Sheet Pan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Are you a pumpkin and chocolate chip lover?  If you are, these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are totally ideal for you! (and addictive!)

Our family absolutely loves pumpkin and chocolate chips together especially in cookies!  Yum!  And now in these yummy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars.

These bars are full of flavor, but they don’t use that much pumpkin, so if you are looking for other ideas to use up that pumpkin puree give this pumpkin bread, pie, cake, french toast and lasagna a try!  And the list goes on….Oh the fun of pumpkin season!

These delectable bars bake in one pan and are so simple to make!  Plus if you find yourself in a bit of a time crunch, this is easier than scooping out cookies and waiting between baking sheets.

Just spread it in a pan and bake!  Wahooo!

A hint of cinnamon and pumpkin are irresistible in these soft ‘comfort food’ cookie bars studded with regular chocolate chips and topped with mini chocolate chips, but not so overloaded they taste like they have too much.

Because personally, I like chocolate and pumpkin together, but too much chocolate ruins it for me when combining with pumpkin and I don’t know why.  I know…I really said that, can you believe it?  🙂

For these bars, I tweaked my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies because they worked out so well in these Sheet Pan Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars!

They smell incredible while they are baking! Make a batch and see for yourself!  Inhale at your own risk!

To get a consistent texture in your bars, make sure your base layer of dough is even and smooth so you get even baking.  If you don’t, you could get some of the bars too overdone or raw.

Leave a 2- to 3-inch overhang using parchment paper or tin foil in your baking pan to be able to lift your cookie bars out to get of the pan easily and for cutting them nicely after they’ve cooled.

This is a sticky dough and I can’t stand that sticky feeling on my fingers, so to achieve getting the bars even in your pan, use a nice offset icing spatula that you use for frosting cakes to spread the dough out.  Works like a charm and no sticky fingers! 

Use a well-sharpened large chef’s knife when cutting these bar cookies to get those nice cut edges.

Splurging on good-quality vanilla extract and chocolate will go a long way in giving your bars the best possible flavor.

DON’T OVER-BAKE!  The cookie bars will continue baking after you remove them from the oven.  Let them cool to let the pumpkin infuse  If you taste-test them while they are still warm, you won’t get that pumpkin flavor to come through until they’ve infused while cooling.

These bar cookies are perfect for gifting. Just tie them with ribbon or put in decorative tins and you’ve made some friends and family very happy!

Print Recipe

4.23 from 9 votes

Sheet Pan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Sheet Pan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars - A hint of cinnamon and pumpkin are irresistible in these soft 'comfort food' cookie bars studded with regular chocolate chips and topped with mini chocolate chips. Perfect for gifting and a crowd! #chocolate chip #chocolate #pumpkin #cookies #bars #fall baking

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bars, chocolate chip, cookies, pumpkin

Servings: 36 bars

Author: Kim Lange

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour don't over measure.
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup Zulka Sugar or granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons molasses or honey
• 2 tablespoons almond milk or milk
• 2 large eggs
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2/3 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 bag Ghirardelli Semisweet Chocolate Chips + 1 cup Ghirardelli Mini Chocolate Chips

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Line a 13x18 sheet pan with parchment paper, spraying the parchment with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
• In another large bowl, using an electric mixer at medium speed, beat together the butter, and sugars about 2 minutes and is smooth.
• Add the eggs, pumpkin, molasses, almond milk and vanilla and mix on low speed until mixed in.
• Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt over the wet mixture and mix together until just incorporated. Do not over-mix.
• Add bag of chocolate chips in and mix into dough, again no over-mixing, just until incorporated. Dough will be sticky.
• Spread sticky cookie dough out evenly by dropping spoonfuls onto the baking sheet and spread out with an offset icing spatula sprayed with non-stick spray if you wish, to spread out evenly getting into all the corners.  You could also use a dinner knife, Just make sure the dough is even all the way across.  
• Sprinkle mini chips to the top of the dough.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Do not over-bake so the bars stay moist.
• Cool in pan on wire rack. Makes 3-4 dozen bars depending how big you make them.
• For 9x13 bars, cut recipe in half and baking time will still be the same.

Notes

Refer to Cookie Bar Tips in this post for more tips!