These Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie bars have a gooey caramel center that is sandwiched between chewy chocolate chip cookie layers and topped with coarse sea salt for a sweet + salty combo!
Salted caramel… There are just some things that belong together, and sea salt + caramel is one of those things. These bars are chewy, rich and jam packed with lots of flavor.
Ingredients needed for Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Butter: Unsalted butter is used in this recipe.
- Sugar: Light brown sugar and granulated sugar are used for variety. Brown sugar keeps the cookie layers chewy and full of flavor.
- Egg & egg yolk: The extra egg yolk in this cookie recipe is used for extra richness in the cookie dough.
- Vanilla Extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Corn Starch: Using corn starch in cookie recipes helps the baked product stay soft and chewy.
- Pinch salt
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips: Feel free to use any kind of chips you’d like.
- 1-2 tsp coarse sea salt
- Caramel candies: I use a bag of these caramels in my recipe. You can use any pre-packaged caramel candies you’d like, measured to 11 oz.
- Heavy cream: Helps to thin out the melted caramel so it is pourable.
In these bars, I use my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe for the cookie part and the filling is super gooey, creamy caramel. Talk about a match made in heaven!
How to make cookie bars
- In a large bowl, mix up the cookie dough. Fold in chocolate chips by hand. Press half of the dough into prepared baking pan. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan on medium-low heat, add caramels and heavy cream. Stir until smooth. Pour caramel onto bottom cookie dough layer.
- Take remaining cookie dough and scatter it on top of caramel.
- Bake. Sprinkle with sea salt straight out of the oven and place on wire rack to cool completely before cutting into them. If you cut them too soon, the caramel will ooze.
When the bars are done in the oven, you sprinkle them with sea salt and then cut them up once they’re cooled completely. If you cut them any sooner, you’ll have a big mess on your hands. Not that I know anything about that..
Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Ingredients
Cookie Layers
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbs vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups + 2 tbs all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp corn starch
- pinch salt
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1-2 tsp coarse sea salt
Caramel Filling
- 1 11 oz bag caramels unwrapped
- 3-5 tbs heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×9 pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix melted butter and both sugars together until combined. Stir in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla until smooth. Add flour, corn starch, salt and baking soda and mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips by hand. Press half of the dough into the pan. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan on medium-low heat, add caramels and heavy cream, stirring until smooth. Pour caramel onto cookie dough. Take remaining cookie dough and scatter it on top of caramel. Not to worry if there are open spots. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until the top is lightly golden. Remove from oven, sprinkle with sea salt and place on wire rack to cool completely before cutting into them. If you cut them too soon, the caramel will ooze.
- Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars will stay fresh for up to 3 days stored in an airtight container at room temperature or 4-5 days in the refrigerator. In warm temperatures, the bars are best kept in the refrigerator and set out at room temperature before eating.
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