These easy one-bowl valentine’s day cookie bars are rich, fudgy, and festive. Not only are these bars made in one bowl but they do not require a mixer or chill time! Loaded with valentines chocolates and decadent white chocolate chips.
These cookie bars can be made with any type of valentine chocolate candy – add valentines sprinkles for more festive fun! Bake, slice, and share with your valentine these are great for parties or gatherings as well!
You might also like these Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars or my Valentines Shortbread Cookie Recipe! Find all of my easy dessert recipes here for more baking inspiration.
Why You’ll Love Them
- One bowl recipe: this recipe uses melted butter so there is no need for an electric mixer or stand mixer. Simply mix together all ingredients by hand and pop these into the oven. Even better, this one bowl recipe means fewer dishes and easy clean up.
- Perfect for crowds: this recipe is a great dessert options for crowds or parties, the cookie bars can easily be transported directly in the baking pan and everyone is sure to love them! Add in different toppings as desired or decorate with festive sprinkles and candies.
- No chill time: these bars do not require any chilling time, simply mix the dough and transfer directly into a baking dish and into the oven! These bake in about 30 minutes.
- Studded with chocolate: this is one mighty cookie bar, loaded with melty chocolate chips and candy hearts topped with a sprinkle of flaky salt and sprinkles for a delicious sweet and salty combo. I like to top my cookie with a few more chips before baking.
Valentine’s Day Cookie Bars
Perfect for the chocolate lover in your life. Thick, fudgy, and so decadent you can be sure these are a hit at any gathering or holiday you bring them to! I like to skip the store-bought stuff and make these from scratch when possible.
Other types of chocolate can be mixed in or add in chopped candy and sprinkles for a fun, festive dessert. These can be stored in the freezer so make an extra batch, slice, and store for a later time! These make fun Valentines treats for school or home gathering’s.
Ingredient List & Substitutions
These cookie bars use simple ingredients, see below for ingredient substitutes if there are any as well as special notes:
- Unsalted Butter: if using salted butter, omit adding more salt later in the recipe. Do not substitute margarine.
- Granulated white sugar: I do not recommend swapping any other type of sugar for this recipe. Other sugars can impact the dough differently and change how the cookie bakes and rises.
- Brown sugar: make sure to pack your brown sugar. Light or dark brown sugar works.
- Whole eggs: I like fresh pasture raised farm eggs if available, but any kind will work for this cookie. Let your eggs come to room temperature for this recipe, this helps the eggs incorporate better.
- Pure vanilla extract: use homemade or store-bought vanilla extract.
- Baking powder: do not substitute baking soda and make sure your baking powder is fresh and not expired, after a couple months it will start to lose it’s potency.
- All-purpose flour: no substitution here, other types of flour will change the texture and affect baking differently.
- Chocolate chips: any kind of chocolate chips will work, semi-sweet, milk chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, or white chocolate. Chopped chocolate bars work great as well.
- Candy Hearts: any flavor of candy hearts will work here, you can find a good selection in the Valentine candy isle. I used strawberry creme filled hearts.
How to Make The Cookie Bars
Let’s talk a little about how to make the Easy One-Bowl Valentine’s Day Cookie Bars (The printable instructions are in the recipe card below.)
Quick overview:
- Combine melted butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla.
- Mix in dry ingredients and chocolate.
- Transfer to a prepped baking pan, top with extra chocolate, and bake.
- Let cool before slicing and enjoy!
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line a 9×13″ baking pan, set aside.
- In a large bowl combine melted butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk well to combine.
3. To the wet ingredients, add in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until combined. Fold in the chopped chocolate hearts and white chocolate chips, transfer into the prepared baking pan. If desired, top with extra chocolate hearts and white chocolate chips.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack, top with sprinkles and allow to cool completely before cutting.
Other Popular Homemade Desserts
If you’re a chocolate fan you have tp try these decadent desserts below for more baking inspiration!
Baking Tip
Press extra candy hearts and chocolate chips on top of the bars before baking. Finish with a sprinkle of flaky salt and festive sprinkles once bars have baked!
Tips For Successful Bars
- Don’t overmix ingredients, only mix until incorporated.
- Grease AND line your baking pan. I like to grease the bottom and corners really well and over line with a piece of parchment paper so I can easily lift out my bars.
- Allow bars to cool completely before slicing, this helps so they don’t fall apart! Let them cool if you want nice even bars.
Tools I Use For The Easy Cookie Bars
- USA Pan 9×13 inch Baking Pan – another USA Pan product I love! The corners of my bars and cakes never stick and I love the squared of edges this pan creates.
- Rubber Spatula – a must have! I like these because they don’t come apart so I don’t have to worry about water getting inside the spatula and causing mold.
- Pyrex Mixing Bowl Set – I love this set of nesting bowls. I use them for everything, Pyrex glass does not break easily so you can trust on these bowls for years, plus they come in 3 useful sizes and can be stacked!
More Drool-Worthy Cookie Bar’s
If you liked these chewy chocolate cookie bars, you’ll love these other easy bars and blondies – perfect for the sweets lover in your life!
- Easter M&M’s Cookie Bars – a fun holiday dessert that is easy to make and transport!
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Blondies – the best combo of chocolate and peanut butter, these bars are loaded with chopped and whole Reese’s peanut butter cups!
- Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Bars – if you’re a oatmeal raisin fan, you’ll love these! Oatmeal raisin cookie dough with the perfect hint of cinnamon, topped with a crunchy streusel.
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Blondies – chewy cookie bars studded with oats, chocolate chips, and the perfect amount of peanut butter.
- Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars – a homemade version of the classic store-bought dough.
Recipe Serving Suggestions
The best way to serve a cookie bar, in my opinion, is freshly bake with a scoop of vanilla or praline ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate or caramel sauce or simply on it’s own! Some other easy ways to serve these Valentines Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are:
- Sandwich together with soft ice cream and roll in pink sprinkles.
- Serve with whipped cream, caramel or chocolate sauce, and sprinkles
- Add birthday candles and sprinkles for a fun cookie cake
- Chop bake bars up and serve over ice cream or blend into a malt
Recipe FAQs
Why use room temperature eggs in cookies and bars?
Room temperature eggs mix together a lot easier than cold eggs, resulting in lighter, fluffier baked goods! Room temperature eggs also whip up a lot better which makes them important to use when making meringue or items that call for a lot of eggs like, angel food cake. Don’t have room temperature eggs? Set a few cold eggs out 20-30 minutes before you need them.
Can these bars be made in a mixer?
Yes! Even those these are made with melted butter and the butter does not need to be creamed. They can still be combined in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or with a electric hand mixer.
What type of chocolate is best in a Cookie Bar?
I like rich, dark chocolate chips or a roughly chopped up chocolate bar. But any type of chocolate would work from white chocolate chips, to mini chocolate chips and semi-sweet chocolate.
Do I need to chill my cookie dough?
No, the dough for these cookie bars does not need to be chilled – simply make and bake! If needed, it can be chilled for and hour or two up to 24 hours.
Can these be made in an 8″ x 8″ baking pan?
Yes, if you desire a thicker, more dense bar, these can be made in an 8? x 8? pan. The baking time will need to be increased to 45-50 minutes so the dough cooks through in the middle. Note, this may cause the edges of the bars to get a bite crispier due to the longer baking time.
What is the difference between a cookie and a cookie bar?
The dough for cookie bars is the same as individual cookies, the difference is that cookie bars or blondies are spread out into a baking pan instead of scooped or dropped onto a baking sheet. Typically, dough for cookie bars is thick just like dough for individual cookies.
Easy One-Bowl Valentine’s Day Cookie Bars
Equipment
- 9×13" Pan
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups All-purpose flour
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 cup Unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup Light brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup Granulated white sugar
- 2 Eggs, room temperature
- 1 tbsp Vanilla extract
- 12 oz. White chocolate chips*
- 8 oz. Heart chocolates, roughly chopped*
- Sprinkles, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line a 9×13" baking pan, set aside.
- In a large bowl combine melted butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk well to combine.
- To the wet ingredients, add in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until combined. Fold in the chopped chocolate hearts and white chocolate chips, transfer into the prepared baking pan. If desired, top with extra chocolate hearts and white chocolate chips.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack, top with sprinkles and allow to cool completely before cutting.
Notes
Nutrition
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I made this recipe today and for me it didn’t work out. The proportions didn’t see right. It was overly buttery. Is it possible that the recipe was supposed to say 1 stick butter instead of one cup butter? Or was it simply user error? Thanks!
I’m sorry to hear that! It should be 2 sticks of butter, 1 cup – the bars are thick/fudgy. I’m curious how your bars turned out?
The batter was overly oily. So I was afraid how they would turn out after baking. I baked them much longer then the recipe instructed and the center still fell in and was quite undercooked. Probably just recipe user error. I may try again to see if I get better results. I did bake them in a glass 8×8. Not sure if that matters.
Hi, glass can conduct heat differently than metal. Glass heats slower and can get warmer around the edges/bottom. I made these again twice this weekend, once as the recipe calls for and once adding an extra 3/4 cup of flour. Both worked, the bars with extra flour were not as fudgy – more cookie like. I have adjusted the recipe slightly above.
You’re awesome. I will try the recipe again and this time I’ll make more of an effort to find my 8×8 metal pan. I saw these on TikTok and was excited to try them. Try #2 here I come!
Thanks for sharing, hope they turn out better for you this time!
I made these today and used three different kinds of chips instead of the candy. They turned out AMAZING!! And…they were SO easy! I’m definitely keeping this as my go to bar recipe!!!
Thank you for sharing, I’m glad you enjoyed these!