I love a classic. And it doesn’t get much more classic than this chocolate chip cookie bar recipe. This can be baked in an 8×8 (square) baking pan, much like brownies.
To me, this is the perfect amount for my household since I consume the majority. Ha.
Related: Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies and Cookie Dough Dip
I love chocolate chip cookie bars! They have all the nostalgia of chocolate chip cookies but, to me, the best part of brownies which is super soft center bars and edge pieces with the perfect milk dipping crusts. Yum!
How do you know when a cookie bar is done?
The edges should be golden brown, while the very center may still look almost gooey. In fact, it’s OK if the center still has a little bit of gooey to it.
I like to make these chocolate chip cookie bars with semi-sweet chips, but you can use any kind of chocolate chips you have or prefer. You can also use chocolate chunks instead.
Other cookie bar recipes:
- Banana Bread Brownies
- Easy Apple Pie Bars
- Bakery Style Giant Rice Krispie Treats
- Easy 3 Ingredient Fudge
- My Favorite Homemade Brownies
These chocolate chip cookie bars are excellent all on their own, BUT if you really want to go the extra mile, top them with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy! xo. Emma
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Ingredients
- ½ cup butter
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup white sugar (granulated)
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips (6 ounces)
- flaky sea salt (for the top)
Instructions
- Melt the butter, and allow to cool (so it's not piping hot).
- Stir in the sugars until well combined.
- Stir in the egg and vanilla extract until just combined. Set aside.
- In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until a soft dough forms.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Grease an 8×8 baking pan (or line with parchment paper).
- Add the batter and gently press so it fills the pan. Sprinkle on the sea salt.
- Bake at 325°F for 25-30 minutes. The edges should be brown while the center may still look a little gooey.
- Allow to cool before cutting into squares.
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
I made this recipe using the metric conversions and it really didn’t work out. The mix never formed a “dough” and stayed more of a cake batter. The final product was very savory and more chocolate than batter mix. Please test your recipes in metric rather than relying on converters!
Loooove this recipe & have made it several times! Love the minimal, always on hand ingredients and the fact you don’t even have to break out a mixer. Brilliant!
Such a great recipe!
The recipe card has been updated-happy baking!
My grandma used to make bar cookies! I’m going to make these tonight.
I am an instant fan – less than 45mins after first seeing this recipe I had warm cookie bars waiting for me to eat! I love a quick and easy but still delicious and impressive recipe.
I split the batter into 2 glass/ceramic loaf pans, because my husband is a weirdo who likes “chip less” chocolate chip cookies (lol) and baked them for about 20 minutes (the chip-less ones were done about 2 mins earlier). Worked like a charm!
Thanks for the recipe, Emma. And I have totally made that mistake with butter measurements before, too. I’m glad you guys figured it out, thanks for updating the recipe, and I’m sorry you’ve been having such a rough time!!
Oh my goodness. These look incredible!! I think I’m going to have to make some cookies at 9:30 at night. My kids school district called a snow day for tomorrow, and we already had Friday and Monday off, so I’m facing a 5 day weekend here. I need to fortify myself with cookies, I think! Haha.
UPDATE: I messed up originally! It should be half a cup butter (1 stick). We’ve updated the blog text / recipe card in this post to reflect this.
Sorry!!! I had even written it down wrong in my hand-written testing notes. I really don’t know how I did that. To be honest, it’s been a rough couple of months with a sick baby, then we all got COVID, we’ve had snow days, our little guy started teething again, and so on. It’s a beautiful life, but I have been off my game for sure. Normally I feel so organized and on top of things, but not this month. Lol.
Emma, thanks for this amazingly delicious recipe! I made it a while ago when helping out down east with our daughter-in-law and toddler granddaughter. Measurements not a problem – I knew what you meant! I added a couple of handfuls of ground flax and a handful of toffee bits, because they were there, and these cookie bars were a huge hit – as in, completely gone in 3 days! This is a keeper and I’ve also passed it along to friends with budding baker daughters.
The measurements of this recipe are off. My daughter and I are making these right now for a Super Bowl party. With the recipe above, the batter is like a soup. We’re now going to try doubling the dry ingredients to see if that offsets the excess butter.
After reading the butter comments and looking at other bar cookie recipes, I used 1 stick instead of 1 cup and they turned out perfectly. 😊
I’m in the middle of making this recipe now and the dough is completely runny — not at all like cookie dough! Wondering if it’s too much melted butter like others have said? I’m trying to add flour to even it out. I think something isn’t quite right. But I love the look of them! Hope they turn out okay.
Just to update, I did end up making these successfully with the recipe as is, but difference was a let the batter/dough sit for about an hour before cooking and that was enough time for the melted butter to hydrate the flour. I think if I would have baked them right away it wouldn’t have worked. After an hour or so, the batter had turned into dough and was much more workable. 👍🏼
I think the recipe should be 1/2 cup butter. Mine also are sitting in butter – but delicious.
I am looking forward to trying this recipe! My mixer died some time ago and I have to mix by hand, which this recipe requires. Thank you!!
I just made these and they came out crazy greasy. They taste good but were just sitting in a pool of butter.
Hi I also think there must be something wrong here. These were so so gooey, nothing like the picture even after 40 minutes of baking
Interesting. Question: What kind of pan did you use? Metal, ceramic, glass? I am not sure that’s the issue, but I’d like to gather some more info if you’re still reading this? Thanks!
I’m calling these February Cookies. They just seem designed for the month of February. (Not Valentine’s Day, unless your Valentine’s Day is a lot like February. In that case, have two.) I’m sure this recipe will get made a lot.
Are you sure it’s a cup of butter? I just tried making these and it seems like you meant 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup).
Hi Janet! I checked with Emma and one cup is the correct amount 🙂
well, but now the recipe reads half a cup…
I’ll go with the smaller amount, but it’s the first time I’m baking something from this site and this leaves me wondering about its reliability.
I’m so sorry! Emma is going to bake these again to make sure, but based on the comments, I changed it to 1/2 cup (1 stick of butter). We’ve been blogging for over a decade and this isn’t something that happens regularly, just fyi! 💛
I wondered the same thing. I made these and they are super gooey and falling apart. I put them in the fridge to firm them up and they’re still delicious, but the texture threw me off. I wonder if they would be different if made with softened instead of melted butter?
Yes! I just Love so many of your recipes, Emma! I have mentioned this before, but I am always looking for just classics done well. My husband and my kids do not always want super exotic things, and I love doing something basic *well*. I can’t wait to make this using 1 to 1 GF flour!