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
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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 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (285g)
- 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!)
jan says
June 19, 2019 at 12:31 pmThis is the best chocolate chip cookie bar recipe ever. Like. my husband said this is defintely a “do again”. It took me everything not to eat the entire pan in one sitting. 🥰
Sam says
June 19, 2019 at 2:54 pm😂 I am impressed they made it more than one sitting, I can’t say the same happens when I make them! I am so glad you enjoyed the cookie bars. 🙂
Natasha says
June 9, 2019 at 9:00 amWhat would need to be modified to make in jelly roll pan?
Sam says
June 9, 2019 at 4:02 pmProbably just the baking time, it would likely need to be reduced. However I haven’t tried it myself so I’m not certain.
Lisa says
June 4, 2019 at 11:17 amMade a double batch exactly as instructed and they came out perfectly. Absolutely delicious!
Sam says
June 4, 2019 at 2:13 pmI am so glad you enjoyed the cookie bars, Lisa! 🙂
Ann says
May 29, 2019 at 11:52 pmI have just always used the recipe on the back of the morsel bag for the bar version. I’ve never had a problem with them being dry and crumbly. They are always soft. Also, I always put s piece of bread in the container with the bars to keep them soft. I use room temperature softened butter (when I know i’m going to make the bars I take the butter sticks out of the fridge and let them sit overnight or a number of hours before baking.
Sam says
May 31, 2019 at 9:14 pmTry this recipe and I bet you’ll never go back to that one 😉
Alicia says
May 15, 2019 at 8:24 pmThese are so good, the melted butter gave them a great chewy texture. I wanted to make them today since it’s National Chocolate Chip Day lol.
Sam says
May 15, 2019 at 10:00 pmI am so glad you enjoyed the cookie bars, Alicia! 🙂
Renny says
May 12, 2019 at 12:47 amThese bars are wonderful! The texture and taste make the bars addicting! I did, as one person wrote, use butter that I had sitting out for a couple of hours so I didn’t melt it and this worked fine and was one less step. Since my husband loves nuts I added some chopped pecans.
Sam says
May 12, 2019 at 8:38 pmI am so glad you enjoyed the cookie bars, Renny! 🙂
Diane says
May 10, 2019 at 11:59 pmCan they cool completely in the pan, or do you recommend cutting them while still slightly warm?
Mine are in the oven now, for eating tomorrow.
Thanks.
Sam says
May 11, 2019 at 8:40 amHi Diane! They are best served when slightly warm, so if serving immediately, I would let them cool a little bit so they are still warm but not hot and then cut them. If you are making them in advance, you can just let them cool completely in the tray. 🙂
Jill says
May 9, 2019 at 12:20 pmAny time I am asked to bring a dessert, I make these! They are a hit every time. Thank for sharing these!
Sam says
May 9, 2019 at 9:17 pmThey are so easy and definitely one of my most requested desserts too! I’m glad everyone enjoys them. 🙂
Jessica Johnson says
April 27, 2019 at 1:28 pmI wrk for a group home & my clients & I LOVED these cookie bars! Thanx for sharing 💖
Sam says
April 27, 2019 at 2:54 pmHi Jessica! I am so glad everyone enjoyed them! 🙂