Like with these favorite chewy chocolate chip cookies, using melted butter makes for the softest, chewiest bar cookies. I usually like to use melted butter in bar recipes like brownies and blondies because the bars taste chewy, not cakey. I tested this recipe with creamed softened butter, and the baked result ended up looking more like a puffy sheet cake.
Using melted butter also means you don’t need an electric mixer to make these bar cookies, AND you get that shiny, crackled look on top similar to brownies.
This recipe is similar to the Super Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars on page 28 of Sally’s Cookie Addiction, but I reduced the sugar a bit, since M&Ms are so sweet. We’re doing away with the extra egg yolk, and instead ensuring softness with an extra 1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch.
It’s also similar to my smaller recipe for chocolate chip cookie bars, but scaled up to make a full 9×13-inch pan. Here’s everything you need:
Flour: All-purpose flour is the base of this recipe.
Baking Soda: Baking soda helps these bars rise as they bake.
Cornstarch: Cornstarch gives the cookie bars that ultra-soft consistency we all know and love.
Salt: Salt adds flavor and balances the sweetness.
Butter: Use melted butter in this recipe for the chewiest cookie bars. Because we use melted butter, there’s no need to get out your mixer.
Sugar: I like to use a mix of brown sugar and white granulated sugar this recipe. More brown sugar than white granulated sugar promises an extra soft and chewy cookie bar because there’s more moisture in brown sugar.
Eggs: Eggs bind everything together and add richness.
Vanilla Extract: Pure vanilla extract adds flavor. If you have any homemade vanilla extract, use that!
M&M Candies: Use regular-size, mini, or a mix of both. I also like to crush up about 1/4 cup of the M&Ms so some are broken, and sprinkle some on top. Totally optional—just adds some texture variety. You can even use different colors for different holidays. I love using red, white, and blue M&Ms for one of my 4th of July desserts.
Chocolate Chips: I typically use semi-sweet chocolate chips, but feel free to swap them for white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or butterscotch chips.
Have I Mentioned No Dough Chilling?
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