Kitchen Sink Cookie Bars (2024)

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Why I Love These Kitchen Sink Bars

1. Soft & chewy: If you love my viral chocolate chip cookie bars, you'll love these kitchen sink bars! The texture is soft & chewy and the pretzels & caramel add the perfect sweet and salty flavor.
2. No scooping required: I love bar cookie recipes because they're much quicker to make than individual cookies (but hey, my kitchen sink cookies are pretty delicious too!).
3. Perfect for holiday platters! Add festive m&m's and sprinkles and cut them into 48 bite-sized pieces for the perfect cookie platter addition!

Make them holiday-themed!

For a festive holiday version, use ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate, ½ cup holiday m&m's, ½ cup chopped pretzels, ½ chopped caramels, and 2 tablespoons of sprinkles (+ a few extra toppings to press on top before baking!).

Ingredient Notes

Jump down to the full recipe card for the ingredient amounts and condensed recipe instructions.

• Caramel: I used Kraft caramel and tore them into small pieces (I also love Werther's caramels but be sure they're the "soft" ones and not the "chewy" version or they'll be too hard). You can also use the Kraft bits but I find they don’t melt as well in cookies.
• Semi-Chocolate Chips:Panera uses a mix of both semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips but you can add whatever you like. I also like chopping at least half of the chocolate chips so that you have those small chocolate pieces in every bite (this also helps give the cookie that darker signature color!).
• Pretzels: Any crunchy, salty pretzels will work! I usually use Rolls Gold "Tiny Twists".
• Unsalted Butter: Use real butter here, not margarine. To get that signature flat vs. puffy cookie, we’re melting the butter until it’s pretty hot & then slightly flattening the top of the scooped cookies.
• Sea salt (optional): Panera tops theirs with flaky salt, which is totally optional! My pretzels were already salty, so I left it off.

Step 1: Chop & Prep Mix-Ins

Place semi-sweet chocolate chips (½ cup), milk chocolate chips (½ cup), 10 caramels, and pretzels (½ cup) on a cutting board. Use a sharp knife to chophalfof the chocolate chips into smaller shards and slivers. Next, chop the caramel (I cut each into 6 pieces) and pretzels.

Tip: I recommend 1½ - 2 cups of total mix-ins, so feel free to add more or less of each item as you wish!

Step 2: Mix Dough

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13 pan with nonstick cooking spray and cover with parchment paper (optional but recommended for easy removal).
2. In a medium bowl, mix together melted, unsalted butter (¾ cup), light brown sugar (¾ cup), and granulated sugar (½ cup) and mix until combined.
3. Add in 1 large egg, 1 extra egg yolk, vanilla extract (2 teaspoons), baking soda (1 teaspoon), baking powder (¼ teaspoon), and salt (½ teaspoon). Mix.
4. Add all-purpose (2 – 2 ¼ cups, see “notes section” in the recipe card below regarding flour amounts), chopped & whole chocolate chips, pretzels, and caramel. Stir until combined.

Tip: Adding the mix-ins at the same as the flour will help the chips be evenly distributed and prevent them from falling to the bottom of the bowl.

Step 3:Press Cookie Dough Into Pan

Press cookie dough into a greased, parchment-lined 9×13″ pan. Once smooth, sprinkle extra chocolate chips and pretzels on top. If you see any chocolate chips stuck together or on the edge of the pan, relocate them. This will help create clean edges when cut!

Tip: Using the parchment sling will allow you to lift the cooled bars out of the pan so that you can use a large knife to make clean, downward cuts.

Step 4: Bake

Bake at 350°F for 16-18 minutes or until cookie bars are lightly golden brown (do not overbake, you want to underbake slightly for a gooey cookie). Allow the cookie bars to cool completely before cutting into squares/bars.

Step 5: Chill & Cut

To achieve clean cuts, I like to put the cooled bars in the freezer about 30 minutes to firm up the chocolate. Then, use a large knife to cut into 12-24 squares, wiping the knife off every few cuts to avoid smearing any chocolate.

Tip: Dipping the knife in a cup of hot water & then drying it before slicing can also help create clean cuts.

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