Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

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 We originally made these for the first time when my nephew and niece from Montreal came to visit us in Toronto, and they absolutely loved them!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 or a mixer. It’s the perfect afternoon project to work on with kids, as there isn’t a lot of washing up required, 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 them 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.

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’s better for you than plain white flour.
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Dark chocolate chips

Instructions

Prepare the Oven and Pan

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray, line it with parchment paper, and set aside.

Make the Batter

1. 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 flaky 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 their 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

• If you don’t have dark chocolate chips on hand, you can substitute them 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