The first dessert I ever mastered

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars 

These brown butter chocolate chip cookie bars are one of my favorite, go to desserts. They are chewy, gooey, and chocolatey with a subtle hint of butterscotch from the brown butter. Topped with flaky salt, they are the perfect dessert, IMO. 

A few years ago when my husband and I were planning our wedding, I had the brilliant, and slightly ambitious goal of baking all the desserts for our wedding by myself. But it wouldn’t be me if i wasn’t taking on too much (I’m working on it, okay?). After my husband talked me down from doing it all on my own, I recruited my aunts, mom, and sister to help out. The idea was that we’d pick desserts that could be easily frozen and thawed, so we could do all the heavy lifting weeks ahead of time – enter citrus bars, cheesecake bars, brownies, and these brown butter chocolate chip cookie bars. I became really fixated on making a butterscotch-y cookie bar, reminiscent of those cookie cakes from the grocery store and after many, many test batches, and bringing them to every dinner party I went to for months, I was finally happy with the first dessert I ever developed by myself. 

They are flexible – use dark or light brown sugar, use any type of chocolate chip or chocolate shards (dark, milk, semi-sweet) or a mix of them. Salty sweet not your thing? Skip the salty finish. 

And they can totally be frozen for weeks after baking. Just make sure you cool fully, and securely wrap in plastic wrap and foil. Thaw the bars in the fridge for a day before bringing to room temperature. 

Ingredients: 

• 2 1/4 cups (280g) all-purpose flour 
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 ½ tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, browned and slightly cooled 
• 1 cup (200g) packed dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
• 3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup (180g) semi-sweet/dark/milk chocolate chunks or chips
• Flaky salt (Maldon preferred) 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8 inch square baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper. 

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl: 2 ¼ c flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1 ½ tsp. cornstarch, and 1 tsp salt.

Brown the butter: Cut ¾ c butter into 1 inch pieces. Over medium heat, stir butter occasionally, for 5-7 minutes as it melts and browns. You’ll notice that it will foam as it melts, but after a few minutes, the foam will subside, and the milk solids at the bottom of the pot will start to toast. Once they are lightly golden brown, remove from heat and cool the butter slightly. 

Add the wet ingredients: Once the butter has cooled, whisk 1 c. dark brown sugar into the butter. Then add in 1 egg, and 1 egg yolk. Then add in 3 tsp vanilla extract and combine. 

Bringing it all together: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together until combined. Fold about 1 c of chocolate. I prefer semi-sweet chunks, but you could use milk, dark, semi-sweet chips or chunks – or a mix! Whatever you have available. You could also go wild with any mix-ins your heart desires! 

Transfer the dough to the baking sheet and smooth into an even layer. Sprinkle some flaky salt (or sea salt) on top. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees, depending on how chewy you like them. My preference is to take them out at 25 minutes! Cool the bars in the pan before removing and cutting.