Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (EASIER than making cookies!)

Recipe Elements

As Naomi testified above (“used substances I already had in the home”), you’ll discover nothing however common ‘ol pantry substances on this simple bars recipe. Scroll all the way down to the printable recipe card on the finish of this put up for the precise ingredient quantities.

• Flour – This recipe calls for normal all-purpose flour.
• Salt – I consider that almost all candy baked treats profit from some salt!
• Baking soda – This helps the bars to rise and develop deeper taste and colour, whereas holding them good and chewy.
• Butter – I exploit unsalted butter. It provides superbly wealthy taste and helps maintain the bars completely moist and chewy.
• Brown sugar + granulated sugar – Brown sugar comprises molasses, which supplies these bars a moist, dense, chewy texture and deeper caramelized taste. Granulated sugar gives a contact of crispness to the highest of the bars.
• Eggs – 1 massive egg plus 1 massive egg yolk bind the batter collectively, provide further wealthy taste and texture.
• Vanilla – Pure vanilla extract provides a contact of taste that we love in a basic chocolate chip cookie.
• Chocolate chips – I all the time use semisweet chocolate chips, and my favourite model is Guittard.
• Sea salt flakes (optionally available) – For a final touch. It performs so nicely with chocolate chip cookies, providing a superb distinction in taste. SO GOOD!!

Tips on how to Make Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

• Mix flour combination. In a medium bowl, whisk collectively flour, salt, and baking soda.
• Mix butter & eggs with sugars. In one other bowl, whisk collectively melted butter, brown sugar, and sugar. Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla, and whisk to mix.
• Fold collectively dry and moist. With a rubber spatula, fold dry substances into the moist combination. When about half-way mixed, add chocolate chips and proceed to fold till simply mixed. Don’t over combine.
• Add dough to pan. Press dough evenly into ready pan.
• Bake. Place pan in preheated oven and bake for about 23 minutes. Take away pan to wire rack. If desired, sprinkle some flaky sea salt excessive proper after the pan comes out of the oven – YUM!

How To Get The Excellent Cuts

To attain clear cuts to bars, brownies, and desserts, line your pan with heavy-duty foil or parchment paper, and go away an overhang on the lengthy sides of the pan. When the bars have cooled a bit, run a knife across the perimeter of the pan, seize the foil overhangs, and carry the bars out of the pan. Place the bars on a slicing board and permit the bars to chill fully. Then use a pointy knife or inflexible pastry cutter to slice into particular person bars.

Suggestions for Success + Variations

Listed below are just a few of my tricks to make the perfect chocolate chip cookie bars!

• Don’t overmix. For the chewiest texture, take care to not overmix the dough.
• Right here’s how I press the dough into the pan: The dough combination could be sticky. To assist press it evenly into the baking pan, use the buttery facet of the butter wrapper to press the dough into the pan, or rub your finger suggestions with a bit of butter, after which press the dough into the pan.
• DO NOT OVER BAKE. Sure, that’s my yelling voice! In case your objective is to have the softest, chewiest chocolate chip cookie bars on the planet, it’s VERY IMPORTANT to not over bake. For the final word comfortable bars, barely underneath bake them!
• Add the ocean salt flakes! Our household LOVES an additional hit of salt excessive – we use Maldon Sea Salt Flakes, and it doesn’t take a lot. Simply sprinkle a bit excessive IMMEDIATELY after the pan comes out of the oven (so the flakes adhere) – YUM!
• Double the recipe. Generally a 9×13 pan of bars simply isn’t sufficient! If that’s the case, you may simply double the recipe and bake it in a 13×18 pan – see the Notes within the recipe card for extra particulars.
• Attempt different chocolate. Like milk chocolate or darkish chocolate or white chocolate? Simply swap in your favourite chocolate. Or do a mixture of goodies. We additionally prefer to sprinkle mini M&M’s excessive!
• Chop up a chocolate bar. Or, chop up your favourite darkish chocolate bar for an additional indulgent deal with.
• Add nuts. Throw in some chopped walnuts or pecans for a bit of nutty crunch. I like to recommend utilizing roasted, salted nuts for the perfect taste and texture.

Serving Options

• Handheld deal with – We most frequently take pleasure in these bars straight from the pan, as bars had been meant to be eaten – together with your palms!
• Name it Birthday Cake! Stick a candle in it (see picture above), like we did to have a good time our daughter Hatti’s and my dad’s shared birthday. (Hatti additionally typically requests brown butter chocolate chip skillet cookie or cookie monster ice cream that’s filled with cookie dough, or her favourite brownies!)
• Ice cream – A heat chocolate chip cookie bar + a scoop of ice cream is such a enjoyable dessert! Attempt salted caramel ice cream, peanut butter ice cream, or butter pecan ice cream.
• Make a sundae – Stack up cookie bars with a beneficiant scoop of ice cream, then prime it with nuts, selfmade sauce, and whipped cream for a deal with. Add a cherry on prime for further enjoyable!!
• Dessert sauce – Drizzle a candy sauce like my caramel buttermilk syrup or sizzling fudge sauce over a chocolate chip cookie bar.
• With milk – We’re a milk-drinking household, particularly relating to chocolate desserts. “Cookies & milk” is simply the right mixture!
• Espresso – A sizzling espresso drink, comparable to a cortadito, a floral lavender latte, or a unclean chai latte are good. For chilly espresso drinkers, strive my pumpkin cream chilly brew, a unclean iced chai latte, or an iced brown sugar shaken oatmilk shaken espresso with a cookie bar!

Correct Storage

These bars will all the time have the perfect texture on the day they’re made. However, much like chocolate chip cookies, the chocolate chip cookie bars will maintain nicely for later noshing. Listed below are just a few choices for the way to retailer them:

• Counter – To protect that comfortable texture, go away the cooled bars within the pan (coated tightly) and retailer them on the counter for as much as 3 days.
• Fridge – Retailer the bars within the pan, with an hermetic cowl, within the fridge for as much as 5 days.
• Freezer – Place bars in an hermetic, freezer-safe container, then retailer within the freezer for as much as 3 months. Thaw the bars within the fridge earlier than serving.