This easy recipe for caramel walnut dream bars takes cake mix and combines it with a few other ingredients for a dreamy cookie bar dessert. Bake up a batch today and watch them disappear like magic!
I am usually all about making cakes and cookies and other treats from scratch, but every once in a while I find that combine using some kind of prepared mix with enough “scratch” ingredients that it seems just close enough, and this is the kind of recipe that can completely shock you (in the best possible way) with how good it is.
I’m talking Ridiculously Easy Peach Crumble. I’m talking Butterfinger Cake. And I’m talking these Caramel Walnut Dream Bars, which are a delicious combo of walnuts, caramel flavor and yep, cake mix.
As you can tell, this is a delectably sweet treat. Sweet, sweet, sweet. Want to know something else that is impossibly sweet? (This has nothing to do with food in any way, so if you just want the recipe, feel free to skip on down to the bottom. It’s just too good a story to NOT tell, so I’m a-telling it.)
The teenager and her adorable boyfriend have been going out for a year now, which is like 50 years in teenage time. And so the boyfriend brought her a t-shirt on which he had painted the words
Happy Anniversary
I Love You
Emma
She loved it, of course. Then he started pestering her to wash it. Wash it, wash it, wash it, said he.
Tonight she finally did — and most of the letters came off in the wash. Except for the ones P R O M and the question mark, which was part of the heart. She wrote the answer in herself once the shirt came out of the dryer.
Now if that isn’t sweet, I just don’t know what is!
Meanwhile, back at this sweet recipe, here’s the scoop. You make a base out of cake mix that has been moistened with butter and egg and press it into the bottom of a baking pan. Then you mix up a topping of condensed milk, another egg, some vanilla, some chopped walnuts and some toffee bits, and pour that on top. Bake, cool, cut ’em into squares, and give one to someone you have or would like to take to the prom
.Sweet!!
Caramel Walnut Dream Bars
Prep Time: 20 minutes- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
Yield: 24 servings 1x
Category: Dessert
Method: Oven
Cuisine: American
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This easy recipe for caramel walnut dream bars takes cake mix and combines it with a few other ingredients for a dreamy cookie bar dessert.
Ingredients
- One box yellow cake mix (18.5 ounces)
- 3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
- 2 eggs
- One 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 teaspon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
- 1/2 cup toffee bits (I used the Heath Bar, brand, usually found near the chocolate chips)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Line a 13″x9″ pan with parchment or nonstick foil, extending the ends over the side (this is so you can easily lift it out of the pan later!)
- Put cake mix, butter, and one egg in a mixing bowl and stir until it is combined (mixture will be crumbly). Press it into the baking pan.
- Put sweetened condensed milk, remaining egg, vanilla extract, walnuts, and the toffee bits into a mixing bowl, mix it up and pour it into the cake mixture in the pan.
- Bake for 35 minutes or until it is golden brown. Cool (I know! So hard!) and use the ends of the parchment or foil to help lift it out of the pan. Cut into squares and give the first one to the person of your dreams.
Hi there! I’m Kate, and I’m a recipe writer, food photographer and devoted bacon lover. I started Framed Cooks in 2009, and my mission is to create and share family-friendly recipes that make cooking both easy and fun…yes, I said FUN! My kitchen is my happy place, and I want yours to be that place too. And if you make this recipe, I would love you to tag @FramedCooks on Instagram so I can see the deliciousness!
These sund delish! And I love the shirt what a smart boy!
That shirt is so adorable!
That shirt is seriously so cute!
Ahhh adorable! He's a keeper. I approve. And thus she is allowed to keep dating him.
These caramel walnut dream bars are also keepers. I shall make them and not give a single one away. And I shall be quite happy about it.
Such a sweet story, and a very creative teenage boy! I'm impressed. She must have picked a good one. :)
The method for the bars is very similar to the pecan pie cake I make, which I love. Will have to try this one, too.
those sound faaaantastic! i love anything with walnuts. xoxo jcd:: enter to win my jewelry giveaway !!
Awww, that is SO sweet! What a great boyfriend!
And the bars look delicious. I need more bars in my life.
Oh what a sweetheart! The bars look great too, but the story – awww. :)
Can't do this one, it would kill my husband. Allergic to nuts in a big way.
But I might try the Caramel apple cake if it has no nuts. Will go check it out now!
okay, the title of this entry had me intrigued. the story of the tshirt and the kids who created it the whole experience, made me smile and my heart soar. also made me post the link on my facebook page.
come sempre una delizia!!!!!!!!baci!
Your daughter has a most romantic and creative boyfriend! How clever was that?
Love these dream bars too!
The bars sound delish! …and what a cute way to ask her to the prom! Very creative :) Have fun dress shopping!
jenny
What a romantic boyfriend! It's so cute :)
These bars looks great too. I know my boyfriend would go nuts (haha) over them!
just made these – they're fantastic!! I just burnt my tongue because I couldn't wait to eat them….woops.
I just wanted to let you know that I featured these on my "What I Bookmarked This Week" post on Saturday – stop by and check it out.
Danielle
http://mostlyfoodandcrafts.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-i-bookmarked-this-week.html