Skip the scooping and make your chocolate chip cookies in a pan instead! These soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie bars are an easy-to-make treat loaded with melty semisweet chocolate chips inside a buttery soft cookie bar! No chilling or scooping required!
Recipe includes a brief instructional video on how to make chocolate chip cookie bars!
I should’ve named these chocolate chip cookie bars “Lazy Bars” because growing up, that’s exactly what they were to me.
I know I mentioned before that I grew up baking as much as I possibly could, but to be honest my love of baking didn’t start so much as a love of the actual process as it did as a love of stealing unsupervised spoonful after spoonful of raw cookie dough or frosting (or whatever was on my radar for that day).
Chocolate Chip Cookies were always my favorite, but when it came to actually baking the cookies I always either tried to bribe my sister into doing the work of scooping and baking them or I would just pour the batter into a pan and bake the cookies that way. Easy and done.
And while you can generally just take any chocolate chip cookie recipe and bake it into a pan and call it a day, I found that this technique usually yielded less than totally desirable results. The bars were usually too tough, too crumbly, too unsatisfying after being baked.
I wanted soft, chewy, and buttery chocolate chip cookie bars, and that method left a lot to be desired.
So, I went to work and started tweaking things:
- Melted butter (rather than softened) that coats every molecule of the cookie dough for the best, butteriest taste.
- More brown sugar than white for more moisture and better flavor.
- An added egg yolk for softer, chewier, more tender cookie bars
- A spoonful of cornstarch, which is basically my secret ingredient for soft baked goods
- A reduction of the leaveners (less baking powder and no baking soda) because the cookie bars are contained in a pan so there was no need to worry about containing any spreading
Treat yourself to a FREE E-BOOK!
The result was the best chocolate chip cookie bars I’d ever made. Just as soft, chewy, buttery, and delicious as their cookie counterparts, but no scooping (and no chilling!) required.
Please note that because of the changes that were made, this cookie dough can’t be used to make actual cookies and only works when baked in a pan, trying to scoop and bake them would leave you with cookie pancakes that spread all over your cookie sheet!
Enjoy!
How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
If you enjoy these videos, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter melted and then cooled for at least 5 minutes (226g)
- 1 cup light brown sugar tightly packed (200g)
- 3/4 cup sugar (150g)
- 2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk room temperature preferred
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (285g) (please note that in the video I accidentally said 2 1/2 cups flour, that is incorrect and you only need 2 1/4 cups as written here)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (340g)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and prepare a 9x13 pan by lining with parchment paper (or lightly grease and flour).
- Combine melted (cooled) butter and sugars in a large bowl, stir well.
- Add eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and stir until well-combined.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.
- Gradually stir dry ingredients into wet until completely combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
- Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake on 350F (175C) for 25-30 minutes or until edges just begin to turn golden brown.
- Allow to cool before cutting and serving (don't cool too long, though -- these are amazing when served still slightly warm!)
Notes
Nutrition
Sandy says
Can I make the dough today and put them in the pan and refrigerate til I’m ready to bake, like in two days? Thanks in advance
Sam says
Hi Sandy! That will work just fine. 🙂
Pat Brungardt says
The best Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar I’ve ever made. Second time in 3 weeks. Everyone wanted the recipe. Yummy great!!!
Sam says
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Pat! 🙂
Liz Bates says
Perfect. My family loved them. Thanks so much for all your amazing recipes! LOVE that you use weights… so much easier to duplicate at home.
Sam says
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them, Liz! Baking with weights is definitely much easier. 😊
Donna J says
Omg!! These chocolate chip cookie bars are delicious. We absolutely love them. I was just wondering , on your video you say 2 and 1/2 cups of flour but the recipe says 2 and 1/4 . Which one is correct. Thank you again for this incredible recipe.
Sam says
Hi Donna! 2 1/4 cup is correct, looks like I have to go make a note in that video, thank you for bringing it to my attention!
Nancy Ward says
Hi Sam,.
I asked a question earlier today and totally messed up. I posted it on the wrong recipe and I typed the wrong number of grams, so I wonder if you’d be kind enough to answer me again. This recipe says to use 2-1/2 cups of flour (285 grams) It seems like 2-1/2 cups of flour should weigh more than 285 grams because on your website you say a cup of flour weighs 125 grams I believe. I just wondered which is correct? I ended up going by your weight and I think they could have used a bit more flour but they’re still very tasty. Thanks for your patience. I think I’ve asked it correctly this time. :-0
Nancy Ward says
Gosh. Never mind. It says 2-1/4 cups of flour. I need to learn to read. Sorry.
Sam says
Sorry I didn’t get to you sooner, but I’m glad you figured it out. 🙂
Brittany says
Super good. I made it gluten free and vegan to suit my family’s dietary needs and it still worked out beautifully. I used vegan butter and replaced half the butter with applesauce. I used 2 flax eggs and added an extra 2 tsp of baking powder. I used a combination of brown rice flour and tapioca starch. After it was done baking, I drizzled peanut butter over the top. So good. Thank you.
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Brittany! Thank you for the substitution updates. 🙂
Michael says
I followed this recipe to the letter. Absolutely the BEST chocolate chip bars I have ever made! The whole 9×13 was devoured in one day. Yes, I had some help. 😀
Sugar Spun Run says
Were all gone in ONE day? It is safe to say they were a hit. So happy to hear it, Michael! 🙂
Maria L Spoolstra says
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! I made 1/2 a batch because it is just me and my husband. I used 1 egg + the yolk. OMG!!!
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so glad that they turned out so well for you and you enjoyed them, Maria! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Star says
Mine came out dry and not gooey but tasted good though. Where did I go wrong?
Sam says
I am so sorry this happened! My best guess is that they were over-baked or there was a little too much flour added. You can always check my post on how to properly measure flour if you didn’t use weights. 🙂
evan says
Hi! Can I halve this recipe by adding 1egg + 1 egg yolk? Or just 1 egg will do? 🙂
Sam says
Hi Evan! I would just use 1 egg here. They should still turn out for you. 🙂
Maria L Spoolstra says
I cut this recipe in half and did it with 1 egg and 1 egg yolk. FREAKING AWESOME!!! Glad I only made half because I would eat WAY too much!
Deb Kress says
I followed the recipe exactly. My husband and I were both disappointed that they weren’t more flavorful. They are lacking something.
Sam says
Hi Deb! I am so sorry you didn’t enjoy them. These should be pretty flavorful. I accidentally over-measured my flour once and had this happen, so maybe that is what went wrong. 🙁
Melanie says
I just stumbled across this recipe and have already made it twice! These are so delicious and perfect. My family and I can’t get enough. Thanks!
Sam says
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Melanie! 🙂