Description
Indulgent peppermint gooey bars offer winter’s most delightful dessert escape from ordinary sweets. Creamy chocolate and cool mint layers create a festive treat that melts in your mouth and warms your holiday spirit.
Ingredients
Scale
Main Ingredients:
- 1 box (15.25 ounces / 432 grams) white or vanilla cake mix
- 1 can (14 ounces / 397 grams) sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup (180 grams) white chocolate chips
Binding and Flavor Ingredients:
- ½ cup (115 grams / ½ cup) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
Topping Ingredients:
- ½ cup (60 grams) crushed candy canes
Instructions
- Prepare the kitchen workspace by positioning the oven rack in the center and heating to 350°F, ensuring a precise temperature for consistent baking results.
- Create a non-stick surface inside a 9×9-inch baking pan by carefully lining it with parchment paper or applying a light butter coating to prevent sticking.
- Combine the cake mix, melted butter, egg, vanilla essence, and peppermint extract in a spacious mixing bowl, stirring until the mixture transforms into a cohesive, smooth dough.
- Distribute approximately two-thirds of the prepared dough evenly across the pan’s bottom, using gentle fingertip pressure to create a uniform base layer.
- Artfully scatter white chocolate chips and finely pulverized candy cane fragments across the initial dough layer, creating a delightful textural landscape.
- Drizzle sweetened condensed milk uniformly over the chip and candy cane surface, allowing it to seep between the delicate ingredients.
- Delicately crumble the remaining dough across the top, embracing an intentionally incomplete coverage that will create an appealing rustic appearance.
- Transfer the pan to the preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, watching for golden-brown edges and a center that maintains a seductive, gooey consistency.
- Remove from the oven and allow the bars to cool completely for one hour, enabling the layers to set and flavors to harmonize.
- Optional: Enhance the festive presentation by sprinkling additional crushed candy cane pieces across the surface before serving.
Notes
- Boost Moisture by using room temperature ingredients, ensuring a smooth, well-blended base that creates a tender, soft texture in the bars.
- Customize Flavor Intensity by adjusting peppermint extract; start with half the recommended amount and taste, gradually increasing to prevent overwhelming mintiness.
- Control Gooeyness through precise baking time; remove bars when edges are golden but center remains slightly jiggly, as they’ll continue setting while cooling.
- Make Gluten-Free by substituting cake mix with a gluten-free alternative and ensuring all other ingredients are certified gluten-free for those with dietary restrictions.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Desserts, Snacks
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 12
- Calories: 149
- Sugar: 7 g
- Sodium: 75 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 20 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 16 mg