Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Golden cookie bars with soft centres, lightly crisp edges and semisweet chocolate chips mixed through the dough and scattered over the top. Batch yield: 16 bars; approximately 775 g for the cooled batch, provisionally estimated. Confirm by weighing after cooling.. One serving: 1 bar, approximately 48 g after baking and cooling; one-sixteenth of the batch. Allow approximately 148 minutes from starting to serving. The 120 non-oven minutes comprise 15 minutes for melting and cooling the butter and preparing the tin, 10 minutes for mixing and filling, 90 minutes for complete cooling after baking, and 5 minutes for weighing and cutting. Active work totals about 20 minutes. Cooling totals 100 minutes: 10 for the melted butter and 90 for the baked bars. Oven preheating overlaps the initial preparation and is not counted again. Cook time is 28 minutes for one tin; there are no sequential tray batches, chilling or frosting stages. Appliances: Oven; Microwave. Equipment: 20 × 20 cm (8 × 8 inch) metal baking tin; Baking parchment; Kitchen scales; Measuring spoons; Large microwave-safe mixing bowl; Second mixing bowl; Whisk; Flexible spatula; Wire cooling rack; Toothpick; Knife; Chopping board. Allergens: Contains wheat from the flour, milk from the butter, and egg. Chocolate chips may also contain milk and soy lecithin; check the product label for soy and any cross-contact warnings. Nutrition is estimated from the listed quantities per one-sixteenth of the batch; the rounded macros provide approximately 200 kcal per bar. Storage: Once completely cool, keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, or refrigerate for up to 7 days total. Freeze individual bars, tightly wrapped and sealed in a freezer-safe container, for up to 3 months. Thaw wrapped at room temperature for 1–2 hours. Refrigerated bars can stand at room temperature for about 20 minutes before eating.
120 min
Prep
28 min
Cook
16
Serves
200
Calories
Macros · per serving
2g protein
28g carbs
9g fat
Ingredients
For 16 servings
- 113 g Unsalted butter
- 150 g Dark brown sugar
- 50 g Granulated sugar
- 1 egg Large egg, approximately 50 g without shell
- 15 ml Vanilla extract
- 180 g Plain all-purpose flour
- 3 g Cornstarch
- 2.5 g Baking soda
- 3 g Fine salt
- 170 g Semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- 1
Heat the oven to 180°C conventional / 350°F, or 160°C fan. Line a 20 × 20 cm (8 × 8 inch) metal baking tin with baking parchment, leaving an overhang on two sides for lifting. No greasing is needed.
- 2
Put the butter in a large microwave-safe mixing bowl. Microwave in 20-second bursts, stirring between bursts, until just melted, usually 60–90 seconds in total. Leave for about 10 minutes until lukewarm rather than hot. Allow about 15 minutes for this stage, preparing the tin and preheating the oven at the same time; the butter does not need softening first.
- 3
Whisk the brown sugar and granulated sugar into the melted butter until evenly combined. Add the whole egg and vanilla, then whisk for about 1 minute until smooth and slightly thickened.
- 4
In a second bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Fold these dry ingredients into the butter mixture with a spatula just until no dry flour remains. The dough should be thick, soft and spreadable. Fold in 115 g of the chocolate chips.
- 5
Spread all the dough evenly into the prepared tin, pressing it into the corners. Scatter the remaining 55 g chocolate chips over the surface and press them lightly into the dough. Allow about 10 minutes for mixing and filling the tin.
- 6
Bake on the middle shelf for about 28 minutes, checking from 25 minutes. The edges should be golden and set, and the centre should look set but still feel slightly soft, without a wet or liquid wobble. A toothpick inserted away from a chocolate chip should come out with moist crumbs, not raw dough. This is one tin baked in one oven batch.
- 7
Cool in the tin on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Lift out using the parchment and leave on the rack for about 70 minutes more, until completely cool. Do not cut while warm, as the centre needs this time to firm up.
- 8
For an accurate portion weight, weigh the completely cooled slab without its parchment. The provisional finished yield is approximately 775 g, with a plausible range of 750–790 g depending on moisture loss. Cut into a 4 × 4 grid to make 16 bars, each about 5 × 5 cm and approximately 48 g. Allow about 5 minutes for weighing and cutting. Nutrition is calculated as one-sixteenth of the recipe, regardless of the final moisture loss.
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