Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars made with Whole Wheat and flavored with brown butter. Conveniently made in bar form these Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are perfect for bringing to parties, potlucks, and more!

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Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies…in Bar Form

This recipe came as a marriage between a chocolate chip cookie recipe and a cookie bar recipe that I absolutely both love.

I loved the chocolate chip cookie recipe but the baking took forever because usually 3 batches had to be rolled out and baked every time I made them. Not to mention you needed all that space for the cookies to cool on a wire rack.

I loved the cookie bar recipe but it was lacking in complex flavors. AKA it needed some brown butter in my opinion. Plus cookie bars are great for a crowd, so easy to bring to a gathering of friends or a potluck!

So thus these amazing (if I do say so) Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars were born.

Equipment

You won’t need anything too out of the ordinary for these (so no stand mixers). You will need a 9×13 baking dish, bowls, a skillet, and typical kitchen utensils like measuring cups, whisks, and rubber spatulas.

Ingredients

• whole wheat flour – At the base of these cookies is whole wheat flour. Whole wheat flour gives these cookie bars a nuttiness flavor that adds some complexity to the dessert. I prefer to use King Arthur’s Whole Wheat Flour. Because whole wheat flour absorbs liquid differently from all-purpose flour I recommend not trying to substitute it out for a different kind of flour. If you are looking for a recipe that uses all purpose flour you could try this Mini Skillet Cookie instead.
• kosher salt – Using kosher salt is my little secret to great recipes. Kosher salt has a different structure than other types of salts making it easier for it to dissolve into the food. If you need to use a different kind of salt that is okay you can use fine sea salt but use 3/4 teaspoon instead of the full amount.
• baking soda– Baking soda to leaven in this recipe.
• light brown sugar – Light brown sugar is what I opted for over dark brown sugar because I didn’t want the sugar overpowering the flavors of the brown butter and flour. Make sure you use a packed cup!
• granulated sugar – Also granulated sugar to keep the structure of the cookie bars.
• unsalted butter – make sure you use unsalted butter otherwise you risk the cookie bars being too salty. It is a good general rule to always use unsalted butter when baking.
• eggs – two large eggs
• vanilla extract – to make sure the vanilla flavor really comes out you will use 2 teaspoons of extract.
• semi-sweet chocolate chips – To ensure the cookie bars aren’t too sweet opt for semi-sweet chocolate chips over a sweeter milk chocolate variety. I would even say if you are serving this to a crowd of adults who like a darker chocolate a bittersweet or dark chocolate kind would be so good here.

For a complete detailed list of the ingredients continue towards the bottom of the page.

Instructions

Begin by preheating the oven to 350º F. Line a 9×13 dish with parchment paper. 

Add the flour, salt, and baking soda to a mixing bowl and stir to combine.

Place a skillet over medium heat on the stovetop. A light color skillet like a stainless steel will work best for this because of the light color you can see the butter brown better, if using a darker colored skillet just make sure you really keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn.

Add and heat up the butter stirring occasionally until the butter begins to brown, little brown specks will appear, at this point keep stirring the butter so the bits won’t burn. Keep stirring the browning butter until the flecks reach a deep golden brown. From the time the butter has melted to when it is at a good brown butter stage can take about 7 to 8 minutes. Watch out because once the butter reaches the right temperature the browning process happens fast. It is normal for the butter to crackle and foam slightly during this process. Take off the heat and very carefully transfer to a heat safe bowl.

Add both the granulated and brown sugars to the hot butter and mix together well, it will still be a little clumpy.

Add the vanilla and eggs to the mixture. With a whisk mix together continuously for 1 minute. Let the butter sugar mixture rest for 3 minutes. Whisk again for 1 minute. Rest 3 minutes. Whisk one last time for 1 minute. The mixture should be smooth and should have lightened slightly in color.

With a rubber spatula fold the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Stir together until just mixed and flour streaks are gone but careful not to overmix. This should take about 1 minute.

Add and stir in the chocolate chips. Transfer the dough to the lined 9×13 dish. Press the dough out evenly in the pan.

Transfer to the oven and bake 21-25 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting into bars. 

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