I’ll be honest. I almost always shy away from the recipes floating around on Pinterest that say “Just start with a box of cake mix and add ___ ___ ___.” I’ve tried a few of those recipes and I stopped trying them because I didn’t think they were very good.
However, when a recipe starts out with the title Cinnamon Roll Cookie Bars, I know I’m a goner. Cookie bars and cinnamon rolls are two of my most favorite things. So, cake mix or not, I knew I was trying this recipe, and I’m so glad I did.
Fudgy, moist cinnamon and brown sugar filled bars topped with glaze. What could be better than that?
Oh, and they will fill your house with the delicious aromas of butter and cinnamon. This would be a great holiday baking project, since it fills your house with the smells of fall.
Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Blissful Whimsy
Ingredients:
For the bars:
18.25 oz box of yellow cake mix (I used Pillsbury Supreme Moist)
1/2 cup of melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
For the topping:
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
For the icing:
2 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 Tablespoons milk or cream
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°
In a large bowl, combine cake mix, butter, eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and cinnamon. Mix until combined. Batter will be thick– if you’re mixing by hand instead of with a mixer, you will get a little bit of a work out. 😉
Fit a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with a foil sling or a parchment paper sling and then spray with no-stick cooking spray.
Using your clean fingers, press the batter into the pan. I find I have the best luck if I get my fingers a little bit wet while I do this. It doesn’t need to be perfectly smooth.
Mix the sugar and cinnamon for the topping together and sprinkle over the top of the bars.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bars comes out clean. It is okay if they look slightly underbaked– it will make them all the fudgier after they’ve cooled.
Mix the icing ingredients together. Add the milk slowly until you reach your desired consistency for your glaze. Everyone likes it differently, I like mine on the thinner side.
Spread the glaze over warm (not hot) bars. Cool completely and serve. Enjoy!
Rumbly in my Tumbly 
I was looking for the perfect recipe to spoil my friend, who was just laid off from her job. I think I found it. If I can find it in my heart to share. OMG, these sound so good!!
These are the perfect thing to take to a friend! Spoil away! 🙂 Thanks for visiting!
I'm delighted you tried these and loved them! yours turned out so beautifully :o)
Anna,Thank you for inventing them! They are a new family favorite around here. 🙂 Thanks for the comment and for visiting my blog!
These sound amazing!! Thank you so much for sharing 🙂 Can't wait to try them out!I featured your bars on my blog today. Feel free to come check it out:http://www.artsyfartsymama.com/2012/09/pinteresting-features-n-shtuff-47.html
Thank you for the shout out! Love your blog and just followed it on Facebook. 🙂 Thanks for visiting!
These are awesome with butter pecan cake mix.Love the aroma in the house while they are baking.
I would imagine that the butter pecan is amazing. Thanks for the comment and for visiting!
How funny I only have butter pecan cake mix and was hoping it would work now to the neighbors for one egg!
What great luck! Hope you enjoyed these, thanks for the comment and for visiting!
I made these for Thanksgiving and everyone raved about them and wanted the recipe.They are fantastic.I used butter pecan cake mix for mine.
So glad these were a Thanksgiving hit! Thanks for visiting, and for leaving a comment!
Does anyone know if these freeze well?
Elisheva- I have not personally tried freezing these yet, but I would imagine that they freeze very nicely. If you do try freezing them, please let me know how they turn out. Thanks for visiting.
Elisheva- I have not personally tried freezing these yet, but I would imagine that they freeze very nicely. If you do try freezing them, please let me know how they turn out. Thanks for visiting.
Just made these. They are amazing! Too amazing… I'm not sure they will last until this weekend when I want to serve them for dessert. Btw, I accidentally left out the sprinkled sugar and cinnamon, but I don't believe anyone would miss it. These are plenty sweet as is!
Yay! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed them. 🙂
These are soooo delicious! I am bringing them to a school function tomorrow. Any storage tips? If I put them in sealed tupperware I don't want them to get to gooey…?
Well, now I have a problem: These are all I can think about eating, but I have zero zero cake mixes in my pantry! Do you have any suggestions? (FYI: These look absolutely *amazing*.)
Teresa- Store in an airtight container in the fridge. 🙂 Thanks for the comment and for visiting!
Anonymous- Try this recipe for homemade yellow cake mix. http://www.food.com/recipe/homemade-yellow-cake-mix-subtitute-18-25oz-betty-crocker-box-472383
I didn't have a yellow cake mix so used a white cake mix. The kids loved them. Love the Chewiness of them. Great cinnamon flavour
Sarah- YES! I would imagine white cake, or even spice cake mix would work for this recipe. 🙂 Glad they turned out for you! Thanks for the comment.
How do u think using angel food cake box mix would turn out instead of the yellow cake mix?
Jayme- No, I don’t think so. Wrong taste and definitely wrong texture. These bars are dense and chewy, and AFC is light and fluffy. I’d stick with white, yellow, spice, or carrot cake mix. If you do try it let me know how it turns out. Thanks for visiting!
I am making my 4th pan of these since I found them maybe 2 weeks ago…I made them for us, then for a church function and when my daughter tried them she wanted some to take to her boss who’s mother had just passed. Everyone who has tasted them have loved them and they are so easy I don’t know if I will ever make cinnamon rolls again. Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe.
So glad that you love this recipe, thanks for the comment and for visiting!
Trying spice cake mix. Cooking late at night and it smells delicious! Hope no one wakes up 🙂
Spice cake mix should be great! Hope you enjoy!
Do you think these would mail well?
Michelle, probably not. 😦 I’d choose a bar without icing for mailing.
Looks delish! Seems like all the boxes cake mixes I can find are 15.25 oz, instead of the 18.25 the recipe calls for. What do you think? Any changes you’d suggest?
Hi Suzy,
I don’t think it would make that big of a difference. I just used a box of cake mix. I may have had the oz. wrong on the box. 🙂 I would use a box of cake mix and follow the recipe as written.
I’ve run into other recipes that call for the 18.25 oz. cake mix, and there doesn’t seem to be any such thing anymore. I took someone else’s suggestion and bought two cake mixes, and measure/weigh the extra mix needed from the second box.