Malty Salted Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Malty Salted Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars. Malty, salty, sweet, chewy and gooey. Similar to a seven layer bar flavor wise but all in one delicious layer. Notes of deep caramel from the dark brown sugar, a hit of coconut from the Supernatural rainbow chips and salt from the salted brown butter as well as some flake salt on top. These are a salty sweet treat you are sure to love.

I love a chocolate chip cookie bar, or would these be more classified as a blondie? Made similar to chocolate chip cookies but all the dough gets pressed into a pan, no chilling needed, and baked to chewy and gooey perfection.

This was inspired by my tropical blondies on this site, as well as my many variations of chocolate chip cookies.

Ingredients

Pretty simple ingredients for these chocolate chip cookie bars. The longest step will be making the brown butter but I can tell you it is 100% worth the effort to get that deep nutty flavor.

• All purpose flour
• Malted milk powder - can be found at well stocked grocery stores, online baking shops and Amazon
• Baking soda, baking powder and Kosher salt. Just a little salt since the butter is salted
• Salted butter
• Darek brown sugar and granulated white sugar
• Large egg as well as large egg yolks
• Vanilla extract
• Chocolate chips or chopped chocolate - I usually make these bars with a combo of both chips and chopped chocolate.
• Supernatural rainbow chips ( see recipe substitutions for more ideas in case you can't find these)
• Flake salt - another hit of salt with some finishing flaky salt sprinkled on top before baking.

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Brown the butter first to let it cool before even turning on the oven. You can do this step a day ahead of time to save time of the day of baking the cookie bars.

Add the butter to a light colored pan. You want to be able to see when the butter has browned.

The butter will melt, foam up, sizzle and pop and then start foaming again just before browning. You will know it is browned when you see the brown bits and can smell a deep, rich nuttiness.

Browned butter - the recipe starts with 226 g of butter browned to 170-175 g.

I am not going to cry about the chips in the rim of my beloved Mason Cash mixing bowls.

Let the brown butter cool to soft room temp consistency ( or just cool but still liquid) and mix with the sugars.

Mix until creamy and lighter in color

Add the egg, egg yolks and vanilla and mix again.

Add in the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Don't over mix.

Stir in the chopped chocolate and the rainbow chips. You can use chocolate chips instead of chopped chocolate here.

Spread the dough evenly in the pan, sprinkle with some flake salt and the remaining chips.

TIP: Don't forget to remove the clips. OR else they will get baked and its not pretty.

Cut the cooled bars intro strips.

Then into squares. I made 24 squares, you can cut them into whatever amount you like.

Hint: Cookie bars are great because the dough doesn't need to be chilled before baking like many chocolate chip cookie recipes require. This makes this recipe easy and fast to make.

Substitutions

If you know how to make the recipe fit a certain diet, let the reader know here. Don't fake it - only provide guidance on topics you have actual experience with.

• Butter - I use salted butter, you can use unsalted if you like. But then add more salt to the recipe - a full teaspoon. I cannot suggest any butter substitutes as I have not tested this recipe with any.
• Gluten Free - any gluten free all purpose flour blend should work, however, I have not tested this recipe with any. Please do so at your own risj.

I suggest making the recipe as is first then experiment with your own substitutions to fit to your dietary needs or liking.

Variations

Here are some other ideas in case you don't have access to the ingredients in the recipe.

• Coconut- The Supernatural rainbow chips are coconut based so they add a nice hint of coconut to the bars. If you cannot find them I suggest adding in ½ a teapoon of coconut extract and even some shredded coconut to the bars.
• Chocolate chips or chopped chocolate - These cookie bars would be great with any kind of chocolate chip (or chocolate bar chopped up) - dark, semi sweet, milk or white, peanut butter or even butterscotch chips. Or a combo for a mega chip cookie bar. I love using 70% chocolate because the bitter chocolate notes go really well here.

Equipment

I use a few mixing bowls, hand mixer and 9x13 baking pan for this recipe. You don't need a stand mixer to make these, but you can use one if you don't have a hand mixer.

• I love my Cuisinart hand mixer, I probably use it more than my stand mixer, especially for quick and easy recipes such as this one.
• Kitchen Aid stand mixer - use the paddle attachment
• Mixing bowls - I love my Mason Cash but apparently they chip easily.
• High sided 9x13 baking pan. Love Nordic Ware and USA bake pans

Storage

Store the cookie bars in an airtight container at room temperature up to a week, up to 3 months in the freezer. They still taste great after a week at room temp, maybe just a little stale but if you warm them up a little and serve with ice cream? Excellent.

Related

I have over 60 cookie and bars/blondie recipes on my site. Here are a few more recipes to try:

Malty Salted Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Shanna

Salty sweet buttery rich chocolate chip cookie bars with salted brown butter, malted milk powder and coconutty rainbow chips. Full of flavor and chewy!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

chilling time for butter and cookie bars 2 hours hrs

Total Time 3 hours hrs 5 minutes mins

Servings 24 bars

Equipment

• 1 9x13 pan
• 1 hand mixer or stand mixer
• 2 mixing bowls
• 1 Wire cooling rack

Ingredients

  

• 226 g salted butter (browned to 170-175g)
• 200 g dark brown sugar
• 100 g granulated white sugar
• 1 large egg 2 large egg yolks
• 2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 260 g all purpose flour
• 90 g malted milk powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 50 g dark or semi sweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
• 227 g Supernatural rainbow chips (see recipe notes)
• Flake salt

Instructions

 

• In a light bottomed pan ( cast iron enamel or stainless steel) over medium high heat add the salted butter and let it melt fully and begin to sizzle and foam. Stir occasionally watching for changes in the butter with sizzling to foaming, watching the bottom of the liquid butter for brown bits to appear as well as change scent into a nutty aroma. This can take around ten minutes. Keep constant watch over the butter because as soon as it browns it can go from brown to burnt very quickly. Once it is turning brown, stir for a minute to get lots of brown bits then quickly transfer to a bowl to cool. Weigh out the browned butter to 170-175 g. If it is still more than this, brown for a few more seconds to a minute to reduce further. Cool to room temperature or you can chill it to speed up the process. I like to chill it back to a soft room temperature butter consistency. You can use it still liquid, either way works fine.
• Once the butter is cooled to the consistency you like, heat over to 325 Deg F and line a 9x13 baking pan ( preferably aluminum or light colored metal not dark or glass) with parchment paper, having some of the paper hanging over the long edges of the pan. Clip the parchment to the sides of the pan.
• Add the browned with the dark brown sugar and granulated sugar to a large mixing bowl and mix until light and fluffy. You can do this with either a hand mixer or use a stand mixer.
• Add in the egg, egg yolks and vanilla and mix again well.
• In another bowl, whisk together the flour, malted milk powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.
• Add this to the butter and sugar mixture in the large bowl and mix until no flour streaks can be seen. Fold in the chocolate chips ( or chopped chocolate) and rainbow chips saving a few tablespoons of rainbow chips for the top of the bars.
• Spread the dough in the prepared pan evenly, using a spatula to smooth it out and get it to all edges of the pan, sprinkle some flake salt over the top and the remaining chips. Remove the clips holding down the parchment. You don’t want to bake them.
• Bake for 35 minutes, until the edges are set but the center is still a little wobbly - similar to brownies. Remove from the oven and let mostly cool in the pan. Lift the slab of cookies out of the pan using the overhanging parchment and set on a cooling rack to cool completely. Once cool cut into as many slices you like. I cut mine into 24 pieces.
• Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the freezer.

Notes

Variations :

Here are some other ideas in case you don't have access to the ingredients in the recipe:

Coconut- The Supernatural rainbow chips are coconut based so they add a nice hint of coconut to the bars. If you cannot find them I suggest adding in ½ a teapoon of coconut extract and even some shredded coconut to the bars.

Chocolate chips or chopped chocolate - These cookie bars would be great with any kind of chocolate chip (or chocolate bar chopped up) - dark, semi sweet, milk or white, peanut butter or even butterscotch chips. Or a combo for a mega chip cookie bar. I love using 70% chocolate because the bitter chocolate notes go really well here.

 

If it’s your first time making this recipe then make sure you read all of the information in the main post as it includes lots of additional tips, as well as the answers to some common questions.

If you have any further questions then do let me know in the comments and or email me [email protected] and I’ll do my best to help.

If you choose to make substitutions to the recipe that I have not tested yet please do so at your own risk. I cannot guarantee the same results if you change a lot of the ingredients or method. I highly stress using a food scale for accurate weighing of ingredients. Measuring the standard American way with cups is inaccurate and will not result the same as when ingredients are weighed out. 

However, if any of your changes are successful I would love to hear about it and will add to my recipe notes for other readers to try as well.