It’s been awhile since I posted a recipe and I thought I’d bring one of my first ones of 2017 to you full of chocolate! These one bowl chocolate chip cookie bars are slightly different from the norm and give everyone who eats them a little bit of extra nutrition. The pumpkin makes the cookie bars so tender and delicious without adding any weird flavor and since it’s a one-bowl recipe, the dough comes together in a snap! Cutting these out with heart shaped cookie cutters makes them a really fun treat for kids to help with and allows you to eat all the leftovers, win win!
Ingredients:
- 2 sticks salted butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 egg
- 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (can sub whole wheat or any other flour you like)
- 2 cups rolled oats (if you have flax seed meal handy and like to use it, eliminate 1/2 cup of oats and add the flax)
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1 cup regular semi sweet chocolate chips
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Add butter, sugars, egg, pumpkin, and vanilla to a bowl and mix with electric beaters. Then add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the same bowl in that order, mixing dry ingredients above the wet gently with a fork. Once the dry ingredients are slightly mixed together, continue mixing all the ingredients with the electric beaters. Add oats and chocolate chips and mix by hand with a large flat cookie dough mixing spoon.
- Spray a glass 9 x 13 pan with baking spray (or butter the entire pan and dust with flour). Press dough into the pan so it is of an even thickness throughout. Then pop into the preheated oven and bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown all over. Watch the edges and take the bars out if the edges start to get too brown. The middle of the bars will set up a little bit out of the oven.
- Once cooled, use a cookie cutter to cut out the heart shapes. If you are letting your kids do this, take a deep breath and be prepared for a bit of mess (and cookie waste -just eat this, it’s totally not wasted!).
These would be super cute drizzled in pink chocolate melts or with sprinkles on top. Or with a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream. No one’s on a diet right now, right?!
xoxo
-J
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Have a great weekend!
xoxo
-J
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