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)
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 ½ 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”
These are my kind of bars! Love the brown butter and chocolate chunks!
These bars are beautiful and look so delicious, Liz. What a wonderful contribution to a great cause. Thanks for sharing.
Blogging against hunger is a great way to call attention to the ever growing problem of hunger. I made pasta e fagioli….a satisfying, delicious meal that costs very little to make.
Love your brown butter bars, Lizzy! They look yummy!
Oh wow, this looks to die for. It’s like a thicker, bigger cookie, and with two kinds of chocolate! I need these asap!
A great recipe and an even greater mission. From where I come from, you can see kids in almost every corner no food,no shelter, no education, no health care and the list goes on, it really breaks my heart seeing them in such a misery and I was even more shocked and sad to know about this statistics in the US. We have to do something to end this. Thanks for sharing.
Liz these looks delicious!! Who wouldn’t love this bar!! Love that you browned the butter!! Sure they were a hit!
Mr. & Mrs. P
I could probably eat a whole pan of these!
Liz, living in one of the most poverty-stricken areas of the country has made me aware of this plight on a daily basis. Sometimes it even makes me feel “guilty” about being a food blogger… but your recipe (and mine today) illustrate that you CAN use “the basics” to create tasty treats for your family on a budget. Mostly, I feel blessed to “share.”
Recently, I had the privilege of compiling/developing/typing a cookbook for our church’s food pantry clients, using primarily food pantry ingredients. The need for recipes, education, and compassion never ends. Thanks so much for your contribution!
What a sweet wife you are 🙂 I bet your husband really loved having such a tasty treat waiting for him when he got home. I know our husbands are so similar in how predictable their tastes are…so frustrating for a food blogger. I have often asked him what kind of cookie he wants me to bake up, so I could do something new and different, and EVERY time he says “chocolate chip.” how boring! hehe.
Applause to you Liz for your effort to help the hungry and to bring light to a disturbing fact. Mr. Predictable turned a coventional leaf by learning to make chippy bars. I love that!
A beautiful post and recipe for such a worthy cause! xo
Our church is involved in a backpack program for an area low-income elementary school. We stuff about 50 backpacks with food and give them to the kids on Fridays so they’ll have food to eat over the weekend. It breaks my heart that that kind of thing is even needed.
Anyhow, the bars look amazing. Love that you included white chocolate in there. 🙂
Such a worthy cause, Liz, and it’s so easy to forget there are people who go without food, even children. Regularly. I know I can always use a reminder and it’s wonderful to see bloggers joining together to raise awareness… These bars look delicious (love the 3 different types of chocolate combined in one bar) and I definitely agree with your tips on starting with food that’s not pre-prepared in order to save money… Great tips and thanks so much for sharing!
And thanks so much for sharing these delicious bars with Made with Love Mondays, Liz!
The perfect twist on chocolate chunk bars Liz! We should all try to help with worldwide hunger anyway we can.
Lizzy, these are absolutely stunning! I just want to sink my teeth in these bars!
I also support the fight for hunger among our own people. I keep a canvas sack in my pantry and fill it every week with Buy One Get One (BOGO’s) from our grocery stores. It goes to the local Women’s Center or whoever is collecting for the cause when it’s filled. And, as you know, I cook an evening meal every month for 15 at a home for abused/abandoned/neglected children. The best we can do while we are living a good life is to contribute to help and provide joy to those less fortunate.
I printed this recipe for my darling baker husband to try. He’s been itching to bake some chocolate chip cookies and he has already become familiar with brown butter from your nutty butter banana bread recipe which has become a staple in our fam. Love all your recipes!!! Kaye
Lizzy, your Browned Butter Cookie Bars are scrumptious as usual. This a great idea to use three types of chocolate.
Kudos to you and your family for all that you are doing to fight hunger in America!
The numbers are indeed disturbing and shocking that such problems exist in developed countries…
p.s. I’ve had to laugh so much when I read your hubby would be happy with same old cookies everyday. I have a similar situation, no matter how much I’d experiment, mine always wants a slash of nutella to go with everything!
Bravo for supporting the fight against hunger, Liz.
I applaud you too for sharing this beautiful brown butter and chocolate recipe from Hugs & Cookies. The bars simply sing comfort and goodness. Love your combo of mixing chocolates, too.
That figure is so shocking. Who would have thought the USA could end up in such a state. (And I’m sure we Down Under are no different). There is certainly more than enough food to go around. I love your blondies – great to eat warm straight from the oven, especially after a harrowing drive home xx