Congo Bars are soft and gooey chocolate chip cookie bars made with 2 kinds of chocolate. Using both light and dark brown sugar gives them an extra rich caramel flavor that sets them apart.
So Congo Bars…I have no idea where the name came from. They sound like they are super exotic and should maybe have some weird fruit ingredient that you could only buy online. Well folks, sorry to disappoint.
They’re actually just an extra special version of a chocolate chip cookie bar. This is a totally nostalgic recipe that I snagged out of my Grandma’s recipe box. Leave it to the 80s to take an everyday kind of recipe and give it a fancy name.
But What Are Congo Bars?
So like I said, they’re basically a chocolate chip cookie baked into a bar dessert…with a few minor tweaks:
- 2 kinds of chocolate! I mean why just use semi sweet chocolate when you can also use milk chocolate! AND I’m using chunk and chips too…we’re going big today!
- 2 kinds of brown sugar! Let’s up the richness and caramel favor by adding both dark and light brown sugar. No boring granulated today folks.
- An extra egg. Ok this is minor, but it’s important in this recipe, as it affects the texture and richness. And since we’re baking these as bars, the extra egg adds a little more chewiness that works!
Ingredients List:
- butter
- brown sugar: light and dark
- eggs
- vanilla extract
- kosher salt
- baking powder
- all purpose flour
- semi-sweet chocolate chunks (or even chopped chocolate)
- milk chocolate chips (or chopped milk chocolate)
Instructions:
- Line a 9×13 pan with parchment paper and coat with nonstick spray.
- Beat the butter and both light and dark brown sugar together in your stand or hand mixer. Add in the eggs, vanilla, salt and baking powder and mix for an additional minute and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Then add in the flour and mix until just combined.
- Stir in all the chocolate and spread the dough into the prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F or until the edges are set and lightly golden and the center appears slightly under-baked.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow the bars to cool completely before cutting.
How Do You Know When They’re Done?
You might think I listed the bake time wrong because after 30 minutes they might not seem quite done in the centers. But trust me no this, they will seem a little gooey, but that’s ok. As they cool they will stay soft and delicious.
If you bake them until they look completely done in the centers they will end up a little dry, which is not what we want.
Congo Bars
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 24 bars 1x
- Category: Cookie Bar
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Dessert
Description
Congo Bars are an amped up chocolate chip cookie bar with 2 types of chocolate to make them extra gooey!
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks, or chopped chocolate
- 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13 pan with parchment paper and coat with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix the butter and the light and dark brown sugars together for 2 minutes on medium speed. Add in the eggs, vanilla, salt and baking powder and mix for an additional minute on medium, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Turn the mixer to low and add in the flour, mixing until just combined.
- Finally add in both kinds of chocolate and stir to incorporate.
- Spread the dough into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until the edges are set and lightly golden and the center appears slightly under-baked.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow the bars to cool completely before cutting.
- Alternately you can chill the bars before cutting.
Notes
store at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 303
- Sugar: 29.5 g
- Sodium: 68 mg
- Fat: 14.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 41.5 g
- Protein: 3.8 g
- Cholesterol: 44.4 mg
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Made these tonight and not only are they beautiful but also moist and tasty! Great recipe! I did 1 1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chunks, 3/4 c. milk choc/PB chips mix, and 3/4 c. chopped pecans in mine. <3
Love that add-in combo!
Congo bar add on recipe sounds amazing and brings me back to being a kid. My school made Congo bars as a dessert for lunch and was most popular treat. Can’t wait to see if this recipe is THE ONE.
I love these!! This was a family favorite treat when I was a kid. My mom had the recipe in a church cookbook that was published before the family moved (from Michigan) to Seattle in the early ’50’s.
I love that this popped up on Pinterest today! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for ending a longtime hunt! My aunt made these for me when we visited (in the early 60’s so this can’t be Margaret’s invention) and I have been searching for the recipe! Again, thank you. I’m going to do all chocolate chips though, just to emulate her offering!
Made this countless of times! We all love it. The best congo bar recipe. Thank you ever so much for sharing this with us. ??
These are absolutely delicious! I love the warmth that dark brown sugar adds! Unfortunately I was out of chocolate chips, but I had white chocolate, so I substituted that. Still amazing! I love how caramelly the dough tastes! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Hey, Congo Bars were chef and glorious restaurateur Margaret Fix’s recipe, at her famous restaurant Cafe Beaujolais and in her cookbook of the same name, so you should give her credit. In fact, you are legally required to do so.
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Hi Hi I am Helen Winchester Watson Bryant. and I LOVE to cook for my Darlin Grandchildren. XO XO XO
The recipe calls for use of baking powder. Can I use baking soda? Is it the same thing or can it substitute with similar results?
You can’t sub them in equally, but you can sub in 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar + 1/4 teaspoon baking soda for every 1 teaspoon of baking powder
I got my recipe in the 60’s from my friends mother. I lost it years ago and am excited to see yours. It seems to be very similar so am going to try it very soon. Thank you for this post.
This is my second time making your delicious recipe. Thank you for sharing! I just use what I have on hand for chocolate, which is semi-sweet usually, and add nuts to ours. Last time I threw peanut butter chips in too. I was out this time. The bars are very moist and chewy. Exactly what I was looking for. I’ve tried several cookie bar recipes over the years, and yours is a keeper.
awesome!! so glad you like them 🙂 Love the adaptations!