Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Baked in an 8x8 pan and finished with flaky sea salt, these 10-ingredient chewy chocolate chip cookie bars are an easy homemade dessert.
Servings: 16 bars
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature plus more for greasing pan
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Flaky sea salt such as Maldon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease an 8-inch square baking pan with butter and line with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the butter and both sugars until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and kosher salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir in about 3/4 cup chocolate chips.
- Spread the batter into the prepared baking pan. Scatter the remaining chocolate chips on top and gently press them down slightly.
- Bake for 28-30 minutes until golden brown.
- Sprinkle with flaky sea salt immediately after removing the pan from the oven.
- Let the pan cool on a wire rack. Run a knife around the edge of the cookie. Use the parchment paper to lift it out of the pan onto a cutting board. Then cut it into 16 squares. Store in an airtight container.
Notes
Store the bars in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days. You will find that they have tendency to dry out the less fresh they are. You can revive the bars in a 325-degree-F oven for 3-4 minutes.
To keep the bars up to a month, store in an airtight container in the freezer. Thaw them on a plate at room temperature and warm in the oven as desired.
Optional Variations: Besides semisweet chocolate chips, you can use one or a combination of the following. You will need a total of 1 cup with 3/4 cup stirred into the batter and the remaining amount pressed in on top.
- Bittersweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips or a mix of chocolate types
- Chopped chocolate chunks
- Peanut butter chips
- Chopped nuts: walnuts, pecans or almonds (I recommend combining these with chocolate chips)
- m&ms: Any exposed m&ms will crack in the heat of the oven. This does not effect their taste.
Nutrition
Calories: 174kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 19mg | Sodium: 107mg | Potassium: 86mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 109IU | Calcium: 31mg | Iron: 1mg