Cookie bars are my favorite thing to bake when I want the full cookie experience without the commitment of scooping individual cookies and these salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bars are the version I make when I want to actually impress someone. Brown butter cookie dough, a hidden layer of gooey salted caramel baked right into the center, chewy edges, soft fudgy middle, and chocolate chips in every single bite. The kind of dessert that stops conversations at a party and has people asking for the recipe before they have even finished their first square.
The brown butter is the foundation that makes everything else taste better. Butter cooked in a saucepan over medium heat until the milk solids turn golden and it smells nutty and caramelized and like the best version of toffee you have ever encountered. Watch it constantly because it goes from perfectly browned to burnt in about thirty seconds and there is no saving it after that. Pull it off the heat the moment you see those little golden bits forming on the bottom, let it cool, and then use it as your butter base. That one extra step adds a depth of flavor to the cookie dough that you absolutely cannot get from regular melted butter.
The caramel layer in the middle is the detail that makes these bars so dramatically good. Half the dough goes into the pan first and gets pressed flat, caramel gets drizzled across the entire surface, sea salt goes on top of that, and then the remaining dough gets dropped in globs over the caramel and gently pressed to cover it. It is completely fine if caramel pockets peek through the top because those little caramel windows that bubble up during baking look beautiful and taste even better. No mixer, no dough chilling, no individual scooping. Just layer, bake, and wait.
The waiting is the hardest part. These need to cool completely before you cut them or the caramel center will be too loose to slice cleanly. Give them at least an hour at room temperature and then cut into squares with a sharp knife for those clean bakery style edges. Serve them at a potluck, bring them to a party, or keep them on the counter all week and eat them slightly warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. However you serve them, make a double batch. They go fast.
Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup brown butter melted and cooled
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tbs vanilla
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup caramel or enough to drizzle and make a layer in the middle of your cookie bars
- Sea salt
Instructions
- Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat until little brown bits start to form on the bottom. Remove from heat immediately and let cool. (The butter will go from brown to burnt quickly so be sure to watch it!)
- Transfer melted brown butter into the bowl of a stand mixer and add sugars. Mix to combine.
- Add eggs and vanilla and mix.
- Add flour, baking soda, and salt and mix until just combined.
- Add chocolate chips and fold in with a spatula.
- Dump half of the cookie dough into the bottom of a square baking dish (about 9×9)
- Drizzle caramel on top of the dough making a thin layer.
- Sprinkle sea salt on top of that.
- Dump the remaining cookie dough in globs on top of the caramel layer and gently press together to cover up the caramel. It’s okay if you have pockets of caramel coming through!
- Bake at 350° F for 25-30min until the top is golden brown.
- Let cool completely before cutting into squares to let the dough set.
- Enjoy!!
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