Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Perfect for bake sales, after school treats, and potlucks, these gluten-free chocolate chip cookie bars will be a hit with all the chocolate lovers! They’re easier and quicker to make than cookies. 

So many of you have tried and love my gluten-free chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe, that I thought I’d post a few adaptations of it this year. First up – gluten-free chocolate chip cookie bars!You’ve got to make these yummy gluten-free chocolate chip cookie bars. In making these bars instead of cookies, I made a few changes. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had some disappointingly dry cookie bars before. I didn’t want that to happen here, so I increased the butter so that these bars wouldn’t be dry at all. It was a good decision!

Secondly, I used two different sizes of chocolate chips. I wanted to make sure there was a bit of chocolate in every single bite! I used both regular semi-sweet morsels and mini semi-sweet morsels.

You could also mix it up by using some milk chocolate and some dark chocolate. But definitely consider including some mini ones for sure. They help make sure that you don’t get a single little bite that isn’t chocolatey!

Notes on ingredients for these gluten-free chocolate chip bars:

• Flour: tested successfully with Gluten Free Mama’s Almond Blend and Cup4Cup. Other varieties of flour that are not only rice based should work okay in these. With the two I recommended, there isn’t any grittiness. I can’t guarantee that with your favorite blend, but do feel free to try it!
• The cream cheese is a key ingredient here. Don’t skip it!
• So is the butter. Mmm, butter.
• Chocolate chips: for good chocolate chips that are easy to find at most grocery stores, I love Guittard semi-sweet chocolate baking chips. They are made in a gluten-free, and peanut-free facility. If you’d like chocolate chips that are certified gluten-free as well as top 8 free, I love and recommend Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolates available as mini chips or mega chunks.

I like sprinkling a few more chips on them for the last couple minutes of baking for that shiny, slightly melted look like you see in the pictures above. If you’d like that too, just reserve some of the chocolate chips called for in the recipe.

All the yummy flavor of my chewy gluten-free chocolate chip cookies in a much easier, quicker bar cookie form!

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 28 minutes

Additional Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 13 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups (~282 grams) good all-purpose gluten-free flour blend
• 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum*
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 ounces cream cheese, room temp
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 egg yolks (room temp)
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup additional semi-sweet chocolate chips for topping if desired

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together gluten-free flour, xanthan gum (unless flour blend already has xanthan or guar gum), baking soda and salt. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, place the cream cheese, then pour melted butter over it. Add brown sugar and sugar and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. (I use the paddle attachment on my mixer.)
3. Add vanilla extract and egg yolks (one at a time) mixing on low-medium speed until well mixed.
4. Add the flour mixture that you set aside earlier, beating on low until just combined.
5. Add both sizes of chocolate chips and mix on low or by hand, just until mixed thoroughly.
6. Spread into lightly greased 9×13 metal pan. Bake in preheated 350˚ oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with additional 1/4 cup of chocolate chips and return to oven for 2-3 more minutes.
7. Remove from oven and place pan on cooling rack. Let cool before cutting. (Note, to save your pan from getting scratched up, I like to use a plastic knife to cut the bars.)
8. You can cut these whatever size you’d like of course, anywhere from 12 big bars to 24 smaller ones. Enjoy!

Notes

*omit xanthan gum if gluten-free flour blend has xanthan or guar gum already