The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (Soft and Chewy)

Make the BEST Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars in a 9×13 pan with this easy bar cookie recipe. This delicious dessert is soft, chewy and chocolaty!

The first time I made these awesome chewy chocolate chip cookie bars, they were gone in a day. This is one time I can’t blame it on the kids. This easy dessert is that good!

I tweaked a basic cookie bar recipe until I thought it would suit our tastes. And over 10 years later, these chewy cookie bars are still a family favorite! You can make the dough in one bowl, bake it in a 13 x 9-inch pan, and enjoy homemade cookies from scratch in about 30 minutes.

The wonderful thing about making cookies in bar form is they are so much faster to make than regular individual cookies. And with this one bowl recipe, no need to use separate bowls for dry ingredients and wet ingredients. As much as we love making our favorite chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, bar cookies are way easier.

The cookie bars are warm and soft with a gooey chocolate center. You may think it can’t get any better, but the next day, they are even more amazing–trust me. Unlike regular chocolate chip cookies, the bar cookies stay very soft and chewy in the inside.

Ingredients

You need a few simple ingredients for this chocolate chip cookie bar recipe. Full amounts and instructions are in the printable recipe card below.

• Butter — I use salted butter, but unsalted butter is fine.
• Brown sugar — either dark brown sugar or light brown sugar
• White sugar — granulated sugar
• Cinnamon — for added flavor
• Vanilla extract for — flavor
• Eggs — large eggs
• All purpose flour
• Baking powder — to help the cookies rise
• Sea salt
• Semi sweet chocolate chips

How to Make Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Start out by melting one half cup of butter in a large mixing bowl. The other nice thing about this wonderful recipe is you can make the entire batch in one large microwavable bowl — my kind of cooking!

Then add a combination of light brown sugar and granulated sugar to the melted butter, and stir until it looks like this.

Next, add two eggs, one at a time, and beat well after you add each egg. Add some vanilla extract, and then add 2 cups of white flour, salt and two teaspoons of baking powder. The dough is stiff, but this is normal.

At this point I added 2 teaspoons of cinnamon–I just love this stuff! I used slightly more than one cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and stirred them into the dough.

It looks like a lot of chocolate chips, but trust me, it’s not. Can you ever really have too many chocolate chips? 

Transfer dough to a 9×13 metal baking pan lined with parchment paper. The dough is very thick, so you can use a spatula to press the dough into the pan. and pop it into the oven. If you don’t have a metal pan, grease a 13 x 9 inch glass baking pan.

Baking Time

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes in a 9×13 metal pan. The bars will be soft, so use a toothpick to test if they are done.

The center is supposed to be nice and gooey. For extra sparkle, you can add a sprinkle of sugar crystals.

I’ve baked with both metal and glass pans, and I think the metal pans work much better. But, you can bake the cookies at 325 degrees in a glass pan. The sides tend to cook faster than the center, so the lower temperature works better.

How to Tell When Bar Cookies are Done

Cookie bars are done when they are golden brown and firm around the edges and the middle is firm and not wet. When you insert a toothpick in the center it will come out with melted chocolate but it shouldn’t be wet.

How to Store Cookie Bars

To keep them soft, store the bars in an airtight container. You can put a slice of sandwich bread in there, and it will help absorb moisture to keep the bars soft longer. Trust me!

For longer storage, wrap the bars in freezer safe paper in a zip top storage bag. They freeze and thaw very well.

Helpful Baking Tips

Use a metal pan for best results, and line with parchment paper or foil for easy removal and slicing. If using a glass pan, reduce the oven temperature to 325.

All ovens are different. Bake until the edges are firm, golden brown and the center is set. Allow to cool down before slicing.

Add seasonal sprinkles, flaky sea salt or colorful candy to the top for different holidays.

Can you turn any cookie recipe into a bar cookie?

You can generally convert most drop cookie recipes into cookie bar recipes. You just have to increase the baking time to 25 – 30 minutes.

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Recipe first published in 2013 and updated last in 2024