Chocolate Chip (Yellow Cake) Bars!

Buttery and rich, these incredible, chocolate-studded bars are made with a boxed yellow cake mix! Perfect for when you can’t decide between a cake and a bar. Since you change the recipe (leaving out 2 eggs, all of the water and swapping butter for oil), the result is a dense bar with unbelievable flavor and sweet goodness. And, thanks to the cake mix shortcut, they're incredibly easy to make.

Forgot about that bake sale? Consider these winning bars for your next bake sale. You know how it goes - you signed up, and then forgot you signed up, and now you need something fast and delicious... These winning bars will steal the show.

About the serving size: I cut my finished bars into 12 pieces, but take note – these are super rich, so you could easily cut them into 16-20 bars and serve more people.

Think about the variations! Instead of chocolate chips, top the bottom layer with peanut butter or butterscotch chips. You could also spread a thin layer of fruit preserves or jam over the bottom layer before crumbling the remaining batter over top. How pretty would strawberry or raspberry jam look with the yellow cake batter?

Chocolate Chip (Yellow Cake) Bars

Cooking spray
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
15.25-ounce box yellow cake mix
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8-inch square cake pan with cooking spray. Line the bottom with parchment paper (allowing the paper to come up 2 of the sides – this makes removing the bars from the pan super easy), and spray the parchment paper with cooking spray.
Beat the butter in mixing bowl until smooth and creamy. Beat in the cake mix until blended. Beat in the egg and vanilla until blended and smooth.
Press all but 1/2 cup of the mixture into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over top.
Crumble the remaining batter over the chocolate chips (you can leave some chips exposed, it looks cool that way).
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until a wooden pick comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

Makes 12-16 bars