The very first thing I can remember baking is chocolate chip cookies – old-school Nestlé chocolate chip cookies. To be fair, there often wasn’t much baking involved, as my sister and I would devour most of the cookie dough before it made it onto the trays and into the oven. Fresh cookie dough is the best, when the batter is still soft and creamy – very hard to resist.
Chocolate chip cookies have come a long way since I baked my first batch. There are so many good recipes out there that have been through endless iterations of trial and error, and I’m not brave or clever enough to presume I can come up with something better.
However, as chocolate chip cookies introduced me to baking and got me hooked for life, I couldn’t not make something in their honour.
Here, the humble chocolate chip cookie gets paired with salty caramel and turned into a crumb bar. I think subconsciously this was an attempt to stop me eating half the batter before it could be baked. I really do have a problem.
Whether you need an excuse to make chocolate chip cookies without being tempted to eat the entire batch raw, or you just want a little spin on a true classic, these are worth making. The salty caramel alone makes a convincing argument. Eat them as they are, or warm one up and add a scoop of vanilla ice cream if you want to level things up a notch.
Worth Making?
- Yes – if you love chocolate chip cookies but are a little bored with making another version of the same cookie. These keep the chocolate chip part but add a gooey salted caramel layer in between.
- Yes – if chocolate, caramel and salt is your kind of combination. The dark chocolate and flaky sea salt keep it slightly ‘grown up’ and a point of difference from the every day chocolate chip cookie.
- Skip it – if you want a quick mix cookie. Making the caramel and baking the base before adding the layers means there are a couple of extra steps involved.
- Skip it – if you prefer a cakey or lighter bar. These are buttery, dense and rich, with a soft caramel centre.
- Skip it – if you love a traditional chocolate chip cookie and don’t like it being messed with.
Salted Carmel Chocolate Chip Crumb Bars
Ingredients
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
- 200 grams unsalted butter
- 150 grams brown sugar
- 70 grams caster sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 300 grams plain flour
- 25 grams cornflour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 170 grams dark chocolate, roughly chopped
Salted Caramel
- 150 grams caster sugar
- 40 grams water
- 90 ml cream, warmed
- 45 grams unsalted butter
- 3/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Salted Caramel
- Put the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Cook without stirring until it reaches a deep amber. Don’t stop at pale gold—the slight bitterness is important here.
- Remove from the heat and carefully whisk in the warm cream. Add the butter, salt and vanilla and stir until smooth.
- Return to low heat and simmer for 2–3 minutes, until noticeably thickened and butter/cream are well combined.
- Transfer to a bowl and cool completely. Refrigerate if necessary.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Assemble Bars
- Line the a 20cm square tin with baking paper and pre-heat oven to 175°C conventional / 160°C fan.
- Brown the butter until deep golden. Cool for 10–15 minutes. Whisk in both sugars. Add the egg, yolk and vanilla and whisk until combined.
- Combine flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt. Fold into the wet mixture until almost combined, then fold through the chocolate.
- Take approximately two-thirds of the dough and press it firmly and evenly into the tin.
- Bake for 10–12 minutes. The surface should just be starting to set and lightly colour. Cool for about 10 minutes.
- Spoon the cold thick caramel over the base, then crumble the remaining cookie dough irregularly over the caramel. Don’t completely cover it—you want small glimpses of caramel.
- Bake for another 23–28 minutes, until the crumble is properly golden but the centre remains slightly soft.
- Sprinkle sparingly with flaky salt. Cool completely in the tin before cutting
Make it your own way
- Change the chocolate: Use dark, milk or a mixture of the two. Milk chocolate will make the bars noticeably sweeter, while dark chocolate gives the caramel more room to shine.
- Add some crunch: Scatter toasted pecans or walnuts over the caramel before adding the crumb topping. Or mix into the topping.
- Shortcut the caramel: Use a good-quality thick salted caramel instead of making your own. Avoid a thin caramel sauce, which is more likely to soak into the base.
- Dial up the salt: Add a little extra flaky sea salt over the top after baking if you like a stronger sweet-salty contrast.
- Make them extra chocolatey: Add another handful of chopped chocolate over the crumb topping before baking.
