Simple Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Looking for the easiest dessert ever? These Simple Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are soft, chewy, buttery, and loaded with chocolate chips. Baked in a 9x13 pan, they’re quicker and easier than making individual cookies!

Sometimes you need a dessert that’s simple, dependable, and guaranteed to please a crowd. That was exactly the case for me this week as I prepared desserts for a large gathering, a funeral for a dear friend.

I already had rich cheesecake bars and snickerdoodle bars planned, but I needed one more dessert that people of all ages would instantly recognize and reach for.

Enter these Simple Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars.

Honestly, I don’t know why it took me so long to add a classic chocolate chip cookie bar recipe to Out of the Box Baking. I’ve shared all sorts of cookie bars over the years—snickerdoodle bars, monster bars, peppermint bark cookie bars, Heath bars, Valentine bars, pecan pie bars—but somehow skipped right over the classic!

That changes today.

And let me tell you: these bars are wonderfully easy. No scooping dough. No baking batch after batch of cookies. No waiting around while trays rotate through the oven. Just mix everything together, (this process took me less than five minutes), then spread it into a pan, bake, cool, and slice.

That’s my kind of dessert.

Why You’ll Love These Cookie Bars

• Easier than making cookies
• Bakes in one pan
• Perfect for feeding a crowd
• Soft and chewy centers
• Crispy golden edges
• Easy to slice and stack
• Great for potlucks, parties, and bake sales

The Perfect Texture

These cookie bars bake up with slightly crisp, golden edges and soft, chewy centers loaded with melty chocolate chips.

In other words? Everything we love about homemade chocolate chip cookies—but in an easier, sliceable form.

They’re sturdy enough to stack on a dessert tray but soft enough to feel bakery-style and indulgent.

Ingredients

You will find a full printable recipe card at the bottom of this post, but here's a quick peek at what you'll need to make these delicious cookie bars.

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large room temperature egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for sprinkling)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt (if you use unsalted butter)
• 1 ½ cups chocolate chips (mini or regular, your choice)

How to Make Simple Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

These come together so easily! You'll prefer them over cookies, I promise!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Spray or line a metal 9x13-inch baking pan with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.Add eggs and vanilla extract. Mix well.

Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Spread dough evenly into prepared pan.

Bake for 22–26 minutes or until edges are golden brown and center is mostly set. Do not overbake.

Allow bars to cool completely before slicing.

Serve and enjoy!

Tips for Success

• Use a metal pan for best texture.
• Slightly underbaking keeps the centers chewy.
• Let bars cool completely before cutting.
• Store tightly covered to keep them soft.

Fun Variations

Once you master the basic recipe, try adding:

• chopped pecans
• peanut butter chips
• mini M&Ms
• Heath toffee bits
• mint chocolate chips (Andes)
• white chocolate chips
• flaky sea salt

Great for Any Occasion

These bars are perfect for:

• church gatherings
• potlucks
• funeral meals
• birthday parties
• bake sales
• after-school snacks
• holiday dessert trays

Simple desserts really are some of the best desserts. And these Simple Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars prove you don’t have to spend all day in the kitchen to make something warm, nostalgic, and absolutely irresistible.

Thanks for Stopping By!

If you make this recipe and love it, please leave a comment or review. Before you go, why not pin some photos to your Pinterest boards?