Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I had this brainwave one day to combine chocolate chip cookie dough – which I had in the freezer because that’s how I roll – and caramel. I united the two into the best cookie bar recipe ever!

Ingredients

You just need to gather a few every day ingredients for these but some important ones are;

• Store-bought chewy caramels – these get melted down with cream to become a thick caramel sauce and it’s an easy and delicious way to fill these bars. I use Werthers chewy caramels (not sponsored, sadly they don’t know I exist, I just find they’re the best).
• Brown sugar – in addition to a little regular white sugar adds to the caramelly flavour and also adds a little chewiness to the cookie.
• Cornflour / Cornstarch – This makes the cookies a little more tender.
• Chocolate chips – I love using dark chocolate chips. You can use milk chocolate but keep in mind it will add more sweetness.

How to make them – step by step

The cookie recipe I use here is from my chunky chocolate chip cookies. It’s very easy to make but I find a stand mixer is easiest since it’s quite a thick dough.

1. First combine the dry ingredients so they’re all mixes well and set it aside.
2. Beat together butter and white and brown sugar until light and creamy (image 1).
3. Beat in half the flour, followed by milk, then the remaining flour.
4. The final step to the cookie portion is to mix through the chocolate chips (image 2) until it all starts clumping.
5. Tip half of it into a lined 9 inch baking tin and press it out gently into a level layer  (image 3).

6. While the base bakes, get onto the  caramel filling, by combining the caramels and cream in a saucepan (image 4) over medium heat and melt them together while stirring.
7. Pour the caramel over the par-baked base (image 5)  and scatter the remaining cookie over the top (image 6).
8. Bake it again until the top is golden.

The luscious caramel filling

As you can see above, the easy caramel is truly super easy to make. It can be used for pouring over ice cream or cakes too and you can add salt to it to turn it into salted caramel. I use it in this Caramel Malteser Slice too.

If you can’t find caramels that will do the trick, you can use the caramel filling from my Cinnamon Caramel Crumble Bars, leaving the cinnamon out.

Try this classic homemade caramel sauce too.

Tips and Tricks

• Don’t beat the dough until it forms one big ball of dough, just until it starts forming large clumps.
• When you put the second layer of cookie dough, scatter it over in small pieces and don’t try to press it down.
• Make ahead – you can easily make these bars a day or two ahead of time, however, they’re equally as good served up an hour or two after coming out of the oven while still warm and gooey.
• Feel free to make more of that caramel filling to drizzle over the top too, like I have in these pictures.

Storage

Store these caramel cookie bars in an airtight container, in the fridge for up to a week. Take them out at least half an hour before you want to serve them and I suggest even putting them in the microwave just for 10 seconds.

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Crisp, golden choc chip cookie on the top and bottom. Chewy cookie and caramel in the middle and choc chips for days. These Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars will be making regular appearances at our place now, how about yours?

Can’t get enough cookie bar recipes? Try these

• Cinnamon Caramel Crumble Bars
• Chocolate Caramel Coconut Bars
• Caramel Peanut Butter Thumbprint Cookies
• Salted Caramel Tartlets
• Chocolate Caramel Brownies