Santa's Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are a twist on the traditional classic chocolate chip cookie left out for Santa! They're sweet, chewy, soft and vegan!
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Why you will love this recipe
- Perfect Soft Chewy Texture: These easy vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are sweet, chewy and soft with chocolate chips added in to make the tastiest cookie bar.
- Quick and Easy: These homemade Chocolate Chip Bars only have 9 ingredients that get mixed together, than you bake the bars and you've got a tasty dessert with chocolate chips.
- Less Mess: This recipe is a quick and easy clean up, there's 2 bowls, a whisk/spoon and a knife to cut the bars and your clean up is done.
- Vegan: These are my favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars they're also vegan but non-vegans would never even know. It's the perfect dessert bar for all occasions.
- Perfect dessert: These soft, sweet and chewy chocolate chip cookie bars are a perfect dessert with a glass of homemade oat milk or almond milk or maybe a warm bar with a scoop of non dairy ice cream.
Let's switch things up for Santa a little bit this year, I really think these Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are the perfect homemade sweet treat that santa will love! These are literally the same as my popular Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars but I fancied them up a little bit with frosting and sprinkles to make them more festive for the holidays!
If you love chocolate chips cookies check out my Chocolate Chunk Coconut Oat Cookies, Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies, Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies, Edible Cookie Dough or my seasonal Vegan Snickerdoodle Cookies, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies and Vegan Ginger Cookies I know you will love them all!
Ingredients
For quantities and full directions take a look at the recipe card below for Santa's Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars.
- Flour: I like organic unbleached all purpose flour for this recipe to keep it traditional.
- Melted Butter: For this recipe I used Miyokos butter and it needs to be melted (not softened).
- White and Brown Sugar: Both sugars are needed for this recipe to give it the perfect soft and chewy texture.
- Vegan Chocolate Chips: I like Enjoy Life brand or Tollhouse vegan chocolate chips. I also used mini chips but feel free to use regular size or even chocolate chunks if you desire.
- Frosting: For frosting I like the brand "Wholesome" or "Simple Mills" they both have great frosting options that are vegan.
- Sprinkles: I use sprinkles from "Fancy Sprinkles" because they had some that were vegan but feel free to use any vegan sprinkles you like.
Variations
- Frosting Color: Feel free to use any frosting color you like, such as a red or pink frosting for Valentine's Day or an Orange frosting for Halloween.
- Dip the Side: First melt the vegan chocolate chips in the microwave (15 seconds at a time stirring) grab the bar and dip half of the full bar in the chocolate, (I like to dip at an angle) set the bar on a drying rack or on a cookie sheet that's been lined with parchment paper. Yes taste and texture will change a little creating a more chocolaty sweetness. It not only adds chocolate but also makes the bar look a little "up scale". You could also use vegan white chocolate chips if you'd like. If you do this I would probably leave the chocolate chips out of the dough and just use chocolate to dip a chipless cookie bar in the chocolate.
How to make Santa's Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Prep: Pre-heat the oven to 360°F and line a 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.
Step 1: In a large mixing bowl add the vegan butter and melt it in the microwave in 15 second intervals. Let cool about 10 minutes. Then whisk in the light brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla and vegan yogurt.
Step 2: Next add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder and sea salt and fold to combine using a spatula or large spoon. Don't over mix it will turn the dough firm, just mix some white flour showing still is ok it will get mixed the rest of the way when the chocolate gets added.
Step 3: Fold in the vegan chocolate chips.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars Dough!
Step 4: Pour into the 8x8 pan and spread evenly. Place in the oven on the middle rack for 23 minutes. Remove and let cool completely before carefully lifting out and slicing.
Step 5: Once done baking, remove from the oven and sprinkle with flakey sea salt if desired and let cool 15 minutes. Then add Frosting and sprinkles. Store in a sealed container for up to 3 days, re-heat in the microwave if desired.
Expert Tips
- Cool the Bars: Let the cookie bars cool before eating, as they cool the bars set and firm up a little and the chocolate chips cool a little also.
- Storing: You can store these vegan chocolate chip cookies in a sealed container on the counter for 3 days. If you've got any left at 3 days I'd store them in the freezer in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
- Butter: I used Miyokos brand butter but feel free to use Earth Balance or other comparable vegan butters as well. I also use the "dry cup" method of measuring if you don't have a full stick to cut on the ½ cup line. The "dry cup method" means you simply use a dry measuring cup and pack the butter in there firmly and level it off. You can also use a scale and measure in grams if you have one.
Recipe FAQs
For the best tasting bars and cookies I'd stay with semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips. Or the equivalent of a chocolate bar chopped up into chunks.
In most recipes you can use a normal eating chocolate bar in place of the chocolate chips. There may be a lot more sugar in that chocolate bar which will make the cookie or bars much more sweet.
Personal taste will affect your choice for the chocolate you use. Generally it's said to use either semisweet or bittersweet chocolate when baking. In this recipe I did use vegan semi-sweet mini chocolate chips.
That depends on how old and if package has been opened. Expired chocolates flavor will be weak, but it can last for a little while maybe a couple months after the packages expiration date, if there's no distasteful smell/flavor, if there's no mold growing on it and no smell/odor.
More Cookie Recipes
Santa's Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegan butter melted and cooled (113 grams)
- ¾ cup light brown sugar (165 grams)
- ¼ cup can sugar (50 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup vegan yogurt room temp, plain unsweetened, I used coconut yogurt. (80 grams)
- 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (250 grams)
- 1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
- ⅔ cup vegan chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life or Tollhouse brand)
Topping: Flakey sea salt (optional - after being baked sprinkle some on top or, I used Wholesome brand vanilla frosting and sprinkles from Fancy Sprinkles)
Instructions
- Prep: Pre-heat the oven to 360°F and line a 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl add the vegan butter and melt it in the microwave in 15 second intervals. Let cool about 10 minutes. Then whisk in the light brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla and vegan yogurt.
- Next add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder and sea salt and fold to combine using a spatula or large spoon. Don't over mix it will turn the dough firm, just mix some white flour showing still is ok it will get mixed the rest of the way when the chocolate gets added.
- Fold in the vegan chocolate chips.
- Pour into the 8x8 pan and spread evenly. Place in the oven on the middle rack for 23 minutes. Remove and let cool completely before carefully lifting out and slicing.
- Once done baking, remove from the oven and sprinkle with flakey sea salt if desired and let cool 15 minutes. Then add Frosting and sprinkles. Store in a sealed container for up to 3 days, re-heat in the microwave if desired.
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