Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Perfect for bake sales, after school treats, and potlucks, these gluten-free chocolate chip cookie bars will be a hit with all the chocolate lovers! They’re easier and quicker to make than cookies.
So many of you have tried and love my gluten-free chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe, that I thought I’d post a few adaptations of it this year. First up – gluten-free chocolate chip cookie bars!
Secondly, I used two different sizes of chocolate chips. I wanted to make sure there was a bit of chocolate in every single bite! I used both regular semi-sweet morsels and mini semi-sweet morsels.
You could also mix it up by using some milk chocolate and some dark chocolate. But definitely consider including some mini ones for sure. They help make sure that you don’t get a single little bite that isn’t chocolatey!
Ingredient notes
- Flour: tested successfully with Gluten Free Mama’s Almond Blend and Cup4Cup. Other varieties of flour that are not only rice based should work okay in these. With the two I recommended, there isn’t any grittiness. I can’t guarantee that with your favorite blend, but do feel free to try it!
- The cream cheese is a key ingredient here. Don’t skip it!
- So is the butter. Mmm, butter.
- Chocolate chips: for good chocolate chips that are easy to find at most grocery stores, I love Guittard semi-sweet chocolate baking chips. They are made in a gluten-free, and peanut-free facility. If you’d like chocolate chips that are certified gluten-free as well as top 8 free, I love and recommend Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolates available as mini chips or mega chunks.
I like sprinkling a few more chips on them for the last couple minutes of baking for that shiny, slightly melted look like you see in the pictures above. If you’d like that too, just reserve some of the chocolate chips called for in the recipe.
However, if you’re wanting to pack these up to mail to someone, I’d skip the chocolate chips on top so they aren’t so messy.
After these cool in the pan, then you can slice them up. I recommend you use a plastic knife to cut these. I recently bought this one and it works so well! This keeps you from scratching up your pan, and it slices through the bars so cleanly instead of getting gunked up.
You can slice these up as big or small as you’d like. I usually think about how many people will be eating them at whatever gathering I’m bringing them to, and slice accordingly.
These would be a fun treat to bring to share at a potluck or to mail to a loved one. Let me know if you make them and what flour you used!
If you make these and love them, please come back and give this recipe a 5 star rating in the recipe card! Feel free to comment with tips or to share any successful substitutions you made.
Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups (280 g) good all-purpose gluten-free flour blend
- 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum*
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 ounces cream cheese, room temp
- 16 tablespoons (224 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 cup (218 g) packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 (50 g) egg yolks, room temp
- 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup additional semi-sweet chocolate chips for topping if desired
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together gluten-free flour, xanthan gum (unless flour blend already has xanthan or guar gum), baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, place the cream cheese, then pour melted butter over it. Add brown sugar and sugar and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. (I use the paddle attachment on my mixer.)
- Add vanilla extract and egg yolks (one at a time) mixing on low-medium speed until well mixed.
- Add the flour mixture that you set aside earlier, beating on low until just combined.
- Add both sizes of chocolate chips and mix on low or by hand, just until mixed thoroughly.
- Spread into lightly greased 9×13 metal pan. Bake in preheated 350˚ oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with additional 1/4 cup of chocolate chips and return to oven for 2-3 more minutes.
- Remove from oven and place pan on cooling rack. Let cool before cutting. (Note, to save your pan from getting scratched up, I like to use a plastic knife to cut the bars.)
- You can cut these whatever size you’d like of course, anywhere from 12 big bars to 24 smaller ones. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!Pin this to your Gluten-free Desserts board on Pinterest:
I hope you love these! Let me know if there’s another gluten-free bar cookie you’d like me to have a recipe for!
I have tried many gluten free recipes, from bread to cakes, and this is by far the best recipe. They are actually delicious, and don’t have that gluten free taste or consistency. I definitely think the cream cheese is key along with the melted butter. I’m making them for probably the tenth time and it’s a go to recipe even though my family doesn’t necessarily have to be gluten free. Thank you for the recipe. I felt i should write a review, seeing as I’ve made them so many times and LOVE them. I’m going to do them in a 9 inch cake tin and decorate with frosting for a birthday cookie cake.
I make these every year for my little gluten free nephew, & these things are dangerously good. I love them, better than any choc chip cookie I’ve ever had. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I love to see his little face light up when he realizes he can eat them. God bless!
these are by far the best gluten free chocolate chip cookie I have ever eaten. The recipe was super easy to follow. I sprinkled some kosher salt on top once they came out of the over- delicious! I won’t be buying any more gluten free cookies!
Hi!
I did this recipe, adapted a lil bit with what I had or not, and it was delicious!! I’d love to make it cookie style, I was just too impatient to taste it!
I didn’t have cream cheese and I was like “I have to put something that’s the same kind of texture, she’s emphasizing on it too much to just not put anything like it”. So I did my trick of adding a very ripe banana+2tsp of apple sauce, as I used to replace the eggs by bananas in my vegan phase for the texture and bonding properties, and apple sauce makes everything smushy.
I put 1 cup of sugar total as I don’t eat much of it.
I put less chocolate, but half as semi-sweet and half of pure cacao, again cause I don’t eat lots of sugar and it would have been too much.
It was perfect! The smushy texture, no grainy-feel, it feels light and that’s dangerous because I almost finished everything already…
Thanks for putting the recipe out here, I loved exploring with your experiment and indications!
There’s one BIG problem with this recipe… it makes too many bars!! LOL
This is the best recipe! Thank you!
can you freeze these?
great bars
Do all the ingredients need to be room temp just like as in your choc. chip cookie recipe?
Just made these with the kiddos. We used krusteaz cup4cup. This was our first try at gluten free anything and they are so good. Not a crumb left. A keeper!
I haven’t tried these yet as they are still cooling but when I pulled them out of the oven they were like jello… I am a bit nervous it’s not cooked on the inside. I’m new to the GF world and in need of a cookie fix. Hopefully it sinks a little and doesn’t jiggle as much when I finally cut into them. ????
SUCCESS! This is literally the best gf cc cookie i have ever made!!! I’ve been in search of a GF CC cookie that tastes authentically like a chocolate chip cookie made with the regular ingredients! I used chia for eggs and Bod’s Red Mill GF flour. I can not tell the difference between these cookies and the traditional version. My daughter will be so excited!! I hated leaving her out of the fun of eating traditional cookies. Thanks for this recipe!! Best ever!!
SUCCESS! This is literally the best gf cc cookie i have ever made!!! I’ve been in search of a GF CC cookie that tastes authentically like a chocolate chip cookie made with the regular ingredients! I used chia for eggs and Bod’s Red Mill GF flour. I can not tell the difference between these cookies and the traditional version. My daughter will be so excited!! I hated leaving her out of the fun of eating traditional cookies. Thanks for this recipe!! Best ever!!
SUCCESS! This is literally the best gf cc cookie i have ever made!!! I’ve been in search of a GF CC cookie that tastes authentically like a chocolate chip cookie made with the regular ingredients! I used chia for eggs and Bod’s Red Mill GF flour. I can not tell the difference between these cookies and the traditional version. My daughter will be so excited!! I hated leaving her out of the fun of eating traditional cookies. Thanks for this recipe!! Best ever!!
These are excellent! A definite new family favorite! They are very rich and full of chocolate. We love the crispy edges and soft middle. Fantastic!
Thanks so much for your comment Sissa. I’m so glad your family can enjoy these too! Happy baking!
These are excellent! A definite new family favorite! They are very rich and full of chocolate. We love the crispy edges and soft middle. Fantastic!
These are excellent! A definite new family favorite! They are very rich and full of chocolate. We love the crispy edges and soft middle. Fantastic!
I just made these with my son tonight. They were super tasty, but I found them very oily. At first I was afraid that I had mis-measured, but I double checked, and I used all the right quantities. Is that just the way these are? I really want to make them again, but I’m considering using half the amount of butter, or finding a different liquid to substitute for some of the butter. My husband and my kids LOVED them, though!
Hmm, I haven’t felt like mine were oily, but if you feel like they’re too buttery, then feel free to cut the butter down! I wouldn’t cut in half but maybe try again with 4 Tbsp. less?
I just made these with my son tonight. They were super tasty, but I found them very oily. At first I was afraid that I had mis-measured, but I double checked, and I used all the right quantities. Is that just the way these are? I really want to make them again, but I’m considering using half the amount of butter, or finding a different liquid to substitute for some of the butter. My husband and my kids LOVED them, though!
I just made these with my son tonight. They were super tasty, but I found them very oily. At first I was afraid that I had mis-measured, but I double checked, and I used all the right quantities. Is that just the way these are? I really want to make them again, but I’m considering using half the amount of butter, or finding a different liquid to substitute for some of the butter. My husband and my kids LOVED them, though!