Chewy Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies, Gluten Free

Instructions

1. 1

   Heat the oven and build a parchment sling

   Set a rack in the center of the oven and heat it to 350°F (177°C). Lightly grease a 9x13-inch metal baking pan, then lay in a sheet of parchment that runs the length of the pan and hangs over the two long sides by an inch or two. Those overhangs are your handles later — you'll lift the whole slab out in one piece and cut it on a board instead of hacking at it in the pan. Light-colored metal is the pan to reach for; dark metal and glass both run hotter and will darken the edges before the middle sets.

2. 2

   Whisk the dry ingredients

   In a medium bowl, whisk the gluten-free flour blend, baking soda, and fine sea salt together for a good 15 seconds. If your blend already lists xanthan gum or another binder on the label, skip the xanthan here; if it doesn't, whisk it in now and whisk thoroughly, since clumps of xanthan turn gummy in the baked bar. No cornstarch is needed in this version — cup-for-cup blends are already starch-heavy and carry plenty of tenderness on their own.

3. 3

   Whisk the butter and sugars

   In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter with both sugars until the mixture is glossy and smooth with no lumps of brown sugar left, about 30 seconds of vigorous whisking. Make sure the butter has cooled for a few minutes first — if it's still hot it will start cooking the eggs. There's no creaming here and no mixer needed, which is exactly why these bars bake up dense and chewy rather than puffy and cake-like.

4. 4

   Add the eggs and vanilla

   Whisk in the whole eggs one at a time, then the extra yolk, then the vanilla. Keep whisking for another 20 seconds or so until the batter turns a shade lighter and looks silky and emulsified. That lone extra yolk is doing quiet work — the added fat and emulsifiers give the bars their soft, bendy chew.

5. 5

   Fold in the flour and the chocolate

   Switch to a flexible spatula and add the dry ingredients all at once. Fold until no dry streaks remain, then add 1 3/4 cups of the chocolate chips and fold them through. Unlike wheat dough, there's no gluten to overdevelop here, so mix until it genuinely looks uniform — undermixed gluten-free dough bakes up sandy. The dough will feel softer and looser than a wheat version at this point, which is normal.

6. 6

   Let the dough rest 25 minutes

   Cover the bowl and leave it on the counter for 25 to 30 minutes before it goes anywhere near the pan. This is the step that makes or breaks gluten-free bars: rice flour and starches absorb liquid slowly, and resting lets them fully hydrate. Skip it and you get a gritty texture and bars that spread thin and greasy. The dough will visibly thicken and lose its sheen as it rests — that's your signal it's ready.

7. 7

   Press into the pan

   Scrape the rested dough into the pan and press it into an even layer with the spatula or lightly dampened fingertips, working it all the way into the corners. Dampening your hands helps a lot here, since rested gluten-free dough is noticeably stickier. Scatter the remaining 1/4 cup of chips over the surface and press them in lightly, nudging any that have landed right at the pan edge back toward the center so your cut edges stay clean.

8. 8

   Bake until the edges set and the center is still soft

   Bake for 26 to 30 minutes — a couple of minutes longer than the wheat version, since the rested dough carries more moisture. Look for edges that are golden and pulling slightly from the sides and a center that is puffed and matte rather than wet-looking and shiny. A shiny center means it needs more time. A toothpick in the middle should come out with moist crumbs clinging to it.

9. 9

   Cool completely, then cut

   Set the pan on a wire rack and cool the bars fully in the pan, at least 2 1/2 hours. Gluten-free bars are fragile while warm because starch, not gluten, is holding them together, and that structure only firms as it cools — cutting early will tear them. Once completely cool, lift the slab out by the parchment and cut 4 across by 6 down with a long sharp knife, wiping the blade between cuts. Finish with flaky salt if you like.

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Baker's Tips

• 1.

  Weigh your flour if you can. 360g is 360g; a 'cup' can vary by 20% depending on how you fill it, and bar cookies show that variance more than almost anything else you bake.

• 2.

  Light-colored metal is the ideal pan. Glass insulates and bakes slowly, so add 3 to 5 minutes and watch the center; dark metal browns the bottom fast, so check at 22 minutes.

• 3.

  Pull them early rather than late. Bars keep baking in a hot pan for several minutes after they leave the oven, so slightly-underdone-looking is the target.

• 4.

  For a deeper, butterscotchy flavor, brown the butter first: cook it until the milk solids turn golden and smell nutty, then cool it for 10 minutes and add a tablespoon of water back to replace what evaporated.

• 5.

  Chill the cooled slab for 20 minutes before cutting if you want bakery-sharp edges. A long knife wiped clean between cuts does the rest.

• 6.

  The chocolate is easily swapped — chopped dark chocolate, chunks, M&M's, butterscotch chips, or half chocolate and half toasted pecans all work at the same 2-cup total volume.

• 7.

  Doubling doesn't mean one bigger pan. Make two separate batches in two 9x13 pans, since a deeper layer of dough will overbake on the outside before the middle ever sets.