I adore a batch of delicious chocolate chip cookie bars – cookie bars are fast, easy and simple to make. My daughter followed this recipe the other night and made these cookie bars in no time at all. Cookie bars are just easier, there’s no scooping them into little balls, baking several batches at once – and look at how gooey and delicious the cookies turn out when you bake them into a bar form!
No-Fail Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
The Tollhouse Chocolate cookie recipe is the best basic chocolate chip cookie recipe there is to be had, bar none. They perfected the perfect base for them and it has been around forever.My copy is from a newspaper, and either my grandma or my mom cut and taped the recipe into my huge master cook book that I have, along with an Easter Paska one as well. Obviously the two recipes I need most in life. Quite so…quite so.
How do you turn a cookie recipe into a bar?
To turn a cookie recipe into a bar, if you have a standard cookie recipe ( uses 2 or 2 1/2 cups of flour) then you can spread out the dough into that 9×13 pan and bake until done. If you have a large yield recipe such as my snickerdoodles recipe, (that recipe uses 3 1/2 cups of flour) then I would divide it into two pans and make the bars slightly thinner, but they will still bake up beautifully. The key to making these chocolate chip cookie bars, or any type of cookie bar, is to use a 9×13 pan and grease it well. Spread the cookie mixture through the pan evenly and you will end up with a delicious cookie bar! Some recipes use a jelly roll pan but I have found that the a) the dough is hard to spread out and b) the cookies are thin enough to fall apart. We are looking to make bars here, not thin cookies that you cut into squares.
How do you know when cookie bars are done?
Chocolate chip cookie bars can take anywhere from 25-35 minutes to bake up in the oven. When they are close to being done, the edges are going to be a deep golden brown and crispy. I like my chocolate chip cookie bars nice and chewy and gooey in the middle and in order to do that you need to use a thermometer to make sure that the middle has reached a temperature of 165 °F. That’s when the eggs in your dough are cooked to a safe temperature and you can enjoy a gooey cookie worry free! If you don’t have a thermometer you can bake them until a toothpick inserted into the middle of them comes out mostly clean, but they might be over-baked and not as chewy. A thermometer is really your best friend when you want to bake up gooey cookies!
Some More Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes
I have a ton of chocolate chip cookie recipes on this website, here are some of my favourites that we make time and time again! I wouldn’t bake the crispy chocolate chip cookies into a bar, those might turn out a little too crunchy as they are meant to be that way and not chewy, but the other ones are definitely perfect for making chocolate chip cookie bars with.
- Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
- Pecan Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
- Crispy Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Walnut Loaded Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies
These are so much easier than making cookies one by one by one…..and they taste exactly the same, but you have chocolate chip pecan cookie bars instead of cookies.SO easy!
Happy baking!
Love,
Karlynn
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup pecans
- 1-2 cups chocolate chips
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees °F.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients ( flour, baking soda and salt) and set aside.
- In the bowl attached to a stand mixer, place the butter, white sugar and brown sugar. Start the mixer on low speed and cream them together until they are fully incorporated.
- Add in the eggs, beating until smooth, then mix in the vanilla until completely mixed in as well.
- Stop the mixer and then add the dry ingredients, beating on medium speed until fully incorporated.
- Mix in the pecans and chocolate chips by hand.
- Take a jelly roll pan (which is basically a standard baking sheet that has a raised edge) and grease it well. Spread the mixture through the pan evenly. IF you want THICK bars, then use a 9×13 pan ( this is how I make them, they are so good!)
- If you used a jelly roll pan, bake them for 15-17 minutes and start checking to see if they are done. If you are making thick and chewy cookie bars, bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes- do not overbake! You want them slightly under-baked so that they are chewy.
- Remove and cool. Slice into servings.
Nutrition
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kim says
Can you make the cookie dough ahead of time and refrigerate it?
Lynn Boelter says
Oh my what a delight. So easy. I add 1/2 bag of butterscotch chips to the dough.
A-Man says
Those cookie bars look great!
Together with a glas of milk a true seduction.
Thank you!