Saturday was a rough day. Long story, but we have been having problems with our hosting company so we decided to switch to a new company. Well, the transition didn’t go too smoothly. We spent the majority of the weekend on the phone trying to figure things out. Sorry to anyone who tried to access our site and got an error message. We really appreciate your patience. We finally got our site up and running, but it was a stressful day. I owe Josh a huge thank you for the long hours he spent working on our site. I also owe a huge thank you to these Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Bars. They were a lifesaver. I don’t deal well with tech issues, so I decided to bake. Baking always cheers me up, especially when the end result is a sweet and salty cookie bar.
I based this recipe off of my favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars. I took them up a notch by adding a caramel layer. I pressed half of the chocolate chip cookie dough into the pan and then added a creamy layer of caramel. I sprinkled sea salt over the caramel and topped the caramel with the remaining cookie dough. I love a good kick of salt in my sweets, so I sprinkled a little more sea salt over the top of the cookie bars. I baked them until they were golden brown and then indulged in the best cookie bar ever invented.
I loved everything about these bars-they are pretty much perfect. The sweet and salty combo gets me every time. The bars are rich, gooey, with the perfect hint of salt. My bad day was soon forgotten after eating one…or maybe two of these bars:) If you ever have a bad day and need a pick me up, make these Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Bars. Your troubles may not go away forever, but these cookie bars will help ease the pain. They sure made my day a lot better. And if you are lucky and don’t have bad days, you can still make these bars. The sweet and salty combo cures all cravings and is perfect for any mood.
Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 12 tablespoons butter melted and cooled to room temperature
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups chocolate chips
- 10 ounces caramel candy squares unwrapped
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- Sea salt for sprinkling over caramel and bars
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a 2-quart baking pan (which is an 11 X 7 pan-I used a glass Pyrex dish) with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the melted butter and sugars together until combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix on low, just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- In a large microwave safe bowl, combine the caramels and heavy cream. Microwave caramels on High until caramels are melted, stirring every 20 seconds. This will take about 2 minutes, depending on your microwave.
- Divide the cookie dough in half. Press half of the cookie dough into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the spatula. Pour hot caramel over the cookie dough. Sprinkle caramel with sea salt. Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough over the caramel and spread dough with a spatula until the caramel is covered. Sprinkle the bars with additional sea salt.
- Bake cookie bars for 30 minutes or until the top of the bars are light golden brown and the edges start to pull away from the pan. Cool bars on a wire rack to room temperature. Cut bars into squares and serve.
Have you tried this recipe?
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If you like these Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Bars, you might also like:
- Homemade Twix Caramel Cookie Bars from Dine and Dish
- Salted Caramel and Chocolate Pretzel Cups from Bakers Royale
- Twix Caramel Brownies from Two Peas and Their Pod
Can I freeze these bars? They look yummy!
Yes!
These look wonderful and I’m making them for my Valentine party. Was all set to do this this afternoon, but realized I have no idea how liberally to sprinkle that salt to make it come out just right. Can you give my guidance? A teaspoon? A tablespoon?
1 teaspoon is probably good. I never measure. Just sprinkle so the tops of the bars are evenly sprinkled. You don’t want them completely covered, just scattered with salt. Does that help?
How many caramels is 10 oz?
I made your salted caramel sauce for the baked brie recipe and was looking for something else to do with the rest of the sauce. Could I use it here instead of melting caramels? Thanks!
Sure!
Do you think using brown butter will work for these?
These bars look great. Can you use Hersheys caramel topping instead of the wrapped caramels and heavy cream?
Not sure but think mine may be gooey and after 35+ minutes. Â Bigger pan may help but not enough to use 9X13. Hope they are okay after cooling. Â I would decrease the caramel mixture by almost half I think next time. Â A cookie bar usually is easy!
Hello, I had seen the salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bars on a web site Pintrest , the picture to this recipe
does not look the same.
These are amazing! Creamy caramel, fudgy chocolate chip bars satisfy sweet & salty cravings. A new favorite recipe at our house – big hit at the office, too!
I would be curious as to adding cocoa powder how that would work.
I’m about to make the salted cookie bars. I only have coarse sea salt. Is this ok?
Sure!