This Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars Recipe creates chewy, buttery cookie bars that have chocolate and candy in every bite. An easy way to enjoy all the flavors of cookies but in bar form!
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Why We Love These Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- An easy and quick way to enjoy the flavors of a chocolate chip cookie.
- Can be made ahead of time.
- Perfect treat for sharing at parties, pot lucks or enjoying during the week after lunch.
- Faster to prepare and bake than an entire batch of cookies.
- They are insanely delicious. Chewy, buttery and filled with chocolate chips and candy pieces.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars Recipe Ingredients
- Salted Butter
- White Sugar
- Brown Sugar
- Egg
- Pure Vanilla Extract
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Unbleached All Purpose Flour
- Cold Water
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- Candy Coated Chocolates (M&M's)
Substitution Suggestions:
- Salted Butter: You can use unsalted butter, but I would add an additional ½ teaspoon of salt to the dough.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: Always use pure extracts. The imitation extracts are fake flavored water that is chemically made and you can taste it when you use it.
- All Purpose Flour: Whole wheat flour and white whole wheat flour can be substituted for the all purpose flour. You can also use half whole wheat flour and half all purpose flour, it adds a nice flavor to the cookie bars.
- Cold Water: This is used to bring the dough together and make it able to spread in the pan easily.
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips: Feel free to use your favorite type of chocolate. Dark chocolate chips or milk chocolate chips are yummy too, as well as butterscotch, peanut butter or cinnamon chips!
- Candy Coated Chocolates (m&m's): I use the milk chocolate candies that are dye free. If you don't have any dye sensitivities you can use the traditional m&m candies.
These are the best chocolate chip cookie bars! A great way to enjoy all the flavors of a good chocolate chip cookie but with less work and in a shorter amount of time!
How to Make Easy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 9x13 baking dish with nonstick spray or line with parchment paper leaving at least a 1 inch over hang on the long sides.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment or hand mixer and large bowl, cream together the softened butter, sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add egg and vanilla extract. Beat until fully combined.
- Next, add the dry ingredients: baking soda, salt and all purpose flour. Mix on low speed until the dough is just starting to come together.
- Now add the cold water and mix on low speed just until the dough has formed and everything is fully incorporated.
- Add ⅔ of the dough to the bottom of the prepared baking pan and pat it out evenly to the edges of the pan.
- Then evenly sprinkle the chocolate chips over the dough. Lightly push them down a bit.
- Evenly sprinkle the candies over the chocolate chips and dough.
- Next, lay chunks of the remaining dough on top of the chocolate chips and candies leaving some of them peeking through.
- Bake the cookie bars for 25-30 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the center no longer looks glossy or jiggly.
- Let cookie bars cool at least 15 minutes before slicing and serving warm. Or let cool completely and then enjoy!
These easy cookie bars are so delicious you'll be adding them to your list of favorite recipes!
Storing Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Storing: Store these bars in an airtight container on the counter for up to a week-if they even last that long!
Freezing: These bars freeze well. Place the cooled cookies bars in a freezer safe airtight container between layers of wax paper. Label, date and freeze. Bars with last at least 4 months in the freezer. When ready to enjoy thaw bars on the counter for a few hours.
Tips for Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Line the baking dish with parchment paper or aluminum foil leaving an inch overhang on the long edge so you can easily lift the bars out of the dish once cooled.
- Use room temperature ingredients. It helps the dough come together better.
- Always fluff your flour and then spoon and level it to measure. Doing this will prevent too much flour from being added and ultimately making the bars too dense and dry.
- To get clean cuts, line the baking pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil then once the bars are cooled lift them out of the pan. Using a sharp knife, slice in one smooth cut. Do not use a sawing motion to cut bars.
- For some extra flavor sprinkle the top of the chewy cookie bars with flaky sea salt.
- Serve warm cookie bars with a scoop of ice cream for a delicious and ultimate easy dessert.
- This recipe can be doubled! Double the recipe and make the bars in a half sheet pan (18x13) using the same oven temperature and decrease baking time a few minutes. You can use a jelly roll size pan 15x10, but the bars puff quite a bit while baking and if your oven rack is not level, it may overflow. To avoid a mess, you can put a layer of aluminum foil on your rack and then bake in the 15x10 pan at the same temperature and same baking time.
Other Delicious Dessert Bar Recipes:
- Sugar Cookie Bars
- Strawberry Cheesecake Brownies
- Peanut Butter Brownie Bars
- Butterscotch Brownies
- Cranberry Bars
- Chocolate Chip Banana Blondies
- Apple Pie Bars
- Dark Chocolate Walnut Brownies
- Frosted Brownies
- Pecan Pie Bars
- S'mores Brownies
- Lemon Bars
- Pumpkin Bars
Chocolate Chip Cookies Bar Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter, softened
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cold water
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup candy coated chocolates (M&M's)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 9x13 baking dish or line with parchment paper leaving an inch over hang on the long sides.
- In a stand mixer with paddle attachment or hand mixer with large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until fully combined.
- Add the baking soda, salt and all purpose flour and mix on low speed just until the dough starts to come together.
- Add the cold water and mix on low speed until the dough comes together and everything is fully combined.
- Take ⅔ of the dough and evenly pat it to the edges of the pan.
- Evenly sprinkle the chocolate chips over the dough and gently push them down a bit.
- Sprinkle the candies evenly over the chocolate chips.
- Lay pieces of the remaining dough on top of the chocolate chips and candies leaving some of them peeking through.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the center no longer looks wet or jiggly.
- Let cool at least 15 minutes before slicing and serving warm, or cool completely then slice and serve.
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