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Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are worth every calorie! These easy cookie bars start with the best chocolate chip cookie recipe and are filled with gooey chocolate and sweetened condensed milk. They’re a gooey bar from heaven!

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Chocolate Chip Gooey Bars - the perfect chocolate chip cookie bar filled with sweetened condensed milk and tons of chocolate.

I love my dog, I really do. She’s a total sweetheart. Ginger is a golden retriever and she’s 12 but you’d never know it unless you had to watch her go up the stairs at night. During the day? She has no problem bounding up and down, but by nightfall she regrets her decision to look for kleenex in every trash can in the house 10 times during the day.

Ginger is nothing if not quirky. She eats kleenex and napkins, will only shred paper towels and won’t touch toilet paper rolls. She doesn’t understand the end of Daylight Savings Time, so since October she whines from 4pm-5pm wondering why I haven’t fed her. And, when given a choice, she will sleep with her head on a pillow instead of flat on the ground.

Last week Ginger got groomed. While she was away, I washed her bed. The result? A fluffy, clean dog and a really lumpy bed. Ginger was not amused. She wasn’t happy when I laid it down for her, when I tried to smooth it out, and she wasn’t happy all. night. long.

It was like Princess and the Pea only worse because it actually happened. All night long. The poor thing couldn’t get comfortable and she let me know it by shaking. And moving. And chewing. Did I mention she did this all night long?

Today we’re both tired. She’s napping. I’m working. Lucky girl!

Since I’m tired, I want comfort food. Is there anything more comforting than chocolate chip cookies?

How about chocolate chip cookie gooey bars? Yes?

Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are the best and most popular cookie bar recipe!! They’re full of chocolate and sweetened condensed milk and everyone loves them.

Chocolate Chip Gooey Bars

I mean, I can’t even get over these pictures you guys. See how good they look? Yeah, they taste better. These were direct to the freezer and hope I forget about them bars.

I used my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe to make these gooey bars. Gooey bars are kind of my obsession, if you didn’t know. I’m particularly partial to the Funfetti version…but these are my new favorite.

The chocolate chip cookie recipe starts with brown butter. If you’ve never browned butter, don’t worry. It’s actually easy. You can read my tutorial on how to brown butter before you start.

If you don’t want to brown the butter you can start with my best chocolate chip cookie recipe instead. It’s got one less step but is just as good.

Really, the only thing you need to be careful of when you’re browning butter is that you don’t let it go too long because it burns easy. It’s kind of like making a pudding or thick sauce: you stir and stir and stir waiting for it to thicken and then allofasuddenitsthickhurryupturnofftheheat. Same goes with browning butter. Once it starts it’s super fast and can burn if you’re not watching it.

It might seem like a pain…but don’t skip it. Brown butter gives a richness to the cookie bars that aren’t there with just melted butter. Totally worth it.

Chocolate Chip Gooey Bars

Another reason I love this chocolate chip cookie recipe is because it has a ton of brown sugar in it. When you add the brown sugar to the melted butter it creates a toffee-like flavor that is sorely missing in non-melted butter cookies. Normally, starting with melted butter means you have to chill the cookies for hours or overnight, which is why making chocolate chip cookie bars is better.

I love that chocolate chip cookie bars are made in a 9×13-inch pan; no scooping or rolling needed. Just press and bake!

These GOOEY easy chocolate chip cookie bars are even better than plain chocolate chip cookie bars because in between two layers of cookie dough you pour an entire can of sweetened condensed milk. This makes them gooey in the center. And because more chocolate is always better, they have chopped up Hershey bars in the center too.

You could also stuff these with Oreos or peanut butter cups!

Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are the perfect comfort food and great for a potluck, party, or a random Tuesday.

Chocolate Chip Gooey Bars

How to make chocolate chip cookie bars that are gooey:

  • Make sure to leave a border around the edge of the pan that doesn’t have sweetened condensed milk. It’ll bubble up around the outside of the pan if you do.
  • It’s really helpful to bake these on foil for easy removal.
  • It’s easiest to slice these cold. For the gooey look like I have, reheat them after slicing.

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stack of chocolate chip cookie bars

Chocolate Chip Cookie Gooey Bars

4.25 from 161 votes
My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe made into a gooey bar. This bar cookie is off the hook amazing - gooey, chocolatey, and perfect!
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Yield 36 bars
Serving Size 1 bar

Ingredients
 

  • 1 cup unsalted Challenge Butter
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips
  • 1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 4.4 ounce large Hershey bar (or smaller bars to make that same size)
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Instructions

  • Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, about 6 minutes, until it becomes brown in color. It will foam, reduce, then foam again. Once it’s done cooking the foam is a light brown and it will dissipate after you remove it from the heat. Once it starts to brown, keep stirring so it doesn’t burn. Let sit for about 5 minutes to cool.
  • Pour into an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment. While still hot, add both sugars and mix on low until combined. Let sit to cool for a few minutes.
  • While butter mixture is cooling, combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir and set aside.
  • Turn mixer (with butter mixture bowl attached) on low. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing completely.  Mix in vanilla extract. Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
  • Line a 9x13” baking pan with foil and spray with cooking spray for easy removal.
  • Press half the cookie dough in the prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk over the top of the bottom layer (be careful to leave about 1/4” edge around the pan so the milk doesn’t touch the foil), then break up the chocolate bar and drop pieces over the top. Break up the remaining cookie dough and place on top of milk. Press with your hands to flatten. It will mostly cover but not completely cover the bottom layer.
  • Refrigerate pan for 30 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake for about 30-35 minutes until the tops of the bars start to get golden brown. Cool completely before slicing into bars.

Recipe Video

Recipe Nutrition

Serving: 1bar | Calories: 172kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 74mg | Potassium: 30mg | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 190IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 19mg | Iron: 0.8mg
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
Course Dessert
Cuisine American

**Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!**

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Last Updated on February 6, 2019



Dorothy Kern

Welcome to Crazy for Crust, where I share recipes that are sometimes crazy, often with a crust, and always served with a slice of life.

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143 Comments

  1. I’ve been wanting to make these since you first put them up and finally did it for Thanksgiving.  All healthy eating is out the door today.  These are very good but so rich, everyone could only eat a little bit.  FYI I used the big German chocolate bars in the purple wrappers called Milka and if I make them again I’m adding pecans because I think it needs them.  Mine did not slice as pretty as yours.  Next I’d like to try your brownie bars.  Thanks for all the good recipes.

  2. I’m pretty sure you’re the devil. And I’m pretty sure I’m going to make these bars this weekend. And possibly hide them from the kids. 😀

  3. Hi Dorothy! I baked a batch of these yesterday to include in a birthday care package for my son in college and, oh man, they are good! I wanted to let you know that the “gooey-ness” makes them perfect for packing and mailing. I’m certain they will be soft, fresh, and delicious when they arrive. I  kept some here for us too 🙂 Thanks so much for the delicious recipe.

  4. I’m diabetic, so I can’t eat these, but I sent this to all my friends. I will be adding this to my list of foods I dream about!

  5. So very happy I found this recipe the other day . I am PINNING it today.  It was a hit in my household.  Everyone loved it. Thanks so much for sharing!

  6. I love this idea. I just made this but instead of chocolate chips, I used butterscotch chips with the Hershey bar chocolate and the two taste great together 🙂

  7. Ummmmmmmm. Your pictures stopped me cold, the 8-year-old was saying, what’s the matter, mom? This is a drop-everything-make-these-now recipe. Good thing I have 4 kids to help me not eat them all. Just wondering – does the fat-free SCM change the taste or outcome? I figure, once you got all that butter and chocolate, what does a little fat in the SCM matter.

    1. It doesn’t make a difference. For some reason I always buy the Fat-Free, I think b/c the original fudge recipe was on that can. Now it’s just habit. Regular won’t matter! 🙂

    1. I’m so impatient I chill them often to slice them pretty! Then I microwave them for gooey, lol!! Glad you enjoyed them!

  8. I couldn’t comment underneath my post and your reply.   Thanks for the other tips!  I will try those!!

    1. Oh my I love that stuff! 🙂 You could totally substitute dulce de leche or salted caramel next time! Or just make the bars without the filling.