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Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (aka Pan Chewies) are our family’s go-to Sunday Night Dessert! It’s your favorite cookie in bar-form, served hot. They’re perfect with ice cream!
If you love Chocolate Chip Cookies, then you’ll love these chewy chocolate chip cookie bars. They’re right up there with our Sugar Cookie Bars and Cake Mix Cookie Bars.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Over the years, we’ve come to find some go-to desserts for family gatherings. It may be a long list now, but today’s recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars aka “Pan Chewies” is one of those deserts.
We’ve decided you really can’t beat Chocolate Chip Cookies in Bar form (go here for even more Cookie Bar Recipes).
We love these because:
- SO easy. These are so simple and classic, we make them all the time.
- Delicious. If you love cookies, then you will love these in bar form.
- Great for gatherings. We love to make these for parties, holidays like Easter and Christmas and family outings.
We often serve them with Vanilla Ice Cream, and I can safely say EVERYONE in the family loves them.
Ingredients
Just a few ingredients and steps are needed to make this chocolate chip cookie bars. Here are the ingredients needed to make the cookie dough:
- butter
- brown sugar
- eggs
- vanilla
- flour
- baking powder
- baking soda
- salt
- semi-sweet chocolate chips or milk chocolate chips
How to Make Cookie Bars
- PREP. Begin by greasing a 9-x-13-inch glass baking dish and setting it aside.
- WET INGREDIENTS. In a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla. Mix well with a wooden spoon or a mixer on the lowest setting.
- DRY INGREDIENTS. Gradually add flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Stir until well combined and pour into the prepared baking dish.
- BAKE. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and bake for 24–28 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan before cutting.
- SERVE. Serve warm and eat by themselves or with ice cream.
Recipe Tips
Getting perfectly baked cookie bars:
- Make sure your oven is preheated to 350 degrees before you put your bars in to avoid underbaking.
- When you remove them from the oven you’ll be able to tell that they are done if they have a slightly dull surface that when you lightly touch it a slight imprint remains. The edges of the crust should also begin to harden and slightly pull away from the surface of the baking dish.
- If your bars are undercooked, return them to bake in the oven immediately and check them for doneness at 5 minute intervals.
Variations
- White Chocolate Chips + Butterscotch Chips
- M&Ms – and we change these up with different M&Ms for the holidays
- Chocolate Chips + Toffee Bits
- Chocolate Chips + Chopped Nuts (Peanuts or Walnuts)
Storage Tips
- To STORE, just cover tightly with foil or saran wrap and store on the counter for up to 3 days.
- To reheat, just place in microwave for a few minutes to make them gooey and warm.
- Once cooked and cooled, you can FREEZE these cookie bars by placing a freezer-safe Ziploc bag and freezing for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight and reheat in the microwave.
For more Bar Recipes
Cookie Bars Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups packed light brown sugar
- ¾ cup unsalted butter melted
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour sifted
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1½ cups chocolate chips semisweet or milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-x-13-inch glass baking dish and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla. Mix well with a wooden spoon.
- Gradually add flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Stir until well combined and pour into the prepared baking dish.
- Sprinkle with chocolate chips and bake for 24–28 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan before cutting.
Video
Notes
Variations: You can swap out the chocolate chips for a variety of other toppings to change up these bars. Here are some of our favorite combinations:
o White chocolate chips + butterscotch chips
o M&M’s (we love to use colored M&M’s for the different holidays!)
o Chocolate chips + toffee bits or peanut butter chips
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Baked for 30 minutes and they still weren’t cooked all the way through. Not sure what happened
Hmmm… every oven bakes a little differently. Elevation/altitude can affect baking too, so not totally sure. Hopefully they still turned out leaving them in a bit longer.
These are great, my go to when I need to make something quickly for my Children or Grandchildren. In fact, I have a pan of them in the oven now!!! I get compliments on these from whomever tastes them, they are sooooo good! I have substituted white chocolate chips for a Grandson who likes white chocolate better and of course, they were yummy, too. Great recipe, try them, you won’t be disappointed.
Oh I’m so glad to hear these are a hit! Thanks for sharing!
Ended up baking these for 42 minutes to get dona at 350° in a 9×13 pan. At 26 minutes they were soupy yet. I think baking time needs adjusting. We’re good once baked but took way longer than stated.
Thanks for the feedback!!
made them in culinary, turned out amazing (plus we added twix crushed up)
Ooh I bet the addition of the Twix was delicious!
Love this recipe
It seems like it was for 8×8/ 9×9 pan last time I made it -has this been updated?
9x13too big !
Where’s the other directions?
Yes, the post has been updated to fit a 9×13. If you still would like to make it in an 8×8, you’d just need to half the recipe.
Would the cook time be shorter?
Yes, if you are halving the recipe, I’d start checking for doneness around 15 minutes.
Hi! Can I mix this by hand? I don’t have an electric mixer (it’s my first time baking) Thanks!
Yep! You absolutely can!
This has been my go-to chocolate chip cookie bar recipe for several years. I’ve tried others but always come back to this one. Just can’t get any better!
Do these have to be warmed up to enjoy? Am wondering if they get dry nwhen completely cool.
Would like to try this, as making actual cookies is time consuming ( I usually cut large recipes in half for this reason ).
Nope, you can eat them cool too. I like them both ways. They stay fresh for about 3 days on the counter. In fact, these freeze really great too so you can make them and freeze the extras for later. When ready to eat, just set them on the counter for a couple hours to thaw and they taste fresh as can be!
Made these for the 1st time for my family and my kids gobbled them up. Only thing I did different was I mixed in mini chocolate chips and they came out so soft and good.
Yum!! Love the mini chocolate chips. Thanks so much for sharing and I’m glad to hear they were a hit!
Just read , but will try 😊
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Quick, easy and a crowd favorite
Thank you!! Definitely a favorite over here too. 🙂