If you’re looking for a recipe to satisfy your cookie cravings with minimal time and effort, look no further! These thick and chewy cookie bars loaded with gooey chocolate chips are sure to satisfy any cookie craving. These bar cookies are super easy to make; just mix, bake and cut! No waiting for the butter to soften, no chilling of the dough, no rolling the dough into balls…nope these cookies are as easy as they are fool-proof! By using melted butter in the batter, not only does it speed up the process so you can be devouring these babies faster, it’s also the secret to their incredibly chewy texture. I used all chocolate chips in these bars, but feel free to substitute white, milk chocolate, or peanut butter chips for the semi-sweet chips. You can even throw in some nuts, raisins, or shredded coconut if you want to get crazy! 
One Year Ago: Coffee Cake Muffins 
Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- 2 ⅛ cups all-purpose flour (10 1/2 ounces)
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled slightly
- 1 cup light brown sugar (7 ounces)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
Directions:
- Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9×13 inch metal baking pan. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extend up two sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. Place another piece of parchment paper in the same manner, perpendicular to the first sheet. (This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan after they have baked.) Butter the parchment.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda; set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter and sugars until combined. Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into egg mixture until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Transfer to prepared baking pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
- Bake until top is light golden brown, slightly firm to the touch, and edges start pulling away from sides of pan, 27 to 30 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature. Remove bars from pan by lifting parchment overhang and transfer to cutting board. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.
Yields: 24 (2-inch) square cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 30 minutes
Source: adapted from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, originally from Cook’s Illustrated
I SO WANT one – YUM!!! Thanks for sharing:)
These look great – I love chewy cookies so making them this thick I guess means they’re more likely to be nice and chewy!
They look good…and I love all the add ins you suggest
I love easy! These look great!! x
These look delicious and I’d love to see a stack of them on a dish on my kitchen table.
And now I have a cookie craving! These look fantastic.
Nothing better than a quick pan cookie recipe, this one looks soo tempting!!
Thanks for posting these! I made them last night – yum! They are even BETTER today! And so easy!
I’ve always loved these things…
Yum
these were great!!!!!!!! i loved that they were a thick bar even in the 9 x 13 pan. thanks for the recipe.
May,
I am so glad to hear that you enjoyed the cookie bars!! Thanks so much for letting me know how they turned out!
Could one add pecan nuts to the above, if so how much?
Lorraine,
I bet pecans would taste great in these bars! I would add 1 cup of chopped pecans. If you give them a try I would love to hear how they turn out for you!
I haven’t made cookie bars in like forever! Sounds perfect for the weekend though!
Oooo, these look good! Lots and lots of chocolate.
just made these! sprinkled in some oatmeal too and they came out great
Reggie,
I am so glad to hear that you enjoyed the cookie bars! I bet the added oatmeal tasted great!
I made these tonight and I am wondering what I did wrong. I used wheat flout in place of white flour, mixed ingredients (without mixer since it didn’t specify mixer and it said to whisk ingredients). Mine came out about 1/4″ thick. They taste good though!
Susan,
Hmm…sounds like your baking soda might have lost its potency. If baking soda isn’t fresh it can be the cause of flat, dense cookies because they don’t rise as much as they should. You can easily test to see if your baking soda is fresh by putting a few tablespoons of white vinegar into a small bowl and adding a teaspoon of baking soda. It should bubble up, and the foaming should take several moments to subside. The more bubbles, the more potent the baking soda. If there is no reaction, or you only a few small bubbles, you need to replace you baking soda. I am glad to hear that they tasted good even though they were flat!
I love cookie recipes that are no fuss! Thanks for the recipe