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The Best Cake Mix Cookie Bars (That Actually Taste Like Cookies!)

The Best Cake Mix Cookie Bars (That Actually Taste Like Cookies!)

I use boxed cake mix to whip up Cake Mix Cookie Bars, Cake Mix Pudding, Cake Mix Pancakes - just about everything except a Cake Mix Cake!

There's no bad time for a chocolate chip cookie. A hearty bowl of oatmeal, mug of coffee, and a side of chocolate chip cookies? What a great way to start the day.

Unfortunately, chocolate chip cookies are time consuming and kind of a pain to make, especially when you just want to eat the cookies right this instant. So, you try to save time and effort by baking a batch of cookie bars, but they often end up tasting more like cake or brownies. Cookie bars don't really taste like cookies, do they?

Until now!

Chewy chocolate chip cookie bars made from yellow cake mix
PRO-TIP: To keep these from turning into a cake, work out the lumps in the dry mix first and use a stiff spatula. If you use a hand mixer or just keep on mixing by hand, you'll incorporate air. There's a big difference in the texture of cookie dough vs cake batter and that's what we're achieving here.

Cake Mix Cookie Bars

Quick and easy!

Ingredients

  • 1 15.25 oz Box Cake Mix
  • 1 Egg
  • 1/3 C Vegetable Oil, Olive Oil, or Coconut Oil
  • 1/3 C Milk
  • 1 tsp Vanilla: Crucial for masking that "boxed" flavor and giving it a homemade profile.
  • 1 Tbsp Brown Sugar: This is the secret to the texture! It adds the moisture and molasses needed to create a dense, chewy cookie bite rather than a fluffy cake crumb.
  • 1 tsp Almond Extract (optional)
  • 1 C Chocolate Chips

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a rimmed 9" x 13" baking sheet or pan.
  2. By hand, mix all of the ingredients except the chocolate chips until just combined. DO NOT OVERMIX. I've made this recipe many times and have found that it's best to work out any lumps in the cake mix before adding the other ingredients and that a stiff spatula works better than anything else for stirring.
  3. Gently fold in the chocolate chips. Press the cookie dough into a greased 9x13 pan, spreading out the mixture evenly. Bake on the center rack for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges begin to brown slightly.

Note: Adding that extra touch of vanilla and brown sugar is what bridges the gap between a convenience bake and a treat people will actually ask for the recipe for.

Stiff cookie bar dough with chocolate chips pressed into a 9x13 baking pan

The perfect Nascar-watching snack? Let's see if they pass the official "Sexy Nerd" (my resident recipe critic) approval test:

Sexy Nerd cautiously tasting a cake mix cookie bar

Cautiously taking a bite and wondering why the cookies are speckled with neon green. Sexy Nerd hopes it's just Funfetti cake mix, not Crayola.

Man eating and enjoying a chocolate chip cookie bar

So far so good?

A success! Final result of the quick and easy cookie bar recipe

The cookie bars are a success!

Baking cake mix cookies for Derek

More Sexy Nerd mind reading: I agreed to be in your silly cookie bars post for one photo. Now get out of here!

More Quick Cake Mix Hacks:

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