These oatmeal chocolate chip cookie bars are thick and chewy with almost gooey centers and tons of chocolate chips. They’re simple to throw together and perfect for when you want an easy, simple, totally addictive treat.
If you love your oatmeal chocolate chip cookies extra thick and don’t want the hassle of waiting for your dough to chill in the fridge – then these oatmeal chocolate chip cookie bars are the recipe for you. They’re thick and chewy with a hints of brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. The oats add so much texture and they’re packed with chocolate chips.
I especially love this recipe because the bars are verging on gooey and there’s no need to get your fingers sticky.
Making Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
These bars are incredibly simple to make. Instead of just using oatmeal cookie dough and pressing it into a pan, I wanted to develop the recipe specifically for chewy, gooey bars. When making cookies, you need to ensure that there is enough flour in the recipe so that the cookies can hold their shape. Otherwise the cookies will spread flat and end up thin and burnt around the edges. However, in these bars you can use less flour to butter, making the bars gooier and a little chewier, without worrying about the bars losing their shape.
- Start by preheating the oven and lightly greasing a 9×13 inch (23×33 cm) pan. Alternatively, you can line the pan with parchment paper so that there’s an overhang around the edges.
- In a very large bowl, start by creaming together the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar. This will take about 2 minutes. Note that this recipe is developed using softened butter. Softened butter, vs cold butter, vs melted butter all perform differently in baking.
- Then beat in 2 large eggs, 1 additional egg yolk and the vanilla. At this point – the batter should look almost fluffy and creamy. The extra egg yolk in this recipe makes these bars chewier – so be sure to use 2 large eggs plus just the egg yolk of the third egg.
- From there, you’ll beat in the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. I often whisk together the dry ingredients first in baking before adding them into the wet ingredients, but since these bars are so simple and fail safe, I didn’t find that step necessary.
- Then mix in the oats. You could do this by hand or with an electric mixer to be honest. The mixture will be sticky.
- Stir in the chocolate chips. I always do this by hand because I don’t want an electric mixer to end up chopping the chocolate chips.
- Spoon the dough into your prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
- The cookie bars will bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until the top is golden and the edges are starting to pull away from the pan. If the edges are starting to turn golden but the top in the middle is still a pale yellow, the bars aren’t done baking yet.
The hardest part of this recipe is waiting for the bars to cool. You will need to let them cool for at least 1 hour before slicing – otherwise these gooey, chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie bars can fall apart. They’ll still be gooey and chewy with melted chocolate chips after 1 hour – don’t worry!
So to recap, here’s why you’ll love these cookie bars:
- Thick and chewy with an almost gooey texture
- No need to chill the dough – so they’re quicker than other cookie recipes
- You can pack them with even more chocolate chips than regular cookies.
And if you love oatmeal cookies, then be sure to try:
- Monster Cookies – these are filled with peanut butter, oats, M&Ms and chocolate chips
- Monster Cookie Bars – this is the sheet pan version that’s extra chewy
- Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Equipment
- 9x13 inch (23 x 33 cm) baking pan*
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter (226 grams) softened
- 1 cup brown sugar (210 grams) light or dark, I used light
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk discard the yolk, in addition to the 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (15 ml)
- 1 ⅔ cup all-purpose flour (209 grams)
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups rolled oats (180 grams) I used large, old-fashioned oats
- 1 ⅓ cups chocolate chips (240 grams) your favorite variety
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch (23x33 cm) pan, or alternatively, line with parchment paper so that there is an overhang around the edges.
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until creamed.
- Add in the 2 eggs, additional egg yolk and vanilla extract. Beat until evenly combined. You should no longer see egg pieces.
- Add in the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. If the flour looks lumpy, you may want to sift the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Beat together, starting with the mixer on a low speed and gradually increasing to medium speed until incorporated.
- Stir in the oats. The oats can also be mixed in an electric mixer.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
- Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes. When done baking, the top should be golden brown and starting to pull away from the edges of the pan.
- Cool the bars in the pan for at least 1 hour before slicing.
Notes
- Pan Sizes: This recipe can be halved and made in an 8x8 inch pan. The bars will be thinner and the bake time will be between 20-25 minutes.
- Oats: Large rolled oats or quick oats will work for this recipe. I used large rolled oats.
- Coconut: Optionally, mix in ½ cup shredded coconut.
- Storage: Store cooled bars in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, or in the fridge for up to 6 days. Baked and cooled bars can be wrapped tightly and placed in a freezer bag or freezer container. Freeze for up to 2 months, then thaw overnight in the fridge.
- Nutrition: Details provided are an estimate only and based on 1 bar, assuming the pan is sliced into 15 uniform bars.
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