Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Bars
Updated February 19, 2024
I LOVE cookies, but I also love making cookie bars, especially when I am short on time. You don’t have to roll the dough into balls, just put the dough in a pan and bake! Cookie bars are also great for taking to parties and potlucks!
These Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Bars are such a great! The chocolate chip cookie bars have a layer of caramel that is sweet, slightly, chewy, and gooey! The caramel and chocolate combo is perfection!
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. The sweet and salty combo cures all cravings and is perfect for any mood.
If you want to go all out, serve warn with vanilla ice cream. YUM!
More Cookie Bar Recipes
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- M&M Cookie Bars
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Monster Cookie Bars
- Magic Cookie Bars
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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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. Bigger pan may help but not enough to use 9X13. Hope they are okay after cooling. I would decrease the caramel mixture by almost half I think next time. 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!
This is one of my favorite recipes to bake – I always requested these brownies for my birthday, and now I make them for many others! Deliciously sweet and salty! So yummy!
Could this be made in a 9×13 pan and just shorten the cooking time?
The bars will be thinner, I haven’t tried it. If you do, yes, reduce the baking time.