These extra soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie bars are incredibly easy to make. No mixer, dough chilling, or rolling into balls required! Sprinkle with flaky sea salt for a little something extra.
I originally published this recipe in 2016 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, helpful success tips, and additional flavors.
Taste testers have always given these chocolate chip cookie bars a stamp of approval—and I’m so glad because this dough makes my favorite chewy chocolate chip cookies, too. We’re talking the softest, chewiest, thickest chocolate chip cookies to ever come out of my oven.
And if you can believe it, baking chocolate chip dough as cookie bars transforms them into something even better. Plus, we don’t have to chill the cookie dough and we don’t need to roll the dough into individual cookies. So, they’re homemade soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies, only easier to prepare. A lazy (I call it “tired”) gal’s cookie if you will. 😉
One reader, Kerri, commented: “I discovered this recipe when I wanted chocolate chip cookies but didn’t feel like waiting for my butter to come to room temperature and then also waiting for the dough to chill. It is now one of my go-to cookie recipes for those same reasons and because these bars are so delicious!! The texture is great and I love that they stay soft and fresh for a couple days. My son loves the addition of coarse sea salt sprinkled on top, too. ★★★★★”
Why You’ll Love These Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Dense and buttery
- Extra chewy and extra soft
- Just like chocolate chip cookies, but they don’t spread
- 100x easier than making cookies—no individual cookie dough rolling
- No electric mixer needed
- A quick no-chill cookie recipe
- Topped with sea salt for a little something extra
- Still soft and chewy on days 2 and 3 (if they last that long!)
Key Ingredients & Why You Need Each:
If you’ve tried my beloved chewy chocolate chip cookies, you’re already familiar with the ease of this recipe. We’re using practically the same cookie recipe, but baking them as bars. Here’s what you need:
- Flour: All-purpose flour is the base of this recipe.
- Baking Soda: Baking soda helps these bars rise as they bake. Remember the crucial difference between baking powder and baking soda?
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch gives the cookie bars that ultra soft consistency we all know and love. Plus, it helps keep them wonderfully thick.
- Salt: Salt adds flavor.
- Butter: Use melted butter in this recipe for the chewiest cookie bars. Because we use melted butter, there’s no need to get out your mixer.
- Sugar: I like to use a mix of brown sugar and white granulated sugar this recipe. More brown sugar than white granulated sugar promises an extra soft and chewy cookie bar because there’s more moisture in brown sugar. I slightly reduced the sugar in the bars; it made no difference between the version tested with 1/2 cup sugar (100g).
- Egg & Egg Yolk: 1 egg binds everything together and 1 extra egg yolk adds richness and chewiness. You’ll lose a lot of moisture by skipping that extra egg yolk.
- Vanilla Extract: Pure vanilla extract adds flavor. If you have any homemade vanilla extract, use that!
- Chocolate Chips: 1 cup of chocolate chips ensures tons of melty chocolate in each bite. Instead of semi-sweet chocolate chips, try using dark, milk, or even white chocolate chips. Or swap half of the chocolate chips for M&Ms like we do in these soft M&M cookie bars.
Flaky sea salt (I use and love this brand) is a lovely touch that offsets the sweetness, but it’s totally optional.
How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
The dough is incredibly simple. Whisk the dry ingredients together, then the wet, and then combine. It’s a thick, slick cookie dough:
After you prepare the cookie dough, press it into a baking pan. There’s no risk of cookie spreading with this recipe because the edges of the pan completely contain the cookies from overspreading. I love that.
- By the way, if you’re ever having spreading issues with your regular cookies, here are my top 10 tips for how to prevent cookies from spreading.
One batch of these chocolate chip cookie bars fits perfectly into a 9-inch square pan. I love using this size of pan because it yields a nice, manageable batch—about 16 thick bars. If you want a larger batch in a 9×13-inch pan, use my M&M Cookie Bars recipe and swap the M&Ms for chocolate chips. The recipe below is perfect for a single batch, but requires a few adjustments instead of simply doubling. That’s why I recommend my super similar, scaled up M&M cookie bar recipe instead.
Success Tip: I like to line my pans with parchment paper. This way, you can lift the entire cookie bar mass out and then easily cut into squares. Also makes for quick cleanup! I do the same when making rice krispie treats, too.
Do NOT over-bake these bars. Err on the side of under-baking because otherwise the cookie bars will taste dry and cakey.
Can I Make Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars?
Yes! If you want to amp up the depth of flavor by using browned butter, you absolutely can! My team and I have tested it, and you need to start with an extra 2 Tablespoons of butter to make up for the moisture loss that occurs during browning. Otherwise, the bars will taste dry.
How to Freeze Cookie Bars
Homemade chocolate chip cookie bars freeze beautifully so they’re a great make-ahead dessert option. Follow these instructions and no one will know they aren’t freshly baked the day you serve them:
- Bake and cool the cookie bars completely.
- Slice the bars into squares. If you lined your baking pan with parchment paper, simply lift the slab of bars out of the pan, place onto a cutting board, and cut into squares.
- Layer the bars between sheets of parchment paper in a freezer-friendly container. The parchment paper ensures that the bars don’t stick to each other and that the tops of the cookie bars stay intact.
- Label the container with a “best by” date 3 months out. Cookie bars taste best if they’re frozen for just 3 months or less.
- Thaw bars overnight in the refrigerator and then bring to room temperature before serving.
More Cookie Bar Flavors
- Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars
- S’mores Cookie Bars
- Gingerbread Cookie Bars
- Magic Cookie Bars
- M&M Cookie Bars
- Chocolate Chip Cookie and Brownie Bars
And don’t miss my recipe for chocolate chip cookie bark!
Print
Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 16 bars
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
No mixer required and there’s no waiting for cookie dough to chill with these soft & chewy chocolate chip cookie bars! Do not over-bake these bars. Err on the side of under-baking because otherwise the cookie bars will taste dry and cakey.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 cup (200g) packed light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (180g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- optional: sprinkle of flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving enough paper around the sides to easily lift the bars out of the pan. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until no brown sugar lumps remain. Add the egg, extra egg yolk, and vanilla extract. The mixture will be thick. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together until combined. The dough will be soft and slick, yet thick. Fold in the chocolate chips. The chips may not stick to the dough because of the melted butter, but do your best to combine them.
- Transfer dough to the prepared baking pan and press into an even layer. Lightly sprinkle the top with flaky sea salt, if desired. Also, I like to press a few more chocolate chips on top of the dough before baking; this is just for looks.
- Bake for 30-34 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. Err on the side of under-baking and do NOT over-bake, or the cookie bars will taste a little dry and cakey. Use a toothpick to test for doneness; if it comes out mostly clean from the center of the pan, the bars are done.
- Allow the bars to cool in the pan set on a wire rack for at least an hour. Once relatively cool, lift the bars out of the pan using the parchment and cut into squares.
- Cover and store leftover bars at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Allow to come to room temperature and continue with step 4. Baked cookie bars freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw bars overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9-inch Square Baking Pan | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack | Flaky Sea Salt
- Larger Batch in a 9×13-inch Pan: If you want a larger batch in a 9×13-inch pan, use my M&M Cookie Bars recipe and swap the M&Ms for chocolate chips. Today’s recipe is perfect for a single batch, but requires a few adjustments instead of simply doubling. That’s why I recommend my super similar, scaled up M&M cookie bar recipe instead.
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars: If you want to use browned butter for this recipe, start with an extra 2 Tablespoons of butter before browning it, to make up for moisture evaporation.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Hi Sally and Team!
In chocolate cookie recipes I sometimes swap out 1/2 cup of the flour for an equal measure of ground oatmeal. Do you think that would be successful in this recipe?
Hi Jodi, we haven’t tested that swap but would love to hear how it goes if you do!
Thank you Sally for another wonderful recipe! I made the bars today and were absolutely delicious!
I baked the bars for 25 minutes and they are really dry. Any idea what happened?
Hi Amanda, how did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t over measured, which can dry out the cookie bars. If you make them again, you can also reduce the baking time by another minute or two and that should help. Thank you for giving these a try!
I’ve made these four times within the last couple of months because my boys (hubby and adult son) LOVE them. And it’s so easy! Sally is a baking wiz but I get all the glory!
Wow – these totally exceeded my expectations! I only had low expectations because they were so EASY! But this is a Sally recipe so they turned out fantastic! I was able to mix it all with a spatula, no mixer needed. Only 25 minutes to bake. They are crispy on the outside but soft on the inside, perfection! They are reminiscent of a pan cookie but thicker. I added pecans and used milk chocolate chips as they are what I had on hand. I will use semi-sweet chocolate next time for a richer flavor. Overall, another keeper from Sally. Thank you!!!!
I made these last week and they were incredible!!! I did have some sinking in the center, but these cookie bars work so much better here at high altitude than cookies, which is very refreshing! I do have one question. I bought this new (to me) gluten free measure for measure flour, and was wondering if I could use it in place of the all-purpose flour to make gluten free bars? The flour says it is a 1:1 conversion for wheat and all-purpose flour. I plan on trying it, but just unsure if it will be a flop or a good alternative.
Hi Angela, other bakers have reported success using gluten free flour in our cookie recipes, but we have not tested it and you should expect a slightly different result using gluten free flour.
I used the gluten free flour and they came out just as good if not better than the regular flour recipe! I made both for a birthday party, and we were able to compare, and very happy to say this recipe is great for both all-purpose flour and gluten free flour!
Sadly, these were just ok. I did 30 mins in an 8×8 and they came out dry and a bit cakey, prob overbaked as in the notes. They were fun to make with my 2 year old, but next time I’d do a lower temp or a few mins less time.
Can I sub regular sugar for brown sugar?
Hi Sandra, best to stick with brown sugar here.
These were the best bars I have ever tried! They tasted like a pizookie. Thank you Sally!
These are the BEST!!! My brother and I make them at least once a month! We have tried so many variations like Biscoff and white chocolate chip, Reese’s, Oreos (our favorite), M&M’s, and Lindt chocolate.
I’ve got a question, though. We want to make double chocolate chip cookie bars. I put the recipe in ChatGPT, and it said to remove some of the flour and add cocoa powder. Would these ratios be good?
1 and 3/4 cups of AP flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder – Preferably Dutch-processed for a richer chocolate flavor
Thank you in advance!
Hi Lucas, we would use the dough from our double chocolate chip cookies.
sally, i love you chocolate chip cookies. i wanted to make a cookie cake for my daughters first birthday, a big one baked into a half sheet pan and cut into the shape of a one. i was thinking of using this recipe and doubling it and baking it in a 13×18 pan. it would be thinner, but would it be too thin? would it have trouble baking in the middle?
Hi Dolly, here’s our larger recipe for a 9×13 pan of cookie bars (you can use all chocolate chips instead of M&Ms). We would try doubling that for a half sheet pan. Or, here’s our cookie pizza recipe that may work as well for a thinner cookie bar.
I’ve loved so many of Sally’s recipes but this one just didn’t turn out. The baking process is very misleading, at 25 minutes a toothpick came out totally clean and the top and edges were brown, almost too much so. I took it out thinking it was done but after it cooled and I cut into it, it was totally raw. Help!
Hi Julie! Sometimes if the top is baking fast, the crust of the bar can cause the toothpick to come out clean, even though it isn’t baked through. Try wiggling the toothpick around a little bit when testing the bars. If the tops are browning too quickly, you can always tent with foil to promote more even baking, and trying a different position in your oven can help as well. We usually recommend the bottom third of the oven.
Can I substitute cornstarch with potato starch?
Hi Daria, we haven’t tested it, but let us know if you do. Or, you can leave it out in a pinch.
I doubled the recipe and followed it closely. The outside was perfectly done, but the inside was so dense and doughy that it felt under done. The toothpick came out as the recipe described. Did I do something wrong?
Hi Devyn, it doesn’t sound like you did anything wrong if the toothpick came out mostly clean. The cookie bars will continue to “set” as they cool. How did they taste? You could always increase the bake time by just a minute or two next time.
They were chewy, but so much so to the point where they just tasted underdone. Maybe I was just expecting a different texture. I did continue to bake it in the hopes it would get better but the outside started getting overdone. I did, however, have fun cutting the squares up and baking them into cookie croutons! Thanks.
I followed this exactly to the tea. The bars were really missing something. They only tasted good with ice cream. I just realized that you mentioned putting some kosher salt on it and maybe that would’ve done something for it. But otherwise it wasn’t good.
I made these cookies bars tonight and they are absolutely everything I want from a chocolate chip cookie! They are thick, soft, and chewy. I sprinkled the optional salt over the top because I love that sweet/salty combination.
I saw another person’s comment that said they used browned butter. I’m definitely trying that next time!
Can these be made with a peanut butter flavor for the cookie base?
Hi Laura, you could try our Very Peanut Butter Cookies in a 9×9 square pan for cookie bars.
If I add nuts, do I cut down the baking time or in crease any liquid? Thanks!
Hi Jacquie, you can replace some of the chocolate chips with nuts, keeping the total amount of add-ins to 1 cup. No other changes necessary.
Oh my goodness…these are…Holy Crap!…I am lost for words right now
Thank you Sally for another great recipe.
I don’t think this first time batch I baked can be improved upon with your very easy to follow instructions. My only issue will be resisting temptations to devour the whole batch by the end of the day. The bottom and sides are perfectly caramelized, the top has a nice flaky texture, and the inside are so chewy & chocolatey.
Yum.
I made these a few hours after seeing them on your Instagram page. They were so good. I used a 9×9 pan. The middle sunk in while the edges stayed high. Is there any way I can prevent this? Just more for presentation purposes. Thank you
Hi Mel, Unfortunately, it’s par for the course with cookie bars. Because of the high fat content and dense structure, they’ll always sink in the middle.
Tried this recipe for the first time this week. Followed directions precisely, and took out of the oven at 30 minutes … to a perfect bake!! These bars are delicious and may now be an alternative for me, to chewy chocolate chip cookies!
what are the measurements pretty please
Hi Stella, if you click “jump to recipe” or scoll about halfway down the page you’ll see the full recipe with all of the measurements.
Baking to the correct level of doneness is really tricky with this – definitely not a gamble I’d want to take with surprise guests. Toothpick came out clean way before it was done (about 20 min in – then found out the hard way that it was still raw in the middle), so it was not a good way to check. Any idea what the temp should be with an instant thermometer when it’s done? (Does that even work with baked goods?)
Hi Megan! Yes, that absolutely works with baked goods. My team and I will bake them again this week to find that perfect temperature. What a helpful note, thank you! Will update the recipe when we have it.
I thought they were a bit too sweet, even after cutting back on the sugar, but our guests loved them. I used browned butter in the recipe and I think it really brings out the flavor in these cookie bars. I love how easy this recipe was, but my son still prefers a chocolate chip cookie so this is more a “having people over” type quick dessert. Also I used einkorn flour and it substitutes in very well for regular A.P. flour.
Thank you for another great recipe, Sally! For some reason mine was a bit overdone at 20 minutes this time. I have two oven thermometers inside that read 350 degrees. Maybe I’ll try 325 degrees next time.
Why use browned butter?
Hi Maura, it adds a nice nutty flavor. Here’s more on browning butter.
I love cookie that feature melted butter…makes them happen “on demand”. Do you have something similar with oatmeal and raisins?
Hi Karen, we have a recipe for oatmeal raisin cookie granola bars, but we should do an oatmeal raisin cookie bars recipe, you are right!
Love your receipe so delicious.
I was looking for something sweet & easy tonight. I made these exactly as written. They are scrumptious! Chewy, chocolatey, deliciously decadent. These will go into the regular rotation. Thanks for another great recipe Sally!