Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

This gluten free chocolate chip cookie bars recipe turns your favorite chocolate chip cookies into buttery little handheld bars. Packed with semisweet chocolate, a good amount of salt, and plenty of brown sugar, it's impossible to stop at one!

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars Recipe

Buttery and tender, these gluten free chocolate chip cookie bars are loaded with the good stuff: dark chocolate, whole grain oat flour, pure vanilla extract, and enough salt to balance out the sweetness of the brown sugar. These bars are chewy, crisp on top, and so easy to make gluten free. They may trump your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe! (Although I won't go so far - yet.)

Why You'll Love This Gluten Free Cookie Bar Recipe

Who doesn't love chocolate chip cookies? And when they're baked into delightfully chewy handheld bars that are reminiscent of brownies, you will find it impossible to eat just one. I speak from experience here. Here's why you'll love this recipe for chocolate chip cookie bars:

• Easy. I don't mind forming individual chocolate chip cookies, but it's certainly easier to bake them in one pan. These bars taste just like chocolate chip cookies (and maybe even better?) and they are easily made all at once.
• No mixer needed. Following along in that "easy" vibe, you won't need a mixer to make these cookie bars! Just a whisk and a spoon is all that's necessary.
• Great for a crowd. This recipe makes a lot, about 24 cookie bars to be exact. I love bringing these for school parties and they pack up beautifully to tuck into lunch boxes for a little sweet treat.

What You'll Need

I've outlined what you'll find in these cookie bars below. The full ingredient amounts and detailed instructions are in the recipe card lower down - this is just an overview.

• Oat flour - Wonderful gluten free oat flour is the only flour you need to make these bars
• Salt - I always use fine sea salt in my recipes
• Leavening agents - A blend of baking powder and baking soda
• Butter - I use unsalted butter but if you like a bit more salt, use salted butter
• Brown sugar - You can use light or dark brown sugar
• Granulated sugar
• Vanilla extract - We use a lot of pure vanilla extract in this recipe to give it extra flavor
• Eggs - Use large eggs
• Chocolate chips - I prefer semisweet chocolate chips - try milk chocolate or even white chocolate chips if you like

How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

1. Prepare: Grease a 13x9" baking pan and line with parchment paper.
2. Make the dough: Whisk together the dry ingredients. In another bowl, whisk the sugars and vanilla into the butter and add the eggs.
3. Combine: Stir the dry mix into the wet mix. Fold in the chocolate chips.
4. Assemble: Spread the dough evenly into the baking pan and preheat the oven to 325°.
5. Bake: Rest the dough while the oven heats, then bake until the top is golden brown and a tester comes out clean.
6. Cool: Let the bars cool for 1 hour before cutting.

Tips & Variation Ideas

These bars are perfect as the recipe is written, and they also take well to a little playing around! Add nuts, a different type of chocolate, there are so many possibilities.

• Oat flour substitute - Use an equal amount by weight of sorghum flour, or substitute a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend. You can use 2 cups of all-purpose flour if you don't need to keep gluten-free.
• Make them dairy-free - Swap your favorite non-dairy butter for the butter.
• Egg substitute - I haven't tried to make these cookie bars with an egg substitute, but you could try 2 flax eggs in place of the eggs.
• Go refined sugar-free - Instead of brown sugar and granulated sugar, use coconut sugar to make these bars refined sugar-free.
• Rest the dough - As in all gluten-free bakes, dough or batter benefits from a short rest before it's baked to hydrate the flour. This is easily accomplished by letting the chocolate chip cookie bar dough rest in the pan while the oven preheats. Try not to skip this step - it really does help!
• Add-ins - You can add to this recipe by stirring in some chopped walnuts or pistachios, 1 cup of unsweetened flaked coconut, chopped candy, and more.
• Other chocolate options - A classic chocolate chip cookie features semisweet chocolate chips, and my recipe includes them as well. However, you can use milk chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, a combination, chopped chocolate from your favorite chocolate bar, or M&Ms!
• Salt - There's a good amount of salt in these bars, and if you like a sweet-salty combo, I encourage you to add up to 1 teaspoon of fine salt. Alternatively, you could lower the salt a bit if you like less of a salty flavor. And, you can always scatter flaked sea salt over the top of the bars!

Serving Suggestions

You don't need much more than a cold glass of milk of your choice to pair with a chocolate chip cookie bar, but you don't have to stop there. Try a few of my serving suggestions:

• Ice cream. Serve a warm chocolate chip cookie bar a la mode, with a scoop of vanilla or peanut butter chocolate ice cream.
• Make a sundae. Or, make a sundae! Use a chocolate chip cookie bar as your base, then top it with ice cream, whipped cream, and a drizzle of chocolate sauce.
• Add caramel sauce. Dress up a gluten free chocolate chip cookie bar with a generous spoonful of salted caramel sauce.

Storage Options

These chocolate chip cookie bars keep amazingly well, and you have several ways to store them:

• Counter - Keep the cookie bars in an airtight container on the counter for up to 5 days.
• Fridge - The bars will keep longer in the fridge - store them in an airtight container for up to 1 week. They are delicious cold or warmed up a bit!
• Freezer - Place the bars in a freezer-safe container or sealable bag and store them in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw the bars thoroughly in the fridge before eating.

More Gluten Free Cookie Recipes

• Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Gluten Free Peanut Butter Blossoms
• Oat Flour Sugar Cookies