Caramel Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Bars
These soft and chewy Caramel Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Bars are perfect for gifting around the holidays. Or, make a big batch just because!
Written by: Carla of Carla’s Confections Blog
Creating These Chocolate Chip Caramel Bars
Christmastime means a lot of things to me, one of them being freshly baked cookies to give out as gifts to friends, neighbors, and especially to share at parties.
These caramel chocolate chip cream cheese bars stay super soft so they hold up well traveling, or contained until ready to eat (that is if they last longer than a day!)
The thing I look for in gifting cookie recipes is the durability and freshness of the cookie. I don’t want a cookie falling apart in transit, and I definitely don’t want said cookie becoming hard as rock by the time you take that first (hopefully) luscious bite.
Enter: cream cheese!
Seriously. This stuff is wonderful in cookie recipes. It fulfills both requirements of durability and freshness/softness. You will not want to miss out on this stuff in your baking this Christmas!
And one more little tip I will leave you with when it comes to holiday baking — if you are baking a lot of cookie recipes, make your cookies into cookie bars instead.
Only one batch of baking, and you can cut them into as big or small of pieces as you like, so you can still end up with a lot of cookies. And so much easier on your hands!
Ingredients in Caramel Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Bars
To make these cream cheese chocolate chip cookie bars, you’ll need the following simple ingredients:
- Salted butter
- Cream cheese
- Brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Cornstarch
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Dark chocolate chunks or chips
- Caramel bits
For the complete ingredient list and detailed instructions, scroll to the bottom of this post for the FREE printable recipe card.
How to Make Caramel Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Bars
These chocolate chip caramel cookie bars are as easy to make as mixing together the cookie dough, turning it into a pan, and baking it!
- In a measuring bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter, cream cheese and both sugars until well combined and fluffy.
- Turn mixer to low and add egg and vanilla and beat until combined.
- Keep mixer on low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until just combined.
- Add in chocolate chips and caramel bits and only mix to barely combine. Turn off mixer.
- Turn the cookie dough into a greased 9×13-inch pan.
- Bake until the bars just start to turn golden on the edges.
The above is simply a quick summary of this recipe. Check out the full recipe in the free printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for all the detailed instructions.
Can I Use Low-Fat Cream Cheese?
Perhaps, but I’ve only tested this recipe using full-fat, brick-style cream cheese so that’s what I recommend using.
Can the Cornstarch Be Omitted?
Most likely, yes, but it makes the cookie bars super soft and chewy. If you omit it, the chocolate chip caramel bars won’t be nearly as soft.
Tips for Making Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- If desired, you can omit the caramel bits to make classic chocolate chip cream cheese bars.
- To make thinner cookie bars, use a large pan and decrease the bake time.
- For thicker cookie bars, bake the dough in a 9-inch pan. Note that the baking time will need to be increased significantly.
More Edible Christmas Gifts:
Chocolate-Dipped Nuts are perfect for gifting around the holidays. They last a long time, transport well, and aren’t your typical Christmas cookies or sugary treats.
Bourbon Caramels are a perfect holiday gift for anyone who craves sweet and salty. Traditional salted caramels are enhanced with the flavors of bourbon, maple syrup, and vanilla beans.
Homemade Candy Cane and Chocolate-Dipped Marshmallows are a fun holiday treat to make. They are delicious in a mug of hot cocoa and are great for holiday gifting!
Bittersweet Chocolate Swirl Fruit and Nut Bark pairs bittersweet chocolate, white chocolate, almonds, raspberries, strawberries, pumpkin and chia seeds for a delectable holiday treat. Dare I say that this is even a healthy homemade holiday treat?
Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars are super festive with red and green funfetti sprinkles in the bars and crushed candy cane pieces on top!
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Caramel Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Bars
These soft and chewy Caramel Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Bars are perfect for gifting around the holidays/ Or, make a big batch just because!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup salted butter, softened
- 1/4 cup cream cheese, softened (full-fat)
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (unbleached)
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 10 oz bag Dark Chocolate Thick Morsels
- 1/2 cup caramel bits
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F, and spray a 9x13-inch baking sheet (larger if you want thinner cookies) with non-stick spray.
- In a measuring bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat both butter, cream cheese and both sugars on medium-high until well combined and fluffy.
- Turn mixer to low and add egg and vanilla and beat until combined.
- Keep mixer on low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until just combined.
- Add in chocolate morsels and caramel bits and only mix to barely combine. Turn off mixer.
- Turn out cookie mixture onto cookie sheet and spread out until touching all the sides of the pan and mixture is even all around.
- Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes (less time if using a very large baking sheet. Keep an eye on it), until just starting to golden on the edges. You don't want to over bake these. Soft middle is perfect.
- Remove, allow to cool, cut into desired squares and store in an airtight container. These will keep for a while, so they are perfect for gifting!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 201Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 21mgSodium: 170mgCarbohydrates: 28gFiber: 1gSugar: 17gProtein: 2g
GoodLifeEats.com offers recipe nutritional information as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although GoodLifeEats.com makes every effort to provide accurate information, these figures are only estimates.
Uros of Fine Stay Slovenia says
Freshly baked cookies are just plain awesome. And that’s true any time of the year, not just Christmastime. This version looks super tasty! Thanks for sharing this recipe!