Spread a thick layer of creamy chocolate ganache frosting over soft and chewy chocolate chip bars, then sprinkle rainbow chips over the top to make them even better. These frosted chocolate chip cookie bars have an amazingly delicious chocolate flavor and are easy to make too!
If you love chocolate chip cookies but think they could use even more chocolate, this recipe is for you!
Each crispy, chewy, brown sugar cookie is packed with chocolate chips and topped with lusciously creamy chocolate ganache (a blend of semisweet chocolate and heavy whipping cream). What could be better than that?
You can even add a sprinkling of candy-coated mini chocolate chips on top to add some color and crunch. The addition of rainbow chips gives this dessert a colorful, playful, look which is perfect for a birthday party or bake sale.
The best thing about this recipe is that it takes about 20 minutes of prep time. Seriously, that's it! You can make the cookie dough in just a few minutes using a mixing bowl and spoon (or silicone spatula). No mixer is needed.
The chocolate frosting can be made in under five minutes by heating chocolate and heavy whipping cream on the stove.
More time will be spent waiting to eat these cookie bars than actually making and baking them. They need to cool for several hours. It's tough, I know, but the wait will be totally worth it.
Let's start by making chocolate chip bars.
This recipe is super easy to make by blending brown sugar and granulated sugar with melted butter.
Add a splash of vanilla and an egg, then blend in flour, baking soda, and salt.
Of course, you also need to stir in lots of chocolate chips.
baking chocolate chip bars
- I highly recommend you line your 8x8-inch square baking pan with non-stick tin foil or parchment paper. It makes removing the frosted chocolate chip cookie bars from the pan a breeze.
- If you line your pan with foil or parchment, you can easily lift the cookie bar out of the pan. Then, you can peel off the foil or paper before cutting the cookie into squares.
- Bake the cookie bars until golden brown.
- If you prefer gooey cookies, bake them for 22 minutes. Bake longer if you prefer your cookies to be more baked-through.
There are several ways to make chocolate ganache but because we are all about easy cookie recipes here, I am sharing a super simple method to make the chocolate ganache.
easy dark chocolate ganache recipe:
- Finely chop an 8-ounce chocolate bar, then pour the chocolate into a small saucepan.
- If you prefer, you can use chocolate chips. Just be sure to use chocolate chips that you love eating right out of the bag. The flavor will really come through in this recipe.
- Pour heavy whipping cream (36% fat cream) over the chocolate.
- Set the pan over LOW heat.
- Stir often until about 75% of the chocolate has melted. This is very important. You do not want to overheat the chocolate or your ganache can become greasy or grainy.
- Your chocolate may melt in as little as 2 minutes and as many as 4-5 minutes depending on your stove and pan.
- Remove the pan from the heat and let it sit for about 3 minutes, then stir the chocolate until it’s melted and smooth.
- If all of the chocolate does not melt, you can heat it on low heat for a few more seconds.
chocolate chip cookie bars with chocolate frosting
- Once the chocolate ganache is creamy and smooth, pour it over your pan of chocolate chip cookies.
- Spread it into an even layer.
- Then, sprinkle on some colorful rainbow chips (candy-coated mini chocolate chips).
I love the look and taste of the rainbow chocolate chips but you can use a variety of toppings to make your chocolate chip cookie bars look and taste great. See some other topping ideas below.
other topping ideas
- Top your chocolate chip bars with chopped Reese's Cups and peanuts as we did for our Peanut Butter Caramel Cookie Bars.
- Add the fresh taste of raspberry by dusting freeze-dried raspberry powder over the chocolate ganache layer as we did for our Chocolate Raspberry Cookie Bars.
- Or, add a layer of creamy peanut butter fudge in between the chocolate chip cookies and the layer of chocolate ganache like our Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies Bars.
- You can even add a thick layer of creamy Dulce de Leche caramel in between the chocolate chip cookie layer and the chocolate ganache layer like we did with our Millionaire's Shortbread Cookies.
chocolate chip cookie bars with vanilla frosting
Or, if you prefer, you can use any of these other types of frosting.
- vanilla buttercream frosting
- cream cheese frosting
- chocolate buttercream frosting
- peanut butter frosting
- Funfetti frosting
- Nutella
- Biscoff Cookie Spread
- caramel frosting
The possibilities are unlimited. Have fun and come up with your own flavor combinations. Let me know in the comments below what toppings you liked best.
how to store frosted chocolate chip cookie bars
Store your cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. The cookies will continue to dry out as the days go on so I do recommend you enjoy them sooner rather than later.
Or you can freeze the cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
To thaw, remove the container of cookies from the freezer and set it on the counter. Allow the cookies to thaw for a few hours before opening the container. This will keep condensation from forming on the chocolate ganache frosting.
Just note that the colors on the rainbow chips may fade or bleed if frozen. You might want to choose a different topping if you plan to make these ahead and freeze them.
Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Top chewy chocolate chip cookie bars with a thick layer of creamy chocolate ganache frosting and a sprinkling of colorful rainbow chips to make the BEST Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars ever!
Ingredients
- CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE BARS
- ½ cup packed brown sugar (104 grams)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar white sugar (50 grams)
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (85 grams), melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (136 grams), see notes
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (170 grams/6 ounces)
- CHOCOLATE GANACHE
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream (120 grams)
- 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate bars (227 grams), finely chopped (or 1 ⅓ cups of chips)
- optional: 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
- TOPPINGS
- ¼ cup rainbow chips (candy-coated mini chocolate chips)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 C).
- Line an 8x8-inch square baking pan with non-stick tin foil or parchment paper. You may also use regular tin foil sprayed with baking spray.
- Stir the brown and granulated sugar into the melted butter.
- Add the egg and vanilla. Stir until well incorporated.
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt, then stir it into the wet ingredients just until incorporated. Do not overmix this dough once the flour has been added or you will develop too much gluten in your cookies which will cause them to be tough.
- Fold the semisweet chocolate chips into the cookie dough.
- Then spread the cookie dough into an even layer in the 8x8 baking pan.
- Bake for 22-26 minutes until the top of the cookie turns golden brown. The center should feel set not wet.
- Remove the cookie from the oven and set the pan on a cooling rack.
- Allow the cookie to cool for 30 minutes before making your chocolate ganache.
- To make the chocolate ganache, combine the heavy whipping cream and finely chopped chocolate (or chips) in a small saucepan.
- Set the pan over LOW heat (DO NOT use a higher temperature). Stir occasionally until 75% of the chocolate has melted. This should take 2-5 minutes depending on your stove and pan.
- Once 75% of the chocolate has melted, remove the pan from the stove and let the chocolate rest for about 3 minutes.
- Then, stir the chocolate until smooth and creamy.
- If all your chocolate has not melted, return the pan to LOW heat for a few seconds, and stir again.
- Do not overheat this chocolate ganache or it will become greasy.
- If you'd like your chocolate ganache to have a nice shine, stir in 1 teaspoon corn syrup.
- Spread the chocolate ganache in an even layer over the cookie in the pan.
- Sprinkle on the rainbow chips or alternate toppings (see blog post for ideas).
- Cover the pan with plastic wrap so the plastic does not touch the ganache frosting.
- Set the pan aside at room temperature for about 4 hours until the chocolate ganache firms up.
- Cut into 16 squares, wiping your knife clean with each cut.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Weigh your flour to get the most accurate measurement. If you don't have a scale, scoop up your flour and spoon it into a measuring cup. You'll need 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon of flour to make a batch of these chocolate chip bars.
- Store your cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Or freeze the cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Large Batch Ingredients if you'd prefer to bake your cookies in a 9x13-inch pan:
Follow the instructions above but spread the chocolate chip cookie dough into a 9x13-inch. Bake for 22-28 minutes until golden brown on top. I know it seems strange that it will take the same time to bake a large pan of these cookies but this bake time is accurate.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
16Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 243Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 32mgSodium: 75mgCarbohydrates: 28gFiber: 2gSugar: 24gProtein: 2g
HowToMakeEasyCookies.com offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients you use to create this recipe.
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