Coconut Sugar Sweetened Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Coconut Sugar Sweetened
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

If you know me, you know I love cookies. Like, more than most foods. You could sell me on a cookies nearly any time of the day or night, especially if they're homemade and most especially if they contain chocolate. I prefer homemade versions because they're always a little softer, gooey-er, and filled with love - which I swear tastes like extra vanilla extract! ☺️

This batch of bars whips up easily, and can be made into cookies themselves if you prefer. This week though, I wanted to go full bar status so that I could:
a) eat 1 large bar instead of 4 regular cookies
b) cook all the batter in one batch rather than baking trays and trays of cookies
c) both answers are true (I'm lazy and okay with it)

What I'm saying is - RUN, don't walk, to your kitchen and preheat the oven! These bars are so worth it. They're a real sweet treat that deserves to be enjoyed and they only use 1 mixing bowl from start to finish. Rich, chocolatey, perfectly fluffy batter - let's go! 

The batter whips up easily, and the best part? Once it's prepped, you can SAVE IT! Yup, you can package into plastic or glass and keep it in the fridge for up to two weeks or save it in the fridge indefinitely. Pull it out whenever you want a single serve cookie or just a scoop of raw cookie dough - I won't tell if you don't! But I also won't be there to take you to the emergency room if you use real eggs and get e.coli so you know, be careful.

The coconut sugar in this batter replaces the normal addition of white and brown sugar perfectly - it adds a rich, sweet, slightly caramel flavor to the batter that comes out in the final bar, and uses about half the amount of sugar that a normal recipe might. Scroll down for the recipe, and let me know if you try them! 

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup ghee (or butter, or coconut oil)
1 cup coconut sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs (sub vegan version, if you like. Flax eggs work well here!)
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used soy-free chocolate chunks from Enjoy Life)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line or grease a 9x9 inch baking pan and set aside.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, beat together the ghee, coconut sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Crack in the eggs, and beat again until the mixture becomes fluffy. Pour in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and beat until well combined. 

Pour in the chocolate chips (or chunks!) and fold them into the dough. 

Scoop the combined dough into your lined baking dish, and press it down so that the batter fills the corners completely. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until top becomes golden and an inserted toothpick pulls mostly clean.

Remove, cool, and serve! Makes 9-12 bars, depending on the size. 
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NOTES:
To make individual cookies instead, scoop 1-2 in. balls of dough onto a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes each.

Leftovers can be saved in an airtight container for a week.

​White / Brown sugar (or a combo of the two) is an easy sub if you don't have any coconut sugar! The more brown sugar you substitute rather than white sugar, the richer the bars will be. 

Did I include probably more pictures of these bars than you need for reference in this post? YES. Are they worth the bake time? YES. Have I head three bars in one hour today? YES. So get on my level - throw a batch of these babies in the oven and you could be three bars deep in an hour, just like me. Or you could share them! Up to you, babes. Either way, you're gonna want to make this batch! Leftovers last in a sealed container on the counter or fridge for up to 5 days, but of course I recommend eating at least one gooey bar fresh out of the oven. Enjoy!