Boozy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

There I was, eating my boozy ice cream and this random question popped into my head, “what else can I put alcohol in?”. Let me start by saying, everything doesn’t need alcohol; however, alcohol-infused desserts make you feel like you just added a little razzle-dazzle to your life. Like eating a cookie midday, subpar on the scandal level, but eating a boozy cookie midday, yea. You officially turned it up a notch! I couldn’t decide what dessert to add to my alcohol-infused inventory, so I brought it to the professionals, i.e. my Instagram followers.  I was very pleased to find out that most people would try an alcohol-infused cookie. Can’t say that I personally ever tried a boozy cookie before, but I was confident that I was the right gal for the job.

With most alcohol infused items, you want to be careful that the alcohol of choice is not overpowering. No one wants to take one bite of your cookie and immediately flashback to that crazy night in Las Vegas where they were so hungover, they barely made their flight home. With that being said, I thought Amaretto was a perfect choice. It’s sweet yet has that subtle taste of coffee which would accent chocolate perfectly. I knew I wanted to do a chocolate chip cookie because who does not like chocolate chip cookies? Nobody.

 What are cookie bars? Cookie bars are pretty much cookies shaped as brownies. You would make your dough the same as you would for any cookie. The only difference is how you bake them.  Just flatten the dough onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake. You are essentially making one giant, rectangle-shaped cookie that you will cut into smaller squares. I like using a pizza cutter to cut clean and straight squares.

What I absolutely love about cookie bars is that they save so much prep time. When I first started my quest, cookie bars were not an initial thought. I was pretty sure I was going to make standard circular cookies until I thought about how much extra time I would need. It takes quite a bit of time to form dough into cookie mounds, which I totally did not feel like doing. Also, most cookies should be chilled in the fridge before baking to prevent spreading. With cookie bars, that step is not needed.

When lining your baking sheet with parchment paper, try to use a large enough piece that hangs slightly over the edges of the pan. You want enough hanging off that you can grab the paper and lift. This will be helpful when removing the cookies from the pan to cut. Before lifting from the parchment paper, allow the cookies to cool. One thing to note when baking cookie bars is that bake time is dependent on the size of the baking sheet used and thus the thickness of your cookie bars. I used a 9×13 baking sheet and a 30-minute bake time was sufficient. Be sure to keep a mindful eye on your cookies at the 23-minute mark. You will know your dessert is ready when the edges are browned, and the center is completely cooked.

 Store leftover cookies in the fridge for up to 3 days. After 3 days, freeze to obtain optimal freshness. Cookies can be frozen for up to 6 months. To thaw frozen cookie bars, allow to sit out covered at room temperature.

Serve alone or with my boozy ice cream! Enjoy!