Whole Wheat Cookie Bars Video Recipe

Whole Wheat Cookie Bars Or Chocolate Chip Cookie Blondies, also called as blondie bars is a variety of American dessert bar or bar cookie or simply bars or squares, that has the texture of a firm cake or softer than usual cookie. These bars are made in an healthy way at its max with 100% whole grain flour (unrefined flour) based chocolate chip cookie dough, mildly sweetened with unrefined sugar,

reduced fat (used half oil and half butter), and limited quantity of chocolate chips, also replaced half quantity of chocolate chip with M & M chocolate you can use equal proportion or just either one is fine. These are crunchy cookie bars and mildly sweetened because the batter has chocolates in it. It’s crunchy at the day of bake, but after 2 days of baking it turns soft. These bars are not chewy and its well stored in room temperature for a week. (it lasted only a week for us).

Frequently Asked Questions

Whole Grain Wheat Flour

I always use whole grain flour in baking and cooking. If you are a beginner do mix half of regular fine wheat flour or all purpose flour (50%) and whole grain flour (50%) for this recipe (say if recipe calls for 2 cups of whole grain flour use1 Cup APF or fine wheat flour and1 Cup Whole grain Wheat flour), the difference between these two is that whole grain has bran, germ and endosperm which makes it coarse in texture.

Difference between Blondies and Brownies

Brownies and Blondies both are originated in US and has significant differences. A blondie also called as a blonde brownie substitutes vanilla for cocoa powder and contains brown sugar. Ingredients for Blondies and brownies are more or less similar. The main difference between a blondie and a brownie is the chocolate. Normally blondies contain no chocolate or chocolate flavoring other than chocolate chips, which may be included. Other than cocoa powder or chocolates, blondies uses flour, butter, eggs, and baking powder. It may also contain walnuts or pecans, white or dark chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, or other flavored chips.

The other difference is that Blondies are not usually frosted, as the brown sugar and chocolate chips or candies tends to be sweet enough. The last difference I would like to mention here is Blondie Cookies consist of a higher flour content so they are formed from a dough, while brownies have a higher liquid and fat content so they are formed from a batter…

What are Cookie Bars?

Technically, blondies and brownies are both classified as ‘Cookie Bars’. That is, they are softer than cookies, but tougher than a cake. Cookie bars or Bar Cookies or Bars are made from a stiff dough batter that is pressed into a baking pan, then baked, cooled and cut into bars, squares or diamonds. Bars can be single-layered (like brownies) or multi-layered (will be coming up with two flavors soon) with cake like textures.

How this recipe is different from classic?

Usually blondies are rich , buttery, chewy and over powered with chocolate chips, nuts kind of add ins. The brown sugar provides the majority of the flavor, so be sure to use dark brown sugar or Jaggery Powder. However I used a mild quantity of sugar, 100% whole grain wheat flour, medium quantity of chocolate chips + M & M in this recipe compared to the classic version. I used half butter and half oil yet this combo is a win win in our home.

Recipe Variations For Crunchy Cookies

White sugar leads to crispier cookies than brown sugar or other sweeteners do…

Cookies without eggs are usually flatter and crispier since eggs act as leavening agents. However, it’s the yolks that make cookies chewy, while the egg whites lead to crunchier cookies.

You can refer an egg free half brown and half white sugar based recipe HERE where I use clarified butter (no moisture butter for crunchy or crispier cookies)…

If you want chewy cookies, add melted butter. Butter is 20 percent water.
If you want thin, candy-like cookies, add more sugar and moisture free butter/ghee or cookie dough.
If you want cakey cookies, add more eggs like I did HERE.

Using lower-moisture cookie dough, granulated sugar and fat (vegetable shortening, clarified butter, or ghee), plus a longer, slower bake than normal. It produces light, crunchy cookies.

How long to bake?

Once you decided how you want your cookie bars to be, ie either moist or crunchy do bake accordingly. For moist blondies, take blondies out when slightly gooey in the middle, or when toothpick is inserted into the middle of the pan comes out slightly sticky or when they edges look browned, but the middle looks a little underdone. As they cool out of the oven, they continue to bake. So blondies are ready to come out of the oven when look almost done. If you want a crispier cookie bars aka blondies do bake 2-3 minutes more. Also the texture turns slightly soft after 1 or 2 days after it gets baked.

How do you know when blonde brownies are done?

When blondies are done they will start to pull away from the sides of the pan and the edges will be light brown. You can see slight cracks on top. However it looks moist/gooey when out from the oven when cooled completely they turn firm like cookies do.

Are blondies supposed to be gooey?

Nope. Blondies made with these kind of stiff cookie dough turns crunchy or crisp. If you want a gooey blondies do add more chocolates or eggs or yogurt for softer version. Also make the cookie dough little gooey compared to the consistency shown here by adding more liquid content.

Why are these Whole Wheat Cookie Bars so easy?

Blondies are one of the simplest, tastiest and quickest baked goods you can make. These blondies are perfectly dense, also has other names like Potluck staple bar cookies, or finger foods. Because these are super easy to make, this homemade healthy blondies recipe is always a win-win.

How to make this recipe egg free?

Eggless version is crispier than this version. You can refer my Eggless Blondie Bars Recipe HERE. I haven’t tried the eggless version with complete whole wheat flour, if I make in near future, I will update how it turns out.

How Blondies are served?

Blondies mostly eaten as it is ie plain and sometimes served in sundaes, often topped with caramel sauce.

Whole Wheat Cookie Bars Ingredients

Eggs – 2 Numbers
Whole Grain Wheat Flour – 2 Cups
Brown Sugar – 1/4 Cup
Oil + Melted Butter (Ghee) – 1/2 Cup (1/4 Cup each)
Baking Powder – 1tsp
Baking Soda – 1/4tsp
M&M – 1/2 Cup (Replace with Chocolate Chips)
Chocolate Chips – 1/2 Cup
Salt – 1/2tsp
Vanilla Extract – 1tsp
Unflavored Yogurt/ Curd – 2 Tbsp
Yields – 25 Bars
10×10″ Pan OR 9X13″ Pan

Video Tutorial

Whole Wheat Cookie Bars Preparation

• Add butter in a sauce pan, allow it to melt and you can use ghee/clarified butter as well. If you don’t know how to, please do refer the video tutorial HERE.
• Pour the melted butter in a wide mixing bowl.
• Add a few drops of melted butter on edges of the rectangle cake pan and stick parchment paper over it (Pic 1). You don’t need butter for aluminum foil.
• Do overhang enough parchment paper on sides to help you lift from the pan when they are done.
• Keep the parchment or foil laid pan aside.
• Pre heat the oven to 350° F / 180° C.
• In another wide bowl add 2 cups of whole wheat flour (Pic 2).
• Take a batch of flour and lumpy brown sugar or jaggery powder grind to fine texture to break the lumps in sugar ( refer video tutorial).
• Add the powdered sugar flour mixture back to the flour bowl.
• Whisk flour, baking powder, soda and salt together (Pic 3), set aside .
• Now add the melted butter bowl and start preparing the cookie dough.

• Add Oil (Pic 4) and one egg at a time (pic 5), whisk until combined.
• After the second egg do add vanilla extract (Pic 6) and whisk until combined.
• Add yogurt (Pic 7, also reserve 1 tbsp to add if needed at the end), and mix well.
• Fold the dry ingredients (Pic 8) into yogurt mixture until just combined, do not over mix (Pic 9).
• If needed and you see traces of dry flour do add the reserved yogurt and bring to consistency like shown in Pic 10.
• Whole wheat flour needs more yogurt compared to regular baking flour.
• Now add chocolate chips (Pic 11, I usually chill chips and candies for 30 minutes in refrigerator to get crunchy bars), fold gently using rubber spatula.
• Evenly place the batter into prepared 10X10 inch (pic 12) or 13 X 9 inch cookie pan also smooth the top.

• Take care of the edges too, press them gently all over the sides (pic 13).
• Now place M&M candies here and there over the cookie dough and press slightly (Pic 14).
• Bake in preheated oven @350F/180C until top is cracked, and light golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes (Pic 15).

• The cookie bars looks soft and gooey once they are out from the oven but when cooled completely they turn crisp and perfect.
• Cool on wire rack to room temperature, I left it as it is for an hour.
• Gently remove the baked bars from the pan by using the overhang foil and also place hand underneath while lifting up.
• Transfer to cutting board and cut into 25 decent bars (pic 16).
• Once cooled completely store in an air tight container.

Printable Recipe Card

Notes

• Cut the bars neat and perfect once they are cooled completely, don’t rush and mess while they are warm.
• You can chill the unbaked dough in the refrigerator in case of urgency and bake later 🙂
• Baked uncut cookie bars can be chilled in refrigerator for quick cutting however they wont be crunchier like the room temperature ones.
• If handled properly these cookie bars stays fresh for up to 7 days in room temperature later refrigerate and warm before you serve.
• You can add more candies when they out from the oven.