Turtle Ooey Gooey Bars are an easy dessert bar inspired by the classic pairing of chocolate and pecan. These buttery bar cookies are packed with chocolate and topped with caramel sauce and chopped pecans. You’ll quickly return for seconds!
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Ingredients
15.25ounceschocolate fudge cake mixchocolate cake mix will work well, too.
½cup unsalted buttermelted and slightly cooled
1large egg
1teaspoonpure vanilla extract
1cup min semi-sweet chocolate chips
½cupchopped pecan pieces
½cupsweetened condensed milk
¾cup caramel sauce
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8 X 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Leave the sides a little higher than the pan so the bars can easily be lifted out after they've cooled. Spray the parchment paper lined pan with some cooking spray.
In a large bowl, beat together the dry chocolate cake mix, butter, egg, and vanilla extract until fluffy and just combined. Do not over mix. Add in the mini chocolate chips and pecan pieces and mix again. There will most likely be chocolate chips and pecans at the bottom of the bowl. No big deal, just set them aside and sprinkle them on top before putting into the oven.
Press about 2/3 of the dough into the parchment-lined pan. The dough will be thick like cookie dough. If you have trouble spreading it, you can press it down with your hands or lightly spray a spatula with cooking spray to help spread it.
Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk over the the dough, spreading it to the edges. Pour the caramel sauce over the condensed milk and carefully spread that to the edges as well.
Taking small pieces of the remaining dough, press them as flat as you can and cover the caramel with them as much as possible in a single layer.
Bake for 29 - 31 minutes - the middle should look set and the edges will be a bit firmer like a brownie edge. Be careful not to over bake or the bars will lose their gooey texture.
Allow the bars to cool in the pan for at least 1 hour before removing them by the parchment and cutting into 16 slices. These bars are so rich and delicious that you might even want to make them smaller. For clean edges, run a large knife under hot water and dry before making each slice.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Notes
You may want to cut the bars into an even smaller serving size because they are super rich.