These soft and chewy Chocolate Swirl Cookie Bars will satisfy your cookie craving without the hassle of making individual cookies. They’re sweet, salty, and swirled with delicious melted chocolate in every bite.
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Chocolate Swirl Cookie Bars
If you’re craving chocolate chip cookies, but don’t want to bother rolling and baking individual portions, these Chocolate Swirl Cookie Bars are the perfect solution. Getting the beautiful marbled swirl is as easy as sprinkling chocolate chips over the top of the dough, melting in the oven for a few minutes, and then swirling with a knife before returning to bake completely.
This particular recipe calls for semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you could easily make all sorts of flavor combinations using different chocolate chip flavors. One of my favorites is using half peanut butter chips and half milk chocolate chips. These sweet and salty Butterscotch Bars are another delicious cookie bar option.
Ingredients in Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Butter - you can use salted or unsalted butter, depending on your preference. Just make sure it is room temperature, either by pulling it out ahead of time or warming gently in the microwave. In fact, melted butter would even work in this recipe.
- Sugar - white granulated sugar.
- Brown Sugar - you can use either light or dark brown sugar. This recipe calls for light brown sugar, but if you want an even deeper molasses flavor you can use dark.
- Vanilla Extract - pure vanilla extract has the best flavor.
- Salt -sea salt works great.
- Eggs - any kind of large eggs works great.
- Baking Soda - this helps the batter to stay nice and soft.
- Flour - all-purpose flour works great for this recipe.
- Chocolate Chips - you can use either mini or regular sized chocolate chips. I’ll typically use semi-sweet, however you could use milk chocolate or dark chocolate. If you wanted to try a peanut butter and chocolate swirl you could do half peanut butter chips and half chocolate chips.
How to Make Swirled Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Mix the batter. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars using an electric mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Beat until light and fluffy, or about 2 minutes. Slowly add eggs and vanilla, mixing on low to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking soda and flour, and add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, mixing on low just until combined.
- Transfer to a baking pan. Lightly spray a 9" x 13" baking dish with nonstick cooking spray, or line with parchment and spray. Spread the batter into your prepared pan, then sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the top.
- Bake. Bake in a preheated oven for about 5 minutes, then remove from the oven and use an offset spatula or butter knife to swirl the melted chocolate in a circular pattern through the batter. Return the cookie bars to the oven and bake for an additional 12-15 minutes, or until the edges are just slightly golden brown.
- Cool and cut. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before cutting into bars . Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
If your cookie bars turn out too dry, the most likely reason is because they were overbaked. You want to bake just until they are set in the center and slightly golden around the edges. If you bake them for too long, they’ll be firmer and lose that super soft texture so it’s better to err on the side of less baked.
Once they look set in the center and the edges are lightly golden brown, your cookie bars are done baking. Remove from the oven and let them cool at room temperature. Make sure to let them cool completely before slicing into bars or squares.
Yes! These Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars freeze really well so feel free to double this recipe if you want some for later. The easiest way is to cut your bars, line them up on a baking sheet and throw them in the freezer for about 30 minutes until solid. Then, transfer to an airtight container separated by layers of parchment paper. You can store them frozen for up to 2 months.
Storing and Freezing
- Room Temperature: store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: cut bars, then store in an airtight container separated by layers of parchment paper. Store frozen for up to 2 months.
Chocolate Swirl Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup Butter room temperature
- ⅔ cup Sugar
- ⅔ cup Light Brown Sugar packed and leveled
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 2 large Eggs
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Lightly spray a 9" x 13" baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, cream together the room temperature butter, sugar, and brown sugar using an electric mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Beat until light and fluffy, or about 2 minutes.
- Slowly add the eggs and vanilla, mixing on low to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking soda and flour, and add into the butter mixture, mixing on low just until combined.
- Spread batter into your prepared baking pan, then sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the top.
- Bake in a preheated oven for about 5 minutes, then remove from the oven and use an offset spatula or butter knife to swirl the melted chocolate chips in a circular pattern through the batter.
- Return the cookie bars to the oven and bake an additional 12-15 minutes, or until the edges are just slightly golden.
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely before cutting into bars . Enjoy!
Nutrition
More Of the Best Cookie Bar Recipes
- Butterscotch Bars
- Scotcharoos
- Lemon Bars
- Chewy Fudge Brownies
- Blackberry Crumble Bars
- Pumpkin Crunch Bars
- S'Mores Cookie Bars
- Coconut Caramel Magic Bars
- More Dessert Recipes
- More Easy Cookies
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These Chocolate Swirl Cookie Bars are just as soft and chewy as regular cookies but easier to make. The dough is swirled with melted chocolate making every bite delicious.
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