Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

If you’re looking for an easy dessert to take to your next get-together these chewy chocolate chip cookie bars are it!  These golden, chewy yummies have just the best texture and are sure to get rave reviews!

These chewy cookie bars is a great recipe to have!  If you love easy recipes then this is it!  These bars travel well, so they’re great to take along on a picnic or when you’re going to any get-together!

If you love chocolate chip cookies you’re going to love these chewy chocolate chip cookie bars.  They are made in a 9 x 13-inch pan rather than in individual cookies, which is the best part because there’s less time involved to make them!!  They mix together so fast and your family and friends will gobble them right up!!

I can’t even begin to count the number of batches of these yummy bars I’ve made!  We just don’t grow tired of them!!!

The last time I made these bars was when we had a Halloween campfire party with friends and family from the lake. I whipped them up at the last minute and took them along. We had a variety of chili soups, cheese and sausage trays, hot dogs over the fire, and other goodies. But the cookie tray of these bars that I took along came home empty!!

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Ingredients in the Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I’m betting you probably already have all of these ingredients in your pantry to make this great recipe!

The wet ingredients listed in the recipe include 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, two eggs, and 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract.  You’ll want to let the butter sit out for a few hours at room temperature so it gets nice and soft.  Otherwise, if your microwave has a “soften” stage you can soften it up that way!

The dry ingredients that are required in this easy recipe include 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, ¼ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ¾ cup light or dark brown sugar and ¾ cup white sugar.  One teaspoon sea salt is optional.

You’ll also need about 2 cups (11.5 ounces) chocolate chips, of course!  I like to use Nestle Tollhouse Milk Chocolate Chips.  But any kind of your favorite chocolate chips will work like semi-sweet chocolate chips or even chocolate chunks! 

And for a little extra crunch and flavor I like to include ¾ cup chopped walnuts in these yummy bars!  You could substitute the chopped walnuts with chopped pecans if you’d like. 

Or you could really jazz up these bars and use chopped up macadamia nuts!!!  Aloha!!

Mixing up the Dough for the Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Before you start mixing the cookie dough adjust your oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350° F.

These chewy chocolate chip cookie bars take less than 15 minutes to mix together!  No kidding, they’re so easy!!!  Who doesn’t love a recipe that’s fast and easy?  Win win!!!

In a medium bowl add together the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Combine flour mixture together with a fork.   Or if you have a sifter, you can sift these dry ingredients together that way.  Does anyone use sifters anymore?  I know my grandma and my mom always used a sifter to mix flour into their recipes.  I really need to invest in this simple gadget!!

Set the dry ingredients aside.

In a large bowl add in the softened one cup butter and the brown sugar and white sugar.  Cream butter and sugars together until they’re all creamy and dreamy!!  This works best when the butter is nice and soft.  Otherwise you end up with a clumpy butter sugar mixture that is really, really hard to mix together well!

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Add in the eggs and the vanilla to the creamed sugar butter mixture!  You can use a hand mixer or an electric mixer to mix together these wet ingredients if you’d like, or just stir them together with a large regular or wooden spoon or rubber spatula.  If you’re using a stand mixer use the paddle attachment.

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Then to this wet mixture slowly add in the dry ingredients. 

I like to add the dry ingredients about 1/3 at a time, so you don’t have a cloud of flour in your kitchen when you’re stirring the dough, lol!  Again, stir together with a large spoon or use a mixer.  If you use a stand mixture make sure to use the paddle attachment to mix up this cookie dough.

Last year I invested in a Kitchenaid stand mixer and I honestly don’t know what I did without it!  It was a bit of an investment, but if you’re considering this purchase my advice would be to go for it! You won’t be sorry!

Stir in about 3/4 (1 1/2 cups) of the chocolate chips and the nuts to finish off the cookie dough!

Baking the Chewy Bars

Again, you’ll need a 9- x 13-inch baking pan to bake these bars in.  You’ll want to coat the pan with non-stick cooking spray or a little vegetable oil so the bars come out easily.  You could also save the paper wrappers that the butter was wrapped in and rub the butter-coated paper inside your baking pan to coat it! 

An alternative to spraying the pan is to line it with heavy aluminum foil or parchment paper so the bars can be removed as a whole and cut apart after they’ve baked.  Lining the pan also means less work with cleaning it afterwards. I always say “tin foil is your friend”!  In this case, parchment paper too, lol!!

Transfer dough into the prepared baking dish and gently press it all around with your fingers to make an even layer of dough. 

Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top and gently press them into the layer of dough for even more chocolately goodness!!!

Place the pan of bars on the middle rack of the preheated oven.  The baking time for these sweet treats is 20-25 minutes until the bars are slightly golden brown.  To get the chewy texture you want to be sure to not over bake them!  I set the oven timer for 20 minutes and I keep checking them from then.  I make sure not to go over the 25 minute mark!

Remove the bars from the oven.  To get a perfect balance of salty and sweet sprinkle the warm bars with a little sea salt after you take them out of the oven!

For best results allow them to cool at room temperature on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes.  Then either cut the bars into the desired size right in the pan, or if you used foil or paper remove the bars from the pan and cut them apart on your cutting board.

If you need to worry about storing these bars (you might not have to, as they might just get all eaten up!) then store them in an airtight container.

Although I haven’t tried it, I’m sure these bars would hold up great if you want to make them ahead of time and freeze them.  I’m usually never this organized to plan ahead, but it’d be great to just pull these bars out of the freezer if you’re craving a sweet treat and don’t have the time to make anything. 

Again, I’d use an air tight container or plastic freezer bags to freeze them in.  I suppose you could also wrap them individually and pull them out one at a time to have with your morning coffee or after dinner dessert!

See the recipe below for the complete set of nutritional information.  But as far as calories goes with these dessert bars, who’s counting, lol!!

If you’re looking for other good chocolate chip cookie recipes check out my Easy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe post!  If you’re looking for more bar recipes I have one for Candy Bar Bars and one for Rhubarb Shortbread Bars!

So if you don’t already have all the ingredients in your pantry to make these quick, easy, chewy chocolate chip cookie bars add them to your grocery list.  Stock up your pantry so the next time you’ve craving some cookie goodness you can make this recipe.  I’m sure you’re family is going to enjoy it as much as we do!

Enjoy!!!