Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Quite a mouthful.  Both the title and these yummy little squares themselves.  I wanted to make a dessert for a game night and I needed something quick and with ingredients available at home. My thoughts immediately gravitated towards chocolate chip cookies, because there is no limit to which my love for chocolate chip cookies can reach.  However, I didn’t want to take all the time scooping out dough for individual cookies and alternating batches, so I decided to make a bar form.  This is an everylittlecrumb original, and browning the butter in the dough was something I was really glad I did.  The browned butter, if you’ve never done this before, gives a toffee like taste to the batter which just enhances the brown sugar that is already there.  Browned butter is a little gourmet touch that a lot of desserts and some mains benefit from, and once you learn how to do it it’s easy!  First timers, follow the instructions in this link.  In a nutshell, you’re going to want to keep melting the butter until it starts to bubble and change color, while either whisking or shaking the pan constantly until it starts to reach a nut brown color.  Make these and hide them until you need them because they will finish fast!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars:

1 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar (Can use dark or light only if that’s what you have available)
1/2 cup butter (113g) melted and browned
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (Depending on how chocolatey you want these)

Heat oven to 350 degrees (175 C). Grease a 9 by 13 inch pan and set aside. Melt the butter over medium heat and continue whisking as the butter starts to change color. You’ll start to see little brown flecks in the pan. Keep whisking until it reaches a nut brown color and immediately remove from the stove, still whisking until it reaches desired color (It will still darken off the stove since the pan is hot.

I take it off the stove when it’s this color.

Pour butter into bowl, add all the sugar, and blend well. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Add flour gradually a little at a time while still beating on low speed, add baking powder and salt. Mix well, and stir in chocolate chips. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 25-35 minutes until set and light golden brown on top. Don’t overbake! You want these super chewy in the middle. Cool and cut into squares.

Chocolate Chip Cookies for two (or one!)

I am a self confessed cookie monster.  The dessert I’d most consistently choose over other desserts is a warm chocolate chip cookie with a chewy gooey center and crispy toffee edges.  In fact, whenever I make cookie dough, I always form the dough and bake only what I’m going to eat at that specific time, so that I always have my cookies warm.  I’ll put the extra dough in the fridge, then bake some more cookies whenever the urge strikes me.  Once a day, twice a day…the worst test of willpower you could ever give me.  Which is why the concept of this recipe is genius to me- the best way to portion control?  Only make a tiny amount of dessert.  This is usually hard to do, and even those who are baking for only one or two need to make an entire batch of cookie dough, a dozen cupcakes, etc.  This recipe combines just enough ingredients to make exactly four cookies.  Genius!  All in one bowl, greatly saving on messy items and time.  It seriously took two minutes for the dough to come together.  My next post will be on cupcakes for two, another life changing.  Enjoy these cookies knowing that you don’t really have the option to binge, and customize them however you want (with m&ms, white chocolate chips,butterscotch chips, nuts, etc.)

Chocolate Chip Cookies for Two (or One) adapted from Bakergirl

1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon flour

1/8 teaspoon baking soda (just eyeball half of a 1/4 teaspoon measure)

A pinch of salt

A pinch of cinnamon

2 tablespoons shortening (feel free to substitute butter)

2 tablespoons brown sugar (I used light brown, but will use dark brown next time for a more pronounced flavor)

1 tablespoon granulated sugar (1/2-3/4 tablespoon would have been sufficient)

1 tablespoon beaten egg

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. (170 C)
Mix together the shortening, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Add the tablespoon of beaten egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Roll dough into four cookie balls and place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Flatten them slightly with your hand.  Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.

How cute is this tiny ball of cookie dough?

Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies

Having a baby makes you re-think the way you approach your every day tasks. You master the art of taking 5-minute showers, you get more accomplished during a 2 hour nap than you did during 4 day weekends, and you become skilled at typing with one  hand while juggling a crying baby in the other. So when I wanted dessert I had to think of something that I could make with the ingredients I already had. These cookies are quick, easy, and delicious! Here is what you need:

Now butterscotch chips are not always available in Jordan, so you have to look in the major supermarkets. When I found these I grabbed 3 bags to stock up because I knew they would be disappearing soon. Don’t worry if you can’t find them, this recipe still makes a great chocolate chip cookie, just omit the butterscotch chips and double the semi-sweet.

The cookies are best enjoyed fresh out of the oven, they have crispy edges and chewy centers. If you have any left the next day, you can blast them in the microwave for 15 seconds to get a warm gooey cookie. 

Ingredients

1 stick unsalted softened butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon  salt

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. and line a large baking sheet with nonstick paper.
2. Place butter and sugars into a large bowl, mix until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, mixing until well combined.
3. Add flour, baking soda and salt to bowl, mix just until incorporated then add butterscotch and chocolate chips mixing until just combined. Scoop heaped tablespoons of dough onto prepared cookie sheet, leaving space between then. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until nice and golden brown but still semi-soft in center. Remove and let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Happy Baking!