are going to be used to sweetened the cream cheese mixture.
- cream cheese – this needs to be softened to room temperature. If you need tips on how to soften it quicker, see my tips in How to Soften Cream Cheese Quickly post.
- fresh strawberries – this recipe was created for strawberry season so it does require fresh strawberries – see my Frequently Asked Questions above for more information on that.
- sugar – you could use a sugar substitute I think but it would need to be like Splenda for Baking where the measurements are 1:1.
- cornstarch and water – these are going to be used to thicken the glaze. I don’t recommend flour as it can come out lumpy if you’re not careful.
HOW TO MAKE STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM BARS
Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking pan with non-stick spray. In a large bowl, mix together the cookie mix, butter and egg until a dough forms. Press dough into the bottom of the baking pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until light golden brown.
Remove from oven and let cool completely. In a small, microwave-safe bowl, microwave white chocolate chips for 45 to 60 seconds or until chips are melted. Stir until smooth.
In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth. Stir in the melted chocolate chips.
Spread this mixture evenly over the cooled sugar cookie crust. Refrigerate while making the topping.
In a small bowl, crush 1 cup of the strawberries. In 2-quart saucepan, add the crushed strawberries, sugar, cornstarch and water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat and let cool 10 minutes. Gently fold in remaining strawberries. Spoon over the filling. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour or until set.
Serve and enjoy!
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
- Peaches and Cream Bars
- Peach Pie Bars
- Strawberry Cookie Cups
- Strawberries and Cream Butter Swim Biscuits
- Strawberry Cake
- Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie
- Strawberry Crumble Cheesecake Bars
- Cherry Pie Bars
- Easy Cherry Cobbler
- Strawberry Jell-O Parfaits
- Strawberry Dump Cake
- Strawberry Sauce
- Strawberry Tiramisu
- Strawberry Delight
- Strawberry Crumble
- Strawberry Poke Cake
- Strawberry Shortcake Cake
- Strawberry Shortcakes
Originally published: September 2016
Updated photos and republished: June 2025
Strawberries and Cream Bars
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 17.5 ounce pouch Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 1 large egg
For the filling:
- 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
For the topping:
- 3 cups sliced fresh strawberries (divided use)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- ⅓ cup water
Instructions
For the crust:
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking pan with non-stick spray.
- In a large bowl, mix together 17.5 ounce pouch Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix, 1/2 cup butter, softened and 1 large egg until a firm dough forms.
- Press dough into the bottom of the baking pan.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool completely.
For the filling:
- In a medium bowl, beat 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened with an electric mixer until smooth.
- In a small, microwave-safe bowl, microwave 1 cup white chocolate chips for 45 to 60 seconds or until chips are melted. Stir until smooth.
- Stir in the melted white chocolate chips with the cream cheese.
- Spread this mixture evenly over the cooled sugar cookie crust. Refrigerate while making the topping.
For the topping:
- In a small bowl, crush 1 cup of the strawberries.
- In 2-quart saucepan, add the crushed strawberries, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 2 Tablespoons cornstarch and 1/3 cup water.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens.
- Remove from heat and let cool for about 10 minutes.
- Gently fold in remaining 2 cups sliced strawberries. Spoon over the filling.
- Cover and refrigerate 1 hour or until set.
Video
Notes
- Please refer to my FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) and ingredient list above for other substitutions or for the answers to the most common questions.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Absolutely delicious! Perfect for strawberry season. This was a huge hit at our women’s meeting at church and everyone wanted the recipe. Thanks so much!
Can I use the strawberries that come in the container?
Hi Amy, which strawberries are you referring to exactly?
My family and I love this dessert! I make my own sugar cookie recipe and weigh out 17 to 18 ounces of the dough to use for the crust. Delicious!
So, so good!! My husband kept raving about how yummy these were. I wouldn’t change a thing about this recipe!
Hello! I’m getting ready to make this. Is the size pouch of sugar cookie mix a mistake? It says 5 oz, but all I could find was 17.5, which calls for 1 stick of butter and one egg. Thanks!
Good catch! You have the right size! Somehow the “17” got cut off on there. Glad you mentioned it! Hope you love this one 🙂
Hi Brandie, I’m not a fan of white chocolate. Is there anything to substitute? Thanks!
This is one of my favorite desserts specially because my family love to eat strawberries.
Just made this for our weekly Friday evening “porch time” with dear friends and neighbors. Followed the recipe exactly and wow! what a hit! Thank you!
I love the idea of using the blueberries as I have a lot of frozen blueberries too! I am going to try mixing the blueberries with the lemon curd for the glaze. I love lemon and blueberries together!! I can’t see why it wouldn’t work out.
Barb, that sounds heavenly!! Please come back and let me know how it turns out for you!
Finally leaving a comment after making this for probably the fifth time. This is my go to dessert to bring to any gathering and it always receives tons of compliments and questions about where to find the recipe. This is going in my saved recipes that I’m sure I’ll keep for years. Super easy to make, the only hard parts are the many dirty dishes and trying not to eat the whole dang pan.
Awwww wow – thank you Faith!! That is so wonderful to hear! Thank you for taking the time to come back and review!! 🙂
I have wayyy too many frozen blueberries. Do you think I could substitute them for the strawberries? If so, do you suppose the rest of the ingredients would remain the same in amounts? Thanks!
Sounds so good! And simple! As a mother of 5 and fostering 2 more, I look forward to trying these recipes! Thank you!
Bless your heart! I hope all the kiddos love it!
This was delicious!
Made this exactly to the recipe. It was perfect!
Made this last weekend and it was a hit. Light and refreshing, but oh so good. I used a pound of fresh strawberries. Cooked the crust about 20 min. in a jelly roll pan. I may add to the filling next time.
Yum! I actually have all of these ingredients and I am going to make this for a pot luck lunch at work on Friday. Do you think this can be made the night before? I am thinking it would be fine because I have made those layered tortes with the crust, cream cheese layer, pudding and whipped cream and it actually is fine over night.
Yay! So happy y'all love this one! It just screams summer to me. 🙂 Colleen, oh my, that lemon curd sounds awesome too!!
I love, Love, Love your recipes and stories. I like easy recipes and yours mostly have a shortcut somewhere! Thank you so much! I made this recipe two ways. Well not really. Just made two of them and changed the topping on the second one. I didn't have fresh strawberries so I used canned pie filling! Strawberry on first one and Lemon curd on the second one. Oh! my! goodness! So good! Will be making this over and over. Next I'm going to figure out a topping with Nutella! Thank you for helping me look good in the kitchen!!!
Pinned! What a beautiful Strawberry recipe, I am going to make this with my daughters tomorrow morning and will put it on the strawberry diet.
I make a lower calorie/sugar version of this. Use Graham cracker or chopped granola with melted I can't believe it's not butter for the crust. For the filling I use the lower fat cream cheese and mix with a box of sugar free cheesecake or white chocolate pudding made with 1 1/4 cup of 2% milk. I do the topping the same but you could use agave syrup or honey in place of sugar.
This is superb. Love your blog.
Amazing
I have a similar recipe using roll of cookie dough, so that should work. It might take two, though. Suzanne
just wondering if anyone has tried this with the roll of cookie dough already mixed together??? just thinking that would be easier but maybe there is a reason I haven't thought of as to why it might not work???
thanks, sounds so yummy
Ronda
I made this on Mother's day! So yummy and I am really not a strawber ry fan. I cheated and used store bought glaze and just chopped up the strawberries, added a little sugar then the glaze.
Just made this to take to Mother's Day brunch!! Thanks for the recipe!
Yum – How good does this look!!!
Perfectly beautiful..no doubt it has to taste as good as it looks!!! Thanks to both of you sweet ladies!
I was just think about making a strawberry dessert for Mother's Day…looks delicious!
Thanks for the yummy recipe.