These easy double chocolate chip cookie bars are rich, thick, and soft - a true crowd favorite loaded with chocolate flavor! Made in one bowl, no mixer required!
PS. These are the chocolate version of my Tiktok viral chocolate chip cookie bars!
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Why I Love These Double Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Rich brownie flavor + cookie texture: The flavor is like a rich, chocolatey brownie but the texture is more of a cookie. I should really just call them brownie cookie bars...they are for true chocolate lovers!
- One bowl, no mixer! Since this recipe uses melted butter, you don't have to get out the electric mixer to cream the butter & sugars. Just mix with a spatula!
- Make in under 30 minutes! These are super quick to whip up because nobody has time for fancy recipes when a chocolate craving hits.
Make for a birthday! If you make this & love it, try my Triple Chocolate Cookie Cake next! It's the same base dough but with a fun chocolate frosting border!
Ingredient Notes
This is just an overview, jump down to the full recipe card for the recipe amounts and condensed recipe instructions.
- Unsalted Butter: I highly recommend using unsalted butter so that you can control the salt flavor in this recipe.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder: I tested this recipe with Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder, since it's my favorite affordable, grocery-store brand. This is not the same as cocoa mix you use in hot chocolate; be sure you're using the type for baking!
- Chocolate chips: I use semi-sweet chocolate chips but this would also be good with white chocolate chips or milk chocolate! If you use dark chocolate, I'd cut the amount back to about 1 cup total to make sure it's not too rich.
How to Make Chocolate Cookie Bars:
Jump down to the full recipe card for printable condensed recipe instructions.
Step 1: Make Dough
- In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, melt unsalted butter (¾ cup, i.e. 1 ½ sticks) for 30-60 seconds until fully melted. If your butter is steaming, let it cool down for a few minutes. Butter that is too hot can result in greasy bars and/or will cause the eggs to cook.
- Add in light brown sugar (¾ cup) and granulated sugar (½ cup) and use a spatula to stir until combined. Stir in 1 whole egg, 1 extra egg yolk and vanilla extract (2 teaspoons). Mix until combined.
- Stir in baking soda (¾ teaspoon) and salt (¾ teaspoon).
- Add in unsweetened cocoa powder (¾ cup) and all-purpose flour (1 ½ cups). Before all the flour disappears, add in 1 ¼ cups of chocolate chips. Mix until all the flour disappears into the dough. Immediately proceed to next step.
Step 2: Press into pan & bake
Press dough into a greased or parchment-lined metal 9×13" pan until smooth (I like to use a piece of parchment paper to get a very smooth top). Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup chocolate chips on top and gently press each one into the dough.
Bake at 350°F for 14-16 minutes, or until center no longer looks wet. Do not overbake or the bars will not be soft & may taste bitter. Remove from oven and place entire pan on a cooling rack. If desired, sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
Step 3: Cut Into Squares
Allow the cookie bars to cool completely before removing from pan. Slice into 12-24 squares, then enjoy! To keep fresh, cover pan with saran wrap or place bars in airtight container for up to 2-3 days (best within 2 days or they start to dry out). See notes below for freezing tips.
Tip: For the cleanest cut (without smearing the chocolate!), wipe your knife between each cut or refrigerate bars for about 20 minutes before slicing. Use a large straight-edged knife for the cleanest cuts.
Tips & Variations
- Don't overmix: I recommend mixing with a spatula (vs. electric mixer) so that your bars stay dense & fudgy. Overmixing will cause them to become more cakey and fluffy.
- Don't overbake: Just like brownies, overbaking recipes with cocoa powder can cause the flavor to become bitter. My oven is perfect at 15 minutes while baking in a light-metal 9x13 pan.
- Use white chocolate chips or other mix-ins! These would be fun to experiment with different flavors of baking chips; white chocolate, peppermint, peanut butter, mini m&m's, etc. Or use multiple kinds to make them triple chocolate cookie bars!
- Top with flaky sea salt: The people of Tiktok love yelling at me for not using flaky sea salt, so now is your chance to shine!
- Turn into a cookie cake: This recipe is a larger batch of my triple chocolate cookie cake, so if you want to make a rectangle cookie cake in a 9x13 pan, use that frosting recipe but double it to create a border!
Frequently Asked Questions:
Storing & Freezing
- Storing: Cover pan with plastic wrap or store bars in an airtight container for 2-3 days. They do tend to start drying out after 2 days, so eating them sooner than later is best!
- Freezing: Cool the bars completely before placing them into an airtight container or freezer bag for storage. These will keep in freezer for 1-2 months. Note that I find that the freezer tends to dry out cocoa powder cookies quicker than other types, so texture will change as time goes on.
Can I make these gluten-free?
I haven't tested this recipe with gluten-free flour but if you try it, report back! My favorite brand of flour is Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour.
How do you cut them so cleanly?
For the cleanest cut (without smearing the chocolate!), wipe your knife between each cut or refrigerate bars for about 20 minutes before slicing (this will help the chocolate harden). Use a large straight-edged knife for the cleanest cuts.
More Cookie Bar Recipes:
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Double Chocolate Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter (not margarine) You will be melting this
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 yolk (i.e. 1 whole egg + 1 extra egg yolk)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder I use Hershey's
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (divided, 1 ¼ cups in dough + ¼ cup sprinkled on top)
Optional Topping
- Flaky sea salt optional
Before you begin! If you make this, will you do me a huge favor and leave a review and rating letting me know how you liked this recipe? This helps my small business thrive so I can continue providing free recipes and high-quality content for you.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, melt unsalted butter (¾ cup, i.e. 1 ½ sticks) for 30-60 seconds until fully melted. If your butter is steaming, let it cool down for a few minutes. Butter that is too hot can result in greasy bars and/or will cause the eggs to cook.
- Add in light brown sugar (¾ cup) and granulated sugar (½ cup) and use a spatula to stir until combined. Stir in 1 whole egg, 1 extra egg yolk and vanilla extract (2 teaspoons). Mix until combined.
- Stir in baking soda (¾ teaspoon) and salt (¾ teaspoon).
- Add in unsweetened cocoa powder (¾ cup) and all-purpose flour (1 ½ cups). Before all the flour disappears, add in 1 ¼ cups of chocolate chips. Mix until all the flour disappears into the dough. Immediately proceed to next step.
- Press dough into a greased or parchment-lined metal 9x13" pan until smooth. Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup chocolate chips on top and gently press each one into the dough.
- Bake at 350°F for 14-16 minutes, or until center no longer looks wet. Do not overbake or the bars will not be soft & may taste bitter. Remove from oven and place entire pan on a cooling rack. If desired, sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
- Allow the cookie bars to cool completely before removing from pan. Slice into 12-24 squares, then enjoy! To keep fresh, cover pan with saran wrap or place bars in airtight continer for up to 2-3 days (best within 2 days or they start to dry out). See notes below for freezing tips.
Last Step! Please leave a review and rating letting me know how you liked this recipe! This helps my small business thrive so I can continue providing free recipes and high-quality content for you.
Hello
These look great! 2 questions: is there a reason you specify a metal pan?
2) Have you ever tried it with gf flour?
thanks for sharing
These were super easy and really, really good. I saved a few of the chocolate chips to add on top. I made these for adults and kids and everyone loved them.
Thank you so much for leaving a review, Connie! So glad to hear that!
These are absolutely delicious! My husband and adult children and their families kept asking for more. I made them exactly as the recipe says, and they are perfect! Frozen are great also!
I am so glad to hear you and the family love this recipe! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review, Myrtle! I really appreciate it!
I made these with a bag of candy cane Hershey kisses I had leftover from Christmas. I subbed out the chocolate chips for the Kisses and it turned out perfectly. Chocolate mint bar cookies! :)
So glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe, Michelle! Thank you so much for leaving a review!
Can you make these with Hershey’s special dark cocoa? They look delicious! Would love to try them extra dark with mint chips for Christmas treats.
Hi, Alyssa! I haven't tried this recipe with dark cocoa powder! If you decide to give it a shot, report back and let me know how it goes! Here is my thin mint cookie bar recipe if you're looking for a chocolate mint option! Hope this helps!
Thin Mint Cookie Bars
Can I freeze this dough, thaw, and then bake?
Hi, Penny! I think you would be good to freeze the dough then thaw it. But, you would want to thaw the dough before pressing it into the pan to bake. I have not tried this, so if you give it a shot, let me know how it turns out!