Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Bars
With three kinds of chocolate chunks and nutty brown butter, these Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Bars are an extraordinary treat! So delicious and so easy to make!
A twist on Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, these have larger chunks of chocolate instead of chocolate chips. More chocolate for the win!!
Why You’ll Love these Chocolate Chunk Bars
- They are full of larger chunks of chocolate than chocolate chip bars!
- There are THREE kinds of chocolate in these bars providing a more interesting flavor palate.
- Cookie Bar Recipes are super easy to make! And both kids and grown-ups will love them.
Sometimes the simplest recipes reap the greatest rewards. As many of you know, my hubby requests chocolate chip cookies or bars nearly every week. Mr. Predictable has even learned to bake up a batch of “chippy bars” when he’s desperate. As a food blogger, I’m always hunting for new, innovative desserts to try…but my better half would be quite content with the same old Nestles Tollhouse cookies day after day. This was an easy way to make a slightly more gourmet treat.
Tips for Making Cookie Bar Recipes
- Line your pan with non-stick foil. This will make cleanup a breeze and help with slicing.
- Have the eggs at room temperature for easier incorporation.
- I browned the butter for a subtle nutty flavor, but plain melted butter works well, too.
- Mix in the flour in by hand as a mixer will add too much air to the batter and affect the texture.
- Do not overbake as this will make for dry, not moist bars.
- Use chocolate chips instead of chocolate chunks. Try adding butterscotch chips or other favorite varieties.
- Reserve some extra chunks to press into the warm bars. It will make a nicer presentation for company.
How to Make
- Grease or line your pan with non-stick foil.
- Preheat your oven.
- Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and mix till combined.
- Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. Do not use a mixer as the texture will be best if mixed in by hand.
- Mix in chocolate chunks (reserve a few pieces to garnish the top).
- Press the dough into the prepared pan.
- Bake as directed.
- Cool, then cut.
Frequently Asked Questions
Brown butter or beurre noisette is butter cooked until it’s a light hazelnut or noisette (French for hazelnut) color. It has a nutty flavor and can be used in place of regular butter to dress vegetables, to drizzle over popcorn, to cook scallops and fish, and a lot more.
To make brown butter, slowly cook butter over low to medium heat, stirring constantly, until the butter foams and the butter solids brown. Do not filter out the brown specks of butter solids as that’s where all the nutty flavor is!
Both chocolate chips and chunks work well, but the bigger chunks made from Ghirardelli chocolate bars provide better quality chocolate in all 3 varieties. Feel free to use chocolate chips instead if that’s what you have on hand.
See my post on How to Cut Perfect Cookie Bars for lots of tips.
Make sure to bake your bar cookies in a pan lined with non-stick foil or parchment paper. This will help you lift the cooled bars out of the pan as a unit so you can place them on your cutting board. It will be easier to cut nice squares if the pan is not in your way.
First, cool and then chill the bars. They’ll cut with cleaner, sharper edges when cold.
Using a sharp knife, cut straight down. Use a ruler to mark where you want to start your slices if you’re not adept at eyeballing it. Then bring to room temperature to serve.
You May Also Like:
- These Brown Butter Easter Cookies are another fun way to use brown butter!
- Double Chocolate Chunk Bars,
- Toffee and White Chocolate Chunk Cookies,
- Chewy Cherry Chocolate Chunk Cookies,
- Quadruple Chocolate Cookies
- Death by Chocolate Cookies.
- And for a sweet-salty twist, try these Potato Chip Cookies with Chocolate Chunks!
Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Bars
A trio of chocolate chunks and brown butter make these cookie bars impossible to resist!
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter (browned, then cooled to room temperature)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 12 ounces chopped chocolate (I used 4 ounces milk chocolate, 4 ounces semisweet chocolate and 4 ounces white chocolate)
Instructions
- Line 9 x 13 pan with nonstick foil or regular foil sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350º.
- Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and mix till combined.
- Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Mix in chocolate chunks (reserve a few pieces to garnish the top).
- Press dough into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes.
- Cool, then cut.
Notes
How to make brown butter is explained in the blog post.
Recipe adapted from Hugs & Cookies XOXO
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
24Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 244Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 39mgSodium: 220mgCarbohydrates: 30gFiber: 1gSugar: 19gProtein: 3g
74 Comments on “Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Bars”
The more chocolate, the better 🙂 And chocolate combined with browned butter makes an excellent duet. The bars look terrific!
I haven’t baked anything with browned butter yet, sounds like it might be fun to try:@)
Lots of chocolate and browned butter…who could ever resist such a combo? I surely can’t!
Looks absolutely scrumptious! Will be putting this one on my to-bake list. Pinning! Lovely post Liz.
Wow 1 in 5?! That really is very sad. I’m sure it’s probably the same here in the UK too. Because we’re not in a 3rd world country, I do think a lot of people are unaware just how much poverty there is in countries that are generally classified as being rich. Well done for raising awareness.
I’m laughing at your husband though being forced to make his own cookies in desperation! And after having the Tollhouse recipe a lot, these must be like Christmas for him. Hehe. I love how you’ve used all 3 chocolate types in your recipe and instead of using chocolate chips, they’re in chunk form – my favourite! I’m imagining that they’re perfectly chewy and full of flavour.
These are being featured on todays Sugar & Slice Sunday link party. Thanks for linking up.
Lizzy,
My hubby is the same way. He complains that he gets something he loves once and then never sees it again. His favorite is chocolate too but he usually likes crispy cookies. He would eat as many of these bars as he could.
Annamaria
shocking statistics. I can’t believe it, truly makes me sad.
I think these bars would make me happy though…or just about anyone who receives them!
Priceless! I love the brown butter addition. Thanks for sharing at What’d You Do This Weekend. I hope it drew some attention to your cause.
Lizzy these look absolutely scrumptious. Hope Bill made it back safely. I know how it feels to be a nervous Nellie. I am like that with my hubby, parents and kids a lot. 🙂
There are soooo many great sweet recipes at XOXO! This is a keeper, my friend, truly!
Liz,
you’re not only an outstanding baker,
but you’re an activist, too.
I Love! X
btw, I’ve never heard of browning the butter. Interesting.
Love that you’re supporting such a great cause. And man oh man, these bars look like they’d be too dangerous to have around the house! I would have NO self control!
did someone say brown butter? I love these. I KNOW THEY ARE EVEN BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL COOKIE!