Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

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Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars take a favorite treat & makes it easy to make a lot. And browning the butter really ups the flavor. Everyone wins!

Happy (belated) Patriots’ Day, everyone!

What, you don’t know what that is? Don’t feel bad…growing up in Southern California I’d never heard of Patriot's Day either, but trust me that it’s a big deal in Massachusetts.

Patriots’ Day commemorates the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 (the “shot heard ‘round the world”) that signaled the start of the American Revolution. There are reenactments of Paul Revere’s (and William Dawes’) midnight rides, battle recreations, parades.

Oh, and Boston hosts a little event for upwards of 30,000 runners called the Boston Marathon.

Yup, big deal is quite the understatement. I wanted to bring treats for my co-workers to celebrate Patriots’ Day and the Marathon (I work about a quarter mile from the Finish line).

There are a lot of us and feeding a crowd cookies requires a lot of portioning-out time in the kitchen. Luckily, I happened across a Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction that would work nicely.

A quick & easy treat

The cookie bar recipe I present below doubles well so making a lot is just a matter of cutting the bars to a manageable size.

It's easy, too...since we use melted butter, there's no need to break out the mixer to cream butter and sugar together.

You just mix up the dough, pat it into a pan, bake it, and…yummmmm…

If you do double the recipe like I did, just use three eggs instead of an egg + a yolk. That's what you'll see in the ingredients picture here and in the video, enough for a crowd).

Add browned butter to your cookie dough

Speaking of melted butter, how about upping the ante of this recipe by browning the melted butter. Why? Brown butter toasts the milk solids in the butter, giving it a wonderfully rich nutty flavor that really amps up the volume of what you’re making.

Browning butter is just cooking the butter past melting until it turns a dark brown color and smells nutty.

You have to be vigilant though…the butter can go from brown to burnt in a few seconds, so it needs to be watched carefully and taken it off the heat as soon as the color turns amber (black butter is not what we're after!).

It’s best to use a light-colored pan to brown butter, but since I don’t have one, I settled for a white spatula instead (hey, I just work with what I have).

So now the bars are Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars. Truth in advertising, and all that.

Turning cookies into cookie bars

The main difference between a regular chocolate chip cookies and these chocolate chip cookies bars (besides browning the butter) is the presence of cornstarch. It softens the dough, making the bars fluffier and much easier to cut.

Other that that, the method is similar to making cookies. Mix the dry ingredients, mix the wet ingredients, and combine the two. Fold in chocolate chips at the end.

Try using a dough whisk to make your cookie bars

That funny looking tool I use to mix my batter is the Dough Whisk from King Arthur Flour. It works really well mixing up bread dough to cake batter, and much more in between.

I don’t receive anything from King Arthur Flour to tell you this...I just want to share with you a tool I find useful. Now back to our regularly scheduled post in progress…

And the verdict from the crowd...

Brown butter + Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars for the win!

These Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are chewy, buttery, and gloriously chocolatey…truly the best of what a chocolate chip cookie has to offer. And you don't have to portion out dough (even though cookies are portioned-controlled bits of food hugs).

It’s too bad there isn’t a “smell-o-blog” setting here because my kitchen smelled incredible while the bars were in the oven…think sweet brown sugar and hazelnuts (or maybe, think a good Speyside scotch!).

When I took some to my daughter, she immediately agreed that the brown butter added more wonderfulness to an already wonderful recipe (I think her exact words were, “These are the best chocolate chip bars ever!”).

My co-workers devoured the bars quickly…next time I’ll have to double-double the recipe and maybe even cut them smaller so more people can enjoy them. So if you’re feeding a crowd (or just feeling lazy), these bars will be a big hit without too much effort, and that’s a fact I want to shout ‘round the world!

📖 Recipe

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Tammy Spencer, Scotch & Scones

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars take a favorite treat & makes it easy to make a lot. And browning the butter really ups the flavor. Everyone wins!

Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

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Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 35 mins

Cooling Time 1 hr

Total Time 1 hr 50 mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 32 bars

Calories 130 kcal

Equipment

• 9- x 9-inch baking pan

Ingredients

  

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• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour, (10 oz, 280g)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1½ tsp cornstarch
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• ¾ cup unsalted butter, melted and browned, slightly cooled (6 oz, 170g)
• 1  cup light brown sugar, packed (2½ oz, 71g)
• ¼ cup granulated sugar, (1¾ oz, 50g)
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips, (6½ oz, 180g)
• sea salt flakes, optional

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the bottom and sides of a 9- x 9-inch baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment, leaving an overhang on all sides to easily lift the bars out of the pan when cool. Set aside.
• In a saucepan with a heavy bottom, melt the butter on medium-high heat. Continue cooking the butter until it turns amber and smells nutty, about 8 minutes. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and pour butter into a bowl to stop the cooking process. Let cool slightly.
• Whisk the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, combine the melted brown butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until no brown sugar lumps remain. Whisk in the egg, then the egg yolk. Finally, whisk in the vanilla extract.
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together until combined. The dough will be very soft, 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. Sprinkle the top with sea salt, if desired. Also, press a few more chocolate chips on top of the dough before baking (just for looks). 
• Bake for 32-35 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. Use a toothpick to test for doneness; if it comes out 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 foil out of the pan using the overhang on the sides and cut into bars. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

Video

Notes

You don't have to brown the butter, but doing so adds a caramelized, nutty flavor that just takes this bar up a notch. Keep an eye on the butter as it's browning...it can go from brown to burnt quickly.

Make ahead tip: 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.

You can double this recipe to fit into a 9- x 13-inch baking pan (that's what you see in the video). Use three eggs instead of the egg & yolk, and double everything else. The bars will take longer to cook through, about 35-40 minutes at 350°F. Use a cake tester to check for doneness.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 barCalories: 130 kcal

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