Your favorite chocolate chip cookies, but easier? We had to do it, friends! These vegan, gluten-free chocolate chip cookie BARS have all the flavor, but there’s no chilling, no scooping, and no hand mixer involved! Just stir, spread, and bake.
Plus, just 8 ingredients and 1 bowl required! They’re so easy it almost seems wrong…but they’re so right: perfectly sweet, chewy, buttery, and studded with melty chocolate chunks. Grab your favorite mixing bowl and let’s bake!
How to Make Vegan Gluten-Free Cookie Bars
These vegan + gluten-free cookie bars start with a flax egg for binding, brown sugar for its sweetness and ability to create crispy edges, and melted vegan butter and vanilla for classic cookie flavors!
After whisking them together, we transition to the dry ingredients! Our gluten-free flour blend is the gluten-free G.O.A.T. for mimicking the texture of all-purpose flour, while baking powder adds some lift and sea salt enhances all the flavors.
Then there’s just one more required ingredient — arguably the most important of them all: chocolate chips or chunks! We also like adding walnuts for a little crunch, but if you’re not a nuts-in-cookies person, just do you.
We hope you LOVE these cookie bars! They’re:
Chewy
Buttery
Tender
Perfectly sweet
Studded with chocolate
& Undetectably vegan + gluten-free!
Pair with a glass of dairy-free milk and you’ll be in cookie magic land. Or if the weather is chilly, try them with our 5-Minute Vegan Hot Cocoa or 5-Minute Caffeine-Free Chai.
More Recipes for Chocolate Chip Cookie Lovers
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo @minimalistbaker on Instagram. Cheers, friends!
Servings 16 (Bars)
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- 1 Tbsp flaxseed meal (to make flax egg)
- 2 ½ Tbsp water (to make flax egg)
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar (or sub coconut sugar with different results — see notes)
- 1/2 cup melted vegan butter (we used Miyoko’s)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ⅓ cup MB 1:1 GF Blend* (or another gluten-free blend)
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks (ensure dairy-free as needed // we like Enjoy Life)
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional but recommended)
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (176 C) and line an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
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To a medium mixing bowl, add flaxseed meal and water and let rest for 5 minutes to thicken. Next, add brown sugar, melted vegan butter, and vanilla. Whisk well to combine — the mixture should become cohesive.
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Next, fold in the GF flour blend, baking powder, and sea salt. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and optional walnuts until just combined.
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Pour the mixture into the lined baking pan and bake for 25-28 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the center is golden. Let cool at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before slicing into bars. The longer they sit, the better they will hold their shape…although we do love to enjoy them slightly warm!
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Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-4 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
*We preferred the flavor and texture of brown sugar over coconut sugar. The brown sugar made the bars chewy while the coconut sugar gave them a more wholesome flavor and cakey, slightly crumbly texture.
*If not gluten-free, you can try all-purpose flour in place of the gluten-free flour blend. We recommend starting with 1 ¼ cups, adding more as needed to achieve the consistency of the batter in the video.
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated without optional ingredients.
Serving: 1 bar Calories: 148 Carbohydrates: 148 g Protein: 0.7 g Fat: 7.1 g Saturated Fat: 5.1 g Polyunsaturated Fat: 0 g Monounsaturated Fat: 0 g Trans Fat: 0 g Cholesterol: 0 mg Sodium: 135 mg Potassium: 34 mg Fiber: 0.7 g Sugar: 12.7 g Vitamin A: 0 IU Vitamin C: 0 mg Calcium: 31 mg Iron: 0.8 mg