These bars are like the lovechild of a brownie and a chocolate chip cookie!
Gooey, fudgy, rich, decadent, peanut buttery, chocolatey, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate chip brownie bars – I could go on with adjectives, but you really need to try them to understand!
This recipe was created to say thank you.
I found out last week that my book made the list of Amazon’s Top 20 Best Cookbooks Of 2015. Seeing my name included on that list when I opened the email was such a shock… I think I probably screamed… and maybe scared the neighbors… I can’t stop smiling… and still can’t believe it!!!
Please forgive me for mentioning the book again… there is no way I can keep this exciting news to myself! Making Amazon’s Top 20 Cookbooks of the year is by far one of the MOST exciting things to happen in all the time I’ve been blogging. And I can’t ever thank you enough.
Before the book came out, my publisher had warned me that because not everyone eats dessert, cookbooks with only desserts rarely sell as well as non-dessert books and that I should keep this in mind and not get my hopes up too far. Neither of us ever expected this amount of incredible success; we have been stunned at how many people have been buying the book.
It’s completely crazy!!!!
Words are failing me once again, and therefore I wish to express my thanks to you all in my usual favored way: through—what else?—dessert!
Thank you to everyone who reads this blog.
Thank you to everyone who has ever made one of the recipes or mentioned the site to a friend.
Thank you to everyone who has bought the book.
But mostly, thank you to everyone simply just for reading. I know full well it’s because of YOU that I’m able to do what I love every day, and I never want to take that for granted. I wish I could send a batch of chocolate chip brownie bars to each of you as a thank-you for making this all possible. Thank you again and again and again. Thank you, a million times over. ♥
Okay, brownie time!
Gooey Chocolate Chip Brownie Bars
Adapted from Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bars
Gooey Chocolate Chip Brownie Bars
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup peanut butter OR allergy-friendly alternative
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp flour (almond flour, white, spelt, sorghum, oat, and Bob’s gf all work here)
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2/3 cup sugar or xylitol
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (mini are best, but regular will also work)
- optional chocolate chips for the top
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 F and grease an 8×8 pan. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the first 3 ingredients until smooth. Add all remaining ingredients, and stir. Only if it’s too dry after stirring to resemble a thick brownie batter, very slowly add a little milk of choice (or water) until the desired texture is reached. Smooth evenly into the prepared pan, then press in some extra chocolate chips if desired. Bake 20 minutes, then remove from the oven. It will look a little undercooked, so do not touch the pan for at least 15 minutes. After this time, it will have firmed up and you can cut without crumbling. After a day, leftovers should be stored in the fridge for freshness.
Links Of The Day:
Chocolate Quinoa Breakfast Cups, from the Hello Breakfast Cookbook
These are so good! We made them for my birthday last year – that’s how much I like them. 🙂
The brownies are very rich-tasting, so a small serving is enough, and they are very easy to make!
Hi Katie!
I have been reading your blog for a few months now, and just made the first recipe; the chocolate chip brownie bars. I told myself that I would follow the directions exactly, except subbing honey for the sugar since I don’t use sugar. But of course I messed up! I accidentally used carob powder instead of cocoa powder, and I forgot the honey so I added to much liquid because the batter looked to dry. Then I remembered the honey, added it, and of course then it was too sticky.
The result was incredibly gooey and absolutely delicious!! Your recipe is so good it even survived my mistakes! I look forward to trying the recipe again, but this time trying to follow the directions. Regardless of my mistakes, my family absolutely loved the brownies.
Thanks for your delicious and healthy recipes.
Emma
I made these last night and OMG! They are so good!! Dare I say best brownies I’ve had to date — I still gotta try so many other brownie recipes that you have here, but these are amazing! I had to really resist the urge to eat more than one last night after they cooled down lol
You’re the best, Katie 🙂 I’m obsessed with this blog
You look amazing and happy and beautiful. You seem like a person I’d love to be friends with. Not that you need to change, just a tip really. I started working out with heavy weights (using Jessie Hilgenberg’s programs) and LOVE how my body looks and has changed. I don’t do much cardio (i hate it, so that makes me happy), but love lifting heavier weights. I love muscle. Thank you for your creativeness and free recipes! I just ordered you book and can’t wait to try some.
Peanut butter is in the ingredients but not listed in the name. Should the name be changed or is peanut butter not supposed to be in this recipe?
So happy you made the Amazon list. I bought the ebook and love it. In fact, I had friends over and it turned into a Chocolate Covered Katie dessert fest. Everyone loved everything!
These came out amazing!! I may or may not have eaten the entire pan myself over the course of three day!
I used Glutino flour, walnuts on top and peanut butter. I have a bunch of almond butter that I’m not into, so I’ll try that with my next batch.
hi, is there a way to use Stevia on these? I can’t find xylitol where I live and i don’t want to use sugar. Hoy much stevia or honey should I use, if that’s even possible? thanks!
You’ll have to experiment on this one. If you do, please let us know the result.
These are the best brownies ever! I used Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 gluten free baking mix and Swerve sweetener. They were so soft and tasty! They were even better the next day after sitting in the fridge, it made them very fudge-y. This is going to be my go-to brownie recipe!
Can I replace the sugar with maple syrup or agave? Will that be too many wet ingredients or will that “bake off”? Thanks in advance!
You can always experiment!