Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies Bars

A ooey gooey chocolate chip bar cookie swirled with salted caramel! These salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bars are like a chocolate chip cookie in bar form and super easy to make.

Ingredients for these salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bars

The ingredients for these bars are basic pantry staple ingredients you would use to make a really good chocolate chip cookie. 

• All purpose flour
• Salt
• Baking Soda
• Unsalted Butter
• Granulated Sugar
• Light Brown Sugar
• Egg + 1 egg yolk
• Vanilla extract
• Chocolate chips
• Salted caramel Sauce

Side Note: Have you ever tried to take a photo of ooey gooey caramel cookie bars before? Like these below? No? Don’t. It wasn’t easy…

How to make these salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bars

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9×9 square pan with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the melted butter and sugars together until combined. 

3. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. 

4. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix on low, just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

4. Divide the cookie dough in half. Press half of the cookie dough into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the spatula.

5. Pour hot caramel over the cookie dough. Sprinkle caramel with sea salt. 

5. Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough over the caramel and spread dough with a spatula until the caramel is covered. Sprinkle the bars with additional sea salt.

Bake cookie bars for 30 minutes or until the top of the bars are light golden brown and the edges start to pull away from the pan. Cool bars on a wire rack to room temperature. Cut bars into squares and serve.

Tips For Making These Caramel Cookie Bars 

• Be sure to measure your flour correctly. Overmeasuring can result in a cakey texture instead of the perfect chewiness that we are going for. You can get the full tutorial on how to measure your flour here.
• Room temperature matters. Make sure your ingredients are room temperature, like your eggs. To bring your eggs to room temperature quickly place them in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes.
• Use unsalted butter. Different brands will add varying amounts of salt in their salted butter so it can hard to control how much salt to add to the recipe. So go with unsalted butter!
• Watch that butter temperature. Use room temperature softened butter. If your butter is too soft or too cold it can affect the texture. You should be able to make a dent in the butter but it should have some resistance still 
• Do not overbake. They may appear not done at this time, but taking them out during that time, ensures you won’t overbake them! 
• Use a plastic knife. Once they have cooled and set up, use a plastic knife to cut them. Plastic won’t heat up and will cut them neatly.

Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar FAQ’s

Can I use homemade caramel sauce? 

Absolutely! I’ve made my own salted caramel sauce for this recipe and used it before. Both versions were delicious, but the homemade will take a bit longer to make. 

How Do You Store These Cookie Bars? 

I love these bars because not only are they simple to make but you can also make them ahead of time. In fact I recommend it, because they need time to set up before you cut into them. 

You can store these at room temperature for up to 3 days. Just make sure they are covered.

Can I Freeze These Caramel Cookie Bars? 

You can also freeze these for up to 3 months. Just make sure to cool completely. Freeze solid and then place in an airtight container.

Should You Refrigerate These Bars? 

I don’t recommend it. Storing them at room temperature if best. But if it’s a super warm day then you may need to refrigerate these so the caramel doesn’t ooze out everywhere! But I prefer NOT to refrigerate them because it can dry them out. 

More Caramel Recipes To Try

• Caramel Chocolate Oatmeal Bars
• EASY Caramel Buttercream Frosting
• Milky Way Cupcakes
• Eggnog Mason Jar Cakes
• Salted Caramel Apple Bars
• Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Tools Needed To Make This Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

• 9×9 pan-  This is my favorite go to 9×9 square pan. It’s from Cuisinart so it’s quality and it’s less than $8!
• Saucepan  – You will need to make the caramel sauce. This one from Cuisinart is the one I own and love. I’ve had it for years. You can’t go wrong. 
• Electric Mixer – I love my stand mixer to make these bars quickly but a hand held electric one will do the trick too. 
• Silicone spatula– I love using a spatula that is solid silicone, not just the top part. I find they are sturdier in the long run.  

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Chocolate chip cookie bars with a layer of salted caramel sauce in the middle. 

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes minutes

Servings: 16 bars

Calories: 352kcal

Author: Heather Perine

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 1/8 cups (255 g) all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter melted and cooled to room temperature
• ▢ 1 cup (213 g ) packed light brown sugar
• ▢ 1/2 cup (99 g) granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 large egg room temperature
• ▢ 1 large egg yolk
• ▢ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 cups chocolate chips
• ▢ 1/2 cup salted caramel sauce

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x9 square pan with parchment paper  and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the melted butter and sugars together until combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix on low, just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
• Divide the cookie dough in half. Press half of the cookie dough into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the spatula. Pour hot caramel over the cookie dough. Sprinkle caramel with sea salt. Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough over the caramel and spread dough with a spatula until the caramel is covered. Sprinkle the bars with additional sea salt.
• Bake cookie bars for 30 minutes or until the top of the bars are light golden brown and the edges start to pull away from the pan. Cool bars on a wire rack to room temperature. Cut bars into squares and serve.

Notes

• Be sure to measure your flour correctly. Overmeasuring can result in a cakey texture instead of the perfect chewiness that we are going for. You can get the full tutorial on how to measure your flour here.
• Room temperature matters. Make sure your ingredients are room temperature, like your eggs. To bring your eggs to room temperature quickly place them in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes.
• Use unsalted butter. Different brands will add varying amounts of salt in their salted butter so it can hard to control how much salt to add to the recipe. So go with unsalted butter!
• Watch that butter temperature. Use room temperature softened butter. If your butter is too soft or too cold it can affect the texture. You should be able to make a dent in the butter but it should have some resistance still 
• Do not overbake. They may appear not done at this time, but taking them out during that time, ensures you won’t overbake them! 
• Use a plastic knife. Once they have cooled and set up, use a plastic knife to cut them. Plastic won’t heat up and will cut them neatly.
• Making your own caramel sauce: You can always make your own salted caramel sauce if you want!
• Adapted from Two Peas and their Pod

Nutrition

Calories: 352kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 49mg | Sodium: 157mg | Potassium: 51mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 34g | Vitamin A: 351IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 1mg

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