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)
- ¾ cup sugar (150g)
- 2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk room temperature preferred
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (285g) (please note that in the video I accidentally said 2 ½ cups flour, that is incorrect and you only need 2 ¼ cups as written here)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK)
- ½ 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!)
Jenessa
Can these be done in a 18×13″ pan? I have a big big crowd to serve. Thanks!
Sam
Hi Jenessa! It will work in a pan that large but you will probably need to increase the recipe and your baking time will be different. I hope everyone loves them! 🙂
Lori D
I made this today… DELICIOUS! Your recipes and directions are always perfection!
Sam
Thank you so much, Lori! I am so glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Lin
Can I make these in a 8 or 9 inch round pan ?
Sam
As long as you don’t overfill the pan. Your baking time will be different. 🙂
Bekah
So So good! I ended up baking them for about 20ish minutes, browned edges, but the inside was slightly underdone. They were delicious.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Bekah! 🙂
Steph
These are amazing. I have made them twice in the last week and a half. My family and coworkers love them. They are so much faster than cookies. The texture is amazing (soft and chewy).
I use a glass 9×13 pan and it takes approximately 34-35 minutes to bake.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Steph! Thank you for your feedback in the glass pan. 🙂
Mary
My family LOVES these!!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone loved them so much! 🙂
Jill
Hey Sam. These chocolate chip cookie bars are delicious. Thanks for another easy and delicious recipe.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Jill! 🙂
Amy
These cookie bars are phenomenal. I haven’t had a lot of time to bake recently, so I’ve been relying on quicker options, and these cookie bars are my go-to treat. Friends and family all rave about them. 🙂
I was wondering, would you be able to advise about how to alter this recipe to make Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookie bars by adding cocoa powder? Wasn’t sure if subtracting some flour and adding the cocoa powder would do it…? I’m a fairly novice baker, and all of your recipes have been no-fail for me, so I thought I’d ask!
Thank you!
Sam
Hi Amy! If you were to make this with cocoa powder you would need to reduce some of the flour or they would turn out too dry, but without having tried it I can’t be sure exactly how to alter it. If you do try it I would love to know how it goes. 🙂
Susan
So good! This is one of the first cookie bars I’ve made that wasn’t dry!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Susan! 🙂
Yana
I made these last night and they’re so good! I didn’t have enough semisweet chocolate chips so I used 1/2 cup semi sweet, 1 cup mini kisses, and 1/2 cup m&m’s (those are all I could manage to find in my pantry!). Turned out really well. Will definitely make these again when craving for cookies but too lazy to roll and chill the dough.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Yana! 🙂
Ellen
These are amazingly good. Like so much better than regular congo cookie bars. Something about the texture is just divine. I cook mine about 22-23 min and they are perfect! And if you can believe it, I use fewer chips (270g).
My go to for bake sales, etc.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoy them so much, Ellen! 🙂