A couple years ago, my Mother-in-Law introduced me to using cake mixes to make cookies. I had been looking for a good cake mix cookie bars recipe online recently — because I heart easy recipes — when I came across a great cake mix cookie bars recipe on Southern Bite called The Easiest Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars Ever.
It’s true, this recipe is dead simple, and you’ll end up with soft, golden, ooey-gooey cake mix cookie bars chock full of chocolate chips and M&M’s. Seriously, these are crazy good.
Cake Mix Cookie Bars
I mean, come on. Look at these photos.
It literally took me like 5 minutes to dump a few simple ingredients into a bowl, pour it into a baking dish, and throw it in the oven.
I am an instant gratification kind of girl, and while I enjoy baking, I don’t have the patience for anything really fancy. I wish I did!
These cake mix cookie bars would make an excellent addition to a holiday party, especially if you’re crunched for time and want something warm, chewy, and delicious with very little fuss.
I have to admit, I could tell these cake mix cookie bars were going to be heavenly just by the way the batter looked and smelled.
The batter was golden, and the bright holiday M&M’s looked like a smattering of twinkling festive ornaments in the bowl.
Of course, after the holiday season you could use just plain chocolate chips, regular M&M’s or even mini peanut butter cups as mix-ins. Your options are really endless with this recipe.
I’m a fan of soft and chewy, but you could bake these another 10 minutes for a crispier cake mix cookie bars.
More Sweet Recipes from Parent Pretty
Cake Mix Cookie Bars
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20-30 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
1 Box yellow cake mix (I used Betty Crocker)
1 Small box instant vanilla pudding
1/4 Cup water
3/4 Cup vegetable oil
2 Eggs
1 Cup chocolate chips. I used 1/2 cup holiday mini M&M's and 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips.
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Combine cake mix, pudding, water, vegetable oil, eggs and chips or M&M's in large bowl.
Pour the batter (it's going to be thick) into a greased 10x13 baking dish. I sprayed my dish with nonstick cooking spray which worked well.
Bake your bars for 20-30 minutes (I took mine out at 25.)
It may look sort of raw in the middle but if the edges are just golden and starting to get crispy, it's probably perfect.
Recipe via Southern Bite
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my oldest daughter will love these!! thanks for sharing
Great and simple recipe. It could be fun to make these for Santa! Thanks
These look so yummy, I may be adding them to our Christmas cookie list!! Thanks for sharing!
cant wait to try the recipe
Geez, let me grab my coffee and I’m on my way…lol!! These look so yummy!
those look delicious! Perfect for kids holiday parties!
I have all of these things in my pantry right now! I think we might be baking some goodies this afternoon. Thanks for the great recipe!
I love cookie cake bars!! They are so easy to make and yours look awesome!
I love getting M and m cookies at the bakery, this looks like a delicious alternative.
Crazy question, do you make the pudding or just put the mix?!?
I just made these today! YUMMY! The neighbors will love them. Rhonda, just put in the mix.
I am going to try these! Can’t wait!
i was wondering do you add the ingredients for the cake mix or just the cake mix?
I made these last night, and they were very tasty. The only negative about them is that they were a bit greasy. I was wondering if there was an error in the recipe or if the 3/4 c. of vegetable oil was correct, and that is just the way they come out?
When I make cakes I use applesauce rather than oil. it helps them not have the fat content and I would assume it would work with these are well. They probably wouldn’t be as greasy! I am about to try I will try to remember to let you know how it works out!
Have you ever tried using other flavor of mix, like chocolate cake mix and chocolate pudding?
I made these tonight and they turned out awesome!
I used butterscotch pudding mix, golden butter cake mix
and added Reese’s peanut butter chips and M&M’s.
Deliciousness!!!
Do I need to make the pudding first or do I just throw it in dry
I made these today, and they were wonderful!! I used Betty Crocker super moist milk chocolate cake mix, Jell-O sugar-free chocalte pudding mix, and Reeses peanut butter chips. I also substitued the vegetable oil for applesauce. They had a great cakey texture, were moist, and the peanut butter chips added great flavor! I’ll certainly be making these again and experimenting with more flavors combinations.
I was wondering if there was any way these could be made healthier- thanks for posting your modified version of this recipe, I will definitely be making them soon! Possibly with a Valentine’s Day color scheme..
Made this tonight….we loved it! Will be a new favorite!
Made this using a vanilla cake mix, vanilla pudding and dried cherries. Very good! Love the possibilities with ingredients that I typically have on hand.
Made these for a Super Bowl party. They were good but CRAZY greasy/oily…I wonder if the 3/4 cup of oil is a misprint. I may do part applesauce, part oil next time.
The recipe says pour but it’s more like spread into the pan isn’t it? I followed the recipe and there is definitely no pouring consistency. lol
I used chocolate fudge cake mix with chocolate pudding…added chocolate chips and nuts!! I love how u can swap ingredients!!
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I used chocolate pudding mix instead of vanilla, woohoo awesome cookies!
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Way too greasy! Gonna try again with less veg. oil.. Or another substitute.. Other than that, soo good!
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I made these the other day both a yellow version and a chocolate version and they turned out great! I cut the oil down to 1/2 cup and they weren’t greasy at all. Took them out around 20 minutes
These were delicious! A little greasy right out of the oven, but after sitting overnight the oiliness disappeared.
These were amazing and so easy to make, I did one exactly as the recipe calls and then did 2 chocolate batches- one with toffee bits and chocolate chips and one with peanut butter chips- my family preferred the chocolate as well as my husband’s team members as I made these for an employee appreciation lunch/dinner. We love ‘cakey’ brownies so these were perfect, definitely going in my regular use cookbook!
I was putz-ing around the house looking for something sweet without too much fuss involved and decided to turn to pinterest which led me to your site and recipe, well, i’ve been wanting to try cake mix cookies but had no reason to make them, so now was as good a time asany, but i had to search the pantry to come up with the ingredients or appropriate substitutes, well i found everythign but the yellow cake mix but i did find a pound cake mix, it worked really will and made them thick and umptuos ……. try it yourself next time with two cups mini chocolate chips, you wont be disappointed………….. they were fabulous, and a welcome satisfying treat!!!!!!!!
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I just made these this afternoon as a quick treat for my boyfriend. They were so easy! I don’t like chocolate (I know, weird), but he’s going to love them! I made the recipe exactly as posted, baked for 25 minutes and they look great. Only thing- I used Reeses’ mini peanut butter cups instead of chocolate chips. It worked wonderfully!
I used 1/3 milk chocolate chips, 1/3 peanut butter chips, 1/3 toffee bits. They turned out awesome!
I just made these and they are delicious. I cut the oil down to 1/2 cup (after reading the reviews about the greasiness) and baked for 30 minutes because I like them brown. They are delicious, quick and easy to make when you have unexpected company arriving. thanks
Made these today, cut the oil back to 2/3 a cup per comments about it being oily, and they turned out great! I used mini M&Ms and chocolate chips as well. I baked for 20 minutes, and the top gets this nice flaky crust, and it was done perfectly! Super super quick and easy. Thanks a lot!!
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What kind of pudding box?
Thanks so much for posting…had a rough day (first time mom). I am NOT drinking a cup of coffee PATIENTLY waiting for these to get out of the oven at 8pm
I made these today but instead of oil or applesauce I used 1.5 cups of diet 7-up. Still moist and tasted awesome!
I use applesauce instead of the oil. it turns out the same & incredible!
that is a horribly unhealthy amount of oil!
Do u mix cake ingredients also or just dry mix????
My grandson of 18 months absolutely loved these bars said his first mm..good. Definitely a keeper.
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Can i use a white or chocolate cake mix?.
I would like to substitute applesauce instead of the vegetable oil. How much do I use?
anyone ever add coconut oil instead of vegetable oil?
I made this with a Gluten Free Betty Crocker cake mix and it turned out great! My little one will be so excited to have a yummy treat!
I used devils food chocolate cake mix, jell-o chocolate pudding, 1/2 of oil, 1 cup of m&ms and 3 spoonfuls of peanut butter mixed lightly into the mix and they turned out amazing!!! Thanks for the easy recipe.
Oh my gosh these look insanely good – love m&ms added too!
These were delishhhhh! I didn’t have yellow cake mix so I used spice cake mix, and both white chocolate and milk chocolate morsels. Yum!