Sometimes you just need a little comfort food. Chocolate chip cookie bars seem like the perfect comforting food for all of this snow and cold weather.
And when you run out of groceries and don’t want to leave the house in the snow, you do what you can with what you have ;) These chocolate chip cookie bars are ooey, gooey, studded with chocolate chunks and healthier than regular chocolate chip cookies! They don’t contain any butter and no one will ever guess that they are made partially with whole wheat flour! Shh, I won’t tell you friends either.
They are so delicious when they are warm and the chocolate is melty, but are also great cool with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. They have a deep flavor, due to the olive oil, dark chocolate and sea salt and can be chopped into little squares for snack, or big bars for dessert.
The best part about these chocolate chip cookie bars (besides the chocolate) is that you can throw them together super quickly and only need one bowl for the whole shebang! Fewer dishes to wash plus gooey cookie bars? Perfect! I love using chopped chocolate in my baked goods instead of chocolate chips because, without the waxy coating that chocolate chips have, it melts in pools and spread throughout the treats better. Trader Joe’s Pound Plus chocolate bars are my go-to for any type of chocolate dessert – you get a huge bar to chop up for a great price. The dark or bittersweet chocolate pair so well with the subtle sea salt and olive oil flavors, but you can use semisweet if that is more your taste too. As long as there is ample chocolate, no one will complain. :)
How have you been faring in winter storm Jonas? I hope yours was filled with snow and chocolate and no sight of the real world that is creeping back in.
These melty chocolate chip cookie bars are the ideal dessert for your snow days, or your non-snow days.
Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
¾ cup all purpose flour
¾ cup whole-wheat flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons canola or other neutral flavored oil
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon sea salt
6 ounces (about 1 cup) dark chocolate, chopped (or chocolate chips)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8-inch baking dish with parchment paper and set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix together the oils, sugars, egg and vanilla until fully combined. Stir in flours, baking soda and salt until the dry ingredients are almost fully incorporated but a few streaks of flour still visible. Fold in the chocolate.
Pour the batter into your prepared baking dish and press down gently to spread the dough evenly throughout the pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the pan comes out clean (except for some melted chocolate). Allow the bars to cool for 10 minutes before removing them from pan by pulling out the parchment paper and cutting into squares. These are sometimes easier to cut once they have fully cooled, but we all know that melty chocolate is the best :)
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