Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bars

These bars...

They're just pure sin!

And I polished off more than half a pan myself late one night *embarrassed smile*


So I'm never making them again... especially given that I've just realised I've gained 10 kilos over the last year & need to lose it by the end of January!



But you totally should... Just make sure you have lots of people around that you can gift them to, they're not all that fattening if you eat 1-2 bars like any normal human being would, but unfortunately these are the sort that make you want to curl up in your favorite pyjamas, play your favorite movie and munch on till you forget you were ever trying to diet! They've got oats, so they're sorta healthy too!





Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bars
Adapted from Recipe Girl
Makes one 9x13 pan, or 24 bars


For the Gooey Chocolate filling:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
One 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

For the cookies:
1 cup [2 sticks / 226 g] unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup [100 g] granulated white sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups [240 g] all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt - omit if using salted butter
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F [180 C]. Grease and line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper or strong foil, leaving enough overhang to lift the bars out of the pan.
2. For the gooey chocolate filling: In a small saucepan over extreme low heat, melt together the chocolate chips & condensed milk, stirring constantly, until the chocolate has melted. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the vanilla and set aside to cool.
3. For the cookie: In the bowl of your mixer, beat the butter and sugars together until light and creamy. Beat in the egg, egg yolk & vanilla.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt (if using). Add this to the butter mixture, beating just until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips.
5. Divide the dough into two halves. Use one half and press down lightly in the bottom of the pan until it's more or less an even layer. Now pour the cooled chocolate mixture on top, spreading to create an even layer.
6. Add dollops of the remaining dough on top of the chocolate layer, it's ok if it doesn't cover it completely, I chose to have quite a bit of the chocolate layer peeking through.
7. Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely, then cut into bars (refrigerating these bars for half an hour just before cutting will give you neater bars, allow to come back to room temperature before serving)