These Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars taste just like a chocolate chip cookie but are made with whole wheat flour, natural sweetener, and dark chocolate chips. Soft but chewy, they are so easy to make!
You’re going to love making these chocolate chip cookie bars. We originally made these our first time when my nephew and niece from Montreal came to visit us in Toronto and they absolutely loved them!
They’re super easy to make as these healthier chocolate chip cookie bars don’t require any chill time nor a mixer. It’s the perfect afternoon project to work on with kids as there isn’t a lot of washing up requires and the lack of chill time means they won’t have to wait long to enjoy the bars.
I love making dessert bars, like my Low-carb No Bake Chocolate Strawberry Bars, Low-Carb No-Bake Chocolate Coconut Bars, and these chocolate chip ones! They’re so easy to make and so easy to pack for parties.
These bars taste just like chocolate chip cookies but they’re much easier to make as you don’t have to worry about baking it in batches since only so many cookies can fit in a sheet pan in the oven as you have to account for spreading. These bars can be easily doubled in a larger pan or in two pans in the oven instead and it won’t take you forever having to do them in a zillion batches.
Want more delicious desserts? Try my Healthy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies, Almond Butter Cookies Recipe, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars, Sugar-free Fudgy Walnut Brownies, or my Keto Chocolate Bars Recipe.
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How to Make These Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- Butter — be sure to use unsalted butter or the bars will come out saltier than intended!
- Natural sweetener — or coconut sugar
- Almond butter
- Eggs — room temperature for the best results.
- Vanilla extract
- White whole wheat flour — it provides you with more fiber and more nutrients than a white flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Dark chocolate chips
Instructions
Prepare the Oven and Pan
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish with cooking spray, line it with parchment paper, and set aside.
Make the Batter
- In a large bowl, mix together the butter and natural sweetener until fully combined. It’s about 2 minutes.
2. Then, add the almond butter and mix until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix again until it is creamy. Add the flour, baking soda, salt and 1 tablespoon water. Mix to combine all the ingredients together.
3. Add the chocolate chips and fold in. Spread the dough out in the prepared baking pan.
4. Bake for 18 minutes or just until set in the center. Let cool before cutting the healthier chocolate chip bars into squares.
Tips and Notes
- To check if the bars are set, use a toothpick and poke into the middle of the pan of healthier chocolate chip bars and if the toothpick comes out clean then it’s done. If there is batter clinging to your toothpick, then it’s not ready and needs to bake for longer.
- I like to line my baking pans with parchment paper as you can lift the entire cookie bar out then easily cut into squares and easily clean up the pan compared to spraying the pan on its own and then scrubbing off any bits that are baked onto it.
- Adding a sprinkle of flakey salt on top of the bars after they’ve finished baking brings out the chocolate flavour more as well as tempering the sweetness.
- It’s important to use unsalted butter as we add salt to the batter. It’s difficult to control how salty the bars will be if salted butter is used.
- To make storing or freezing leftovers easier, layer the bars between sheets of parchment paper in its container so the bars don’t stick together. You can see below for make ahead and freezing tips.
Make Ahead and Freezer Tips
- You can make these healthier chocolate chip bars ahead of time if you would like.
- These bars last up to 5 days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
- You can also wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and transfer the bars to a freezer safe container and freeze them for later as well.
- When ready, thaw the cookie bars overnight in the fridge before bringing them to room temperature and serving.
- Cookie bars can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Ingredient Substitutions for These Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- If you don’t have dark chocolate chips on hand, you can substitute with other types of chips such as butterscotch, white chocolate, milk chocolate, caramel, and more!
- We use almond butter to help keep these healthier chocolate chip bars moist but if you’re in a pinch and don’t have any, try peanut butter.
- If you don’t have coconut sugar, you can try brown sugar.
- Instead of butter, you can also use unmelted coconut oil.
In the mood for cookies instead? Try any of these 12 Healthy Gluten-free Cookies Recipes!
More Desserts You Might Like
- Sugar-free Nutella Thumbprint Cookies
- Almond Flour Shortbread Cookies
- Cranberry Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Gluten-free Chocolate Beet Cake
- Low-carb Cranberry Thumbprint Cookies
- Low-Carb Almond Butter Chocolate Truffles
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Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup natural sweetener or coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup almond butter
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt save some for topping.
- 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips save some for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray, line it with parchment paper, and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together the butter and natural sweetener until fully combined. It's about 2 minutes.
- Then, add the almond butter and mix until smooth.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and mix again until it is creamy.
- Add the flour, baking soda, salt and 1 tablespoon water.
- Mix to combine all the ingredients together.
- Add the chocolate chips and fold in.
- Spread the dough out in the prepared baking pan.
- Bake for 18 minutes or just until set in the center.
- Let cool and cut into squares.
- Store for up to 5 days in an glass container.
Tips
- Adapted from Half Baked Harvest.
- While you can grease your pan, I prefer lining it with parchment for easy removal and clean up.
- Add a sprinkle of flakey salt on top of the bars after they’ve finished baking to bring out the chocolate flavour.
- Make sure you use unsalted butter so the bars don't end up too salty.Â
- To store: Store the chocolate chip cookie bars in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- To freeze: Wrap the cookie bars in plastic wrap and transfer the bars to a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.
Julia Mueller says
Ohhhhhh momma these look amazing! I love that they’re a healthier take on such a comforting treat. I always have a stock of coconut sugar and am seriously digging the almond butter idea. Definitely mouth-watering!
Olivia says
Thanks a lot, my dear friend 😉
super mario world says
I love chocolate so much !!! Thank you
Olivia says
you’re very welcome!
Karly says
Wowza. I have this weird feeling that I could tooootally take down an entire pan of these bad boys. But it would be okay since they’re healthier, right? Right. At least that’s what I”m going to tell myself! 🙂
Olivia says
hahahhahah… That’s exactly what I do too 😉
Mary T Schettino says
Can I substitute something for the butter?
Olivia says
You can use unmelted coconut oil.
Deborah says
can you substitute gluten free flour or perhaps almond flour?
Olivia says
I’m sorry I’ve never made this recipe with almond flour. So I can’t confirm it to you for sure.