These soft, gooey salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bars are RIDICULOUSLY delicious! The salted caramel is sandwiched between two layers of baked chocolate chip cookie dough and topped with sea salt flakes for extra prettiness.
I may or may not have eaten the entire pan of bars all my myself…. with no regrets.
I haven’t tried it yet, but my next batch is going to use pumpkin spice caramels (Affiliate link). Yum! Doesn’t that sound super delicious?!! Let me know if you try it!
Alright, you ready to get started?! Let’s get baking!
How to make Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars Recipe
**Affiliate Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
Supplies
- 9×13 baking pan
- Aluminum foil
- Nonstick cooking spray
- Stand or handheld mixer (optional)
- Spatula
- Large bowl
Directions to make Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Prep:
First, you will need to preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Second, line a 9×13 baking pan with tinfoil. Spray tinfoil with a heavy coat of nonstick cooking spray. Make sure it is a very heavy coat of spray or the caramel will be hard to pull off the tinfoil.
Bottom layer:
Cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar.
Then, add in eggs, kosher salt, baking soda, and flour. Mix well, making sure to scrape the bowl clean.
Next, using a spatula, add in the chocolate chips and stir together until fully incorporated.
Split the dough in half. Take one half of the dough and spread onto the bottom of the pan, coating the bottom evenly. It will be a very thin layer.
If needed, take a bit extra from the second half to fully fill the bottom of the pan. Make sure there are no gaps in the cookie dough, or the caramel will seep through to the bottom of the bars and cause problems. Set aside.
Caramel Layer:
Next, place sweetened condensed milk and unwrapped soft caramel pieces into a medium saucepan on medium-low heat.
Stir until caramels are all melted and the mixture is creamy and smooth.
Tediously unwrapping all those wrappers was not my favorite step, but it will be worth it once the bars are out of the oven!
Pour caramel mixture over the cookie mixture, using a spatula to spread the caramel evenly.
Top Layer:
Then, drop the remaining cookie dough in small teaspoon sized balls on the top of the caramel. It will cover the top of the caramel really well.
There will be gaps, but the cookie dough will spread and cover the top of the caramel as it bakes.
Bake & Cut:
Bake bars for 25-30 minutes until the center is just set.
Sprinkle with sea salt flakes and allow the bars to cool completely.
Finally, using the tinfoil, lift bars from the pan, and cut. I placed the bars into the fridge to get the caramel to firm up before cutting and that really helped keep the shape of the bars when cutting them.
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Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 12 bars 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Soft, gooey caramel sandwiched between two layers of salty cookie dough. This dessert satisfies all your dessert cravings in one bite!
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2–1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 10 ounces soft caramels, unwrapped
- 1 teaspoon flaked sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9×13 baking pan with tinfoil. Spray tinfoil with a heavy coat of nonstick cooking spray.
- Cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar
- Add in eggs, kosher salt, baking soda, and flour. Mix well, making sure to scrape the bowl clean.
- Using a spatula, add in the chocolate chips and stir together until fully incorporated.
- Split the dough in half. Take one half of the dough and spread onto the bottom of the pan, coating the bottom evenly. It will be a very thin layer. If needed, take a bit extra from the second half to fully fill the bottom of the pan. Make sure there are no gaps in the cookie dough. Set aside.
- Place sweetened condensed milk and unwrapped caramel pieces into a medium saucepan on medium-low heat. Stirring until caramels are all melted and the mixture is creamy and smooth.
- Pour caramel mixture over the cookie mixture, using a spatula to spread the caramel evenly.
- Drop the remaining cookie dough in small teaspoon sized balls on the top of the caramel. There will be gaps, but the cookie dough will spread and cover the top of the caramel as it bakes.
- Bake bars for 25-30 minutes until the center is just set.
- Sprinkle with sea salt and allow the bars to cool completely before removing from pan.
- Using the tinfoil, lift bars from the pan, and cut.
Notes
Placing bars in the fridge for a bit before cutting will help firm up the caramel sauce and make it easier to cut. Bars will stay fresh in a sealed container for up to 3 days, at room temperature.
Don’t forget to give the recipe 5 stars if you love these salted caramel bars!
- Category: Bars
- Method: baking
Keywords: salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bars, cookie bars
Have fun making these Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Bars
I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I did!
I love hearing from my readers. Let me know in the comments below how you like it!
And, don’t forget to give the recipe 5 stars if you loved the bars!
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