Toll House cookie bars are buttery, soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie bars inspired by the classic original Nestlé Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe. Grab two bowls, a whisk or spoon and make these easy chocolate chip pan cookies the next time you need a quick and delicious dessert everyone is sure to love!
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Why Should You Make This Recipe
Cookie bar recipes are one of my favorite ways to make cookies. My Snickerdoodle Bars, Lemon Lavender Cookie Bars and Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Bars are just a few of my favorites from the blog. It’s so easy to make the cookie dough, press it into a pan, bake, slice and enjoy. Plus, it’s a special kind of joy to see a whole pan of cookies. I know you’ll love this Toll House cookie bars recipe because:
- Simple pantry ingredients: You only need a handful of basic ingredients to make a batch of quick, simple, soft and chewy chocolate chip pan cookies.
- You love easy desserts that feed a crowd: If being super quick and easy to make wasn’t reason enough, these Nestlé chocolate chip cookie bars make the perfect dessert to feed a lot of people.
Ingredients
Before I show you how to make sheet pan cookie bars, make sure you have these simple ingredients ready to go!
Cookie Bars
Dry Ingredients: Gather your flour, baking soda, and salt.
Wet ingredients: Gather your butter, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract and chocolate chips.
Substitutions
Here are my recommended substitutions to make these chocolate chip bar cookies recipe if you need them.
- All purpose flour: To make these Toll House pan cookies gluten free, use a good 1-1 gluten free flour or oat flour. Replace the amount of flour based on weight rather than cups.
- Baking Soda: This provides leavening and chewiness for the bar cookies. If needed, replace the baking soda with 1 tablespoon double acting baking powder. The texture of the cookies will be more cake like and less chewy, but will still taste delicious.
- Butter: I like to use unsalted “sweet cream” butter in almost all my baking recipes. This is the most common and widely available butter in the US. If needed, use salted butter (omit the added salt) or a diary free butter you like.
- Granulated Sugar and Light Brown Sugar: This Toll House cookies recipe calls for both granulated sugar and light brown sugar, but maple sugar would also work well to make these chocolate chip cookie bars refined sugar free.
- Eggs: This recipe hasn’t been tested without eggs.
- Vanilla Extract: This provides a lovely background flavor for these Toll House bars.
- Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips: These are essential to a classic homemade chocolate chip cookies taste. However, feel free to use any chocolate chip or chunks of chocolate you like.
Variations
- Original Toll House Cookie Recipe: Keep the 1 cup (226 g) butter at room temperature rather than melting and cooling and add 1 cup chopped nuts to the cookie bars.
- Cookie Bars using pre-made cookie dough: Grab a couple of Nestlé cookie dough rolls, press the dough into the pan and bake.
How To Make
Learn how to make Toll House cookie bars in a few easy steps.
- Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C). Lightly grease a 15 x 10 pan (or 9 x 13). In a small bowl, melt the butter and cool in the fridge for about 10 minutes. In a mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together until well combined.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk in the cooled melted butter with the light brown and granulated sugars until well combined. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract until smooth and well combined.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. I like to do this about ½ of the dry ingredients at a time. Fold in most of the chocolate chips. Reserve about ½ cup for topping the cookie bars.
4. Press the cookie dough into the prepared pan. Use a flexible spatula to smooth the chocolate chip cookie dough evenly across the pan. Top with the reserved chocolate chips. Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes or until the pan of cookies is a light golden brown and the edges are slightly pulled away from the sides of the jelly roll pan. Cool the bars in the pan to room temperature, slice and enjoy!
How To Make Ahead, Store, Freeze and Thaw
- Make Ahead: Prepare the cookie dough, but rather than baking, wrap the cookie dough in plastic wrap. Store in the fridge for up to one week. Bring to room temperature before baking. For longer storage, transfer the plastic wrapped cookie dough to an airtight and freezer proof container to store in the freezer for up to 2 months. Bring to room temperature before baking.
- Store: Place the chocolate chip bar cookies in an airtight container. Store at room temperature for up to 5 days. If you would like to store the Toll House pan cookies for longer, I recommend freezing them.
- Freeze: Make sure the chewy cookie bars are completely cooled to room temperature. Place the cookie squares in a ziplock bag. Store in the freezer for up to 2 months.
- Thaw: The easiest and tastiest way to thaw the Toll House bars is to let them sit out at room temperature until thawed.
M’s Expert Tips
- Bring cold ingredients to room temperature: This allows the ingredients to mix together more evenly which requires less mixing, resulting in deliciously chewy cookie bars.
- Use a metal pan. This recipe was created using a 15 x 10 jelly roll pan. This recipe will also work well in a 9 x 13 aluminum pan. Cut the recipe in half to bake in an 8 x 8 pan.
- Look for the signs the Toll House cookie cake bars are done. Use the baking time as a guide rather than a strict rule. Signs a this pan of cookies is finished baking is a light golden brown color and baked edges that have slightly pulled away from the edge of the pan.
- Reserve some chocolate chips: There are 2 cups of chocolate chips in this cookie bars recipe. I like to reserve some for topping just to make sure every cookie square has lots of chocolate chips.
- Sprinkle a bit of flaky salt on top. Just a pinch of flaky salt, like Maldon salt enhances the flavor of the cookie bars.
FAQs
Toll House cookies are named after the Toll House Inn located in Whitman, Massachusetts. One of the owners of the inn, Ruth Wakefield is the creator of the original Toll House cookies recipe.
Use a clean, non stick aluminum jelly roll sheet pan. Lightly grease the pan with a non stick spray. If needed, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
The edges of the cookie in the pan should be puffed up, the center should be set, the top of the sheet pan cookies should be golden brown and the cookies will be very fragrant.
Other Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipes to Try
- Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies
- Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you try this Toll House Cookie Bars recipe please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Doing so helps other readers decide if this is a great recipe to bake. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking! - M
Toll House Cookie Bars
Equipment
- 1 jelly roll pan (10 x 15) or 9 x 13 pan
Ingredients
- 2½ cups (300 g) all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs (US), room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
- 2 cups (340 g) semi sweet chocolate chips, divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C). Lightly grease a 15 x 10 pan (or 9 x 13). In a small bowl, melt the butter and cool in the fridge for about 10 minutes.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together until well combined.2½ cups (300 g) all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk in the cooled melted butter with the light brown and granulated sugars until well combined. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract until smooth and well combined.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar, 2 large eggs (US), room temperature, 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. I like to do this about ½ of the dry ingredients at a time. Fold in most of the chocolate chips. Reserve about ½ cup (85 g) for topping the cookie bars.2 cups (340 g) semi sweet chocolate chips, divided
- Press the cookie dough into the prepared pan. Use a flexible spatula to smooth the chocolate chip cookie dough evenly across the pan. Top with the reserved chocolate chips.
- Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes or until the pan of cookies is a light golden brown and the edges are slightly pulled away from the sides of the jelly roll pan. Cool the bars in the pan to room temperature, slice and enjoy!
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