Cake Mix Cookie Bars

Cake mix cookie bars are an easy treat that can be varied based on the season or your preferences. Just a few minutes of prep and dessert is ready for the oven!

It’s getting H-O-T in Phoenix and I’m all about easy desserts that require minimal effort right now. Even with the AC blasting it sorta feels like the surface of the sun in my house right now. (That’s barely an exaggeration.)

Enter these cake mix cookie bars! SUPER easy and endlessly customizable, they’ll be on repeat in my kitchen for the foreseeable future.

And I guarantee once you try them you’ll make them over and over again too. Quick, fun, and easy to make—dessert doesn’t get better than that!

Why you’ll love these cake mix cookie bars:

• They’re easy to make, no mixer required! All you need is a mixing bowl and a spatula!
• You can customize them to exactly your preferences. Change the flavor of the cake mix, the color of the sprinkles, or the type of baking chips!
• They come together with just a few minutes of prep time. And since they’re bars rather than drop cookies, they’re super quick!

How to make your cookie bars

• Combine cake mix, eggs, and a few other ingredients in. bowl
• Stir until smooth
• Add sprinkles and chocolate chips
• Stir to combine

• Smooth into an even layer
• Bake for about 20 minutes

Let the bars cool, then slice and serve!

Notes for making your cookie bars:

• The dough for the cookie bars will be very thick. This is fine! It can be hard to spread in the bottom of the pan—damp fingertips are helpful to smush the dough into the corners of the pan.
• After greasing my baking dish, I also line it with parchment paper, allowing a couple inches of parchment to hang over the sides of the pan. That helps me lift out the bars to get clean slices but it’s totally optional. You can just cut them right in the pan.
• You can substitute melted butter for the vegetable oil if you prefer.
• See below for variations on your bars if you want to change things up a little.

How to store

Uneaten cookie bars can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 or 4 days.

You can also freeze the bars, in airtight containers, for about a month. You’ll want to thaw the bars completely before you eat them (so you don’t break a tooth—they’re really hard when they’re frozen.)

To thaw, you can leave them at room temp until they’re soft, zap them in the microwave, or leave the containers in the fridge overnight. I like the microwave method because I can eat my cookies faster that way :).

Variations

• Use white cake mix, chocolate cake mix, or whatever you have in place of yellow
• Use any flavor of baking chips—peanut butter is delicious if you use chocolate cake mix
• Substitute toffee bits for some or all of the baking chips/sprinkles
• Try mint chocolate chips with red and green sprinkles for Christmas
• Cinnamon baking chips with a fall sprinkle medley would be fun for Thanksgiving/Halloween
• Strawberry cake mix with white chocolate chips and red sprinkles would be great for Valentine’s Day

A few more recipes you might enjoy
Cake Mix Hummingbird Cake
Nutella Cookie Bars
Heath Bar Cake
Cake Mix Funfetti Cookies

Did you make these cake mix cookie bars? That’s great! Let me know what you think with a comment and a rating below. Then post a pic on IG–tag @theitsybitsykitchen so I can see your delicious creations!

5 from 9 votes

Print

Cake Mix Cookie Bars

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Cooling time

1 hr

Total Time

30 mins

 

With just a few minutes of prep, some simple ingredients, and one mixing bowl, these cake mix cookie bars will be your new favorite dessert when you're in a hurry!

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 15

Author: Kelsie

Ingredients

• 1 15.25-ounce box yellow cake mix*
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup rainbow jimmies

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13- by 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Use a rubber spatula to stir together the cake mix, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl until well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and jimmies. (The mixture will be thick.)
3. Scrape into the prepared baking dish and press into an even layer. Bake 18 to 25 minutes, until golden around the edges.
4. Set the baking dish on a wire rack and let the bars cool completely before slicing and serving.
5. Uneaten bars can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 or 4 days.
6. You can also freeze the bars (in airtight containers) for about a month, but you’ll need to thaw the bars completely before eating them. To thaw, you can leave them at room temp until they’re soft, zap them in the microwave, or leave the containers in the fridge overnight.

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

• *You can substitute white or chocolate or any flavor you prefer, just be sure the box is roughly 15.25 ounces. I used Betty Crocker Super Moist yellow cake mix.
• Substitute any flavor baking chips (or even toffee bits, etc) for the chocolate chips.
• Substitute seasonal jimmies (eg red and green for Christmas, etc) for a holiday touch.
• After greasing my baking dish, I also line it with parchment, allowing some parchment to hang over the sides. That helps me lift out the bars to get clean slices but it’s totally optional. You can just cut them right in the pan.
• You can substitute melted butter for the vegetable oil if you prefer. (I usually recommend unsalted butter but salted butter is fine here; your cookie bars will just be a little saltier than if you used oil or unsalted butter.)