by Anna Olson

Excerpted from Anna Olson’s Baking Wisdom: The Complete Guide: Everything You Need to Know to Make You a Better Baker (with 150+ Recipes) by Anna Olson. Copyright © 2023 Olson Food Concepts Inc. Photography by Janis Nicolay. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

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I love these bars when you want to fill a CCC (chocolate chip cookie) need but you don’t have the time, patience or volunteers to help you scoop cookies. Super chewy, these bars are easy to slice and they freeze fantastically well, too.

MAKES: one 9-inch (23 cm) square pan (16 to 25 squares)

PREP TIME: under 15 minutes

COOK TIME: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup (200 g) packed light brown sugar
• ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2¼ cups (337 g) all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup (30 g) cornstarch
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ¾ tsp fine salt
• 1½ cups (263 g) chocolate chips

METHOD

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Lightly grease and line a 9-inch (23 cm) square pan with parchment paper so that the paper comes up the sides.
• Combine the butter and sugar. Whisk the melted butter with the brown and granulated sugars. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla.
• Sift in the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt and stir until evenly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread to level it.

Cornstarch is the secret to the chewy centre of my signature chocolate chip cookies, and it also keeps these bars nice and chewy.

• Bake the square for about 30 minutes, until it starts to rise at the edges. Cool in the pan on a rack, then use the parchment paper to lift the square out of the pan and cut into squares.

The bars will keep, well wrapped, in the fridge for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 3 months.

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