Monday, January 25, 2010

Double Chocolate Fantasy Bars

Ummmm, double chocolate fantasy bars? YES!! I did not name these bars, although I definitely agree with the person who created the name! They are very delicious and chocolately...and as most of my recipes are, these are very easy to make too!
This is another recipe from one of my cake mix books...the Cake Mix Magic one that I have, not the Cake Mix Doctor. Both are awesome books though! I've made this particular recipe many many times, and they are always a hit. Try these for for an easy bake sale recipe, to make for a treat for your coworkers, or even for a birthday celebration. They are quite versatile, I think!
Here's the original recipe, although there are several modifications you can make!
-1 (18.25 oz.) package of chocolate cake mix
-1/4 cup vegetable oil
-1 egg
-1 cup chopped nuts
-1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
-6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
-1 tsp. vanilla extract
-dash salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, oil, and egg; mix (by hand or with electric mixer) until crumbly. Stir in nuts. Reserve 1 and 1/2 cups of the crumb mixture and set aside. Press the remaining crumb mixture on the bottom of the prepared pan.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the remaining ingredients. Cook and stir until the chips melt.
Pour the cooked chocolate mixture evenly over the prepared crust. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture evenly over top. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until set. Cool. Cut into bars. Store loosely covered at room temperature. Makes 36 bars.
A few possible modifications... In place of nuts, add some kind of baking chips! Try butterscotch, peanut butter, or white chocolate maybe. Yummm! This particular time I used a mixture of chocolate and butterscotch chips in place of the nuts. I've actually replaced the nuts with crushed teddy grahams before too, as well as chopped up candy bars (e.g., kit kats, milky ways, etc.). And for the semi-sweet chocolate chips that you melt with the sweetened condensed milk, feel free to change those too...milk, dark, or white chocolate...or peanut butter or whatever! The possibilities are endless. :) These bars can be different every time you make them! Check out this picture below and how yummy that middle layer looks...that sweetened condensed mixture is really what makes these bars so darn good, I think.
Oh, and thanks to Mike for taking a few of these pictures while I was making the bars...it was nice to have my own personal photographer...for free too!

2 comments:

  1. Hi Colleen! This is Jeannie from Adirondack Baker! I love your blog! It's colorful, personal, and full of life. I was so pleased to find it and to see that you listed AB as a blog you like to read! I feel famous! Anyway, I'll follow you happily. I just got my masters degree and I think there's something about baking that makes all those more difficult processes easier to handle, somehow! I'm very interested in the blogging community and I'd love to find a convention where I could learn to really enhance my blog. So glad I found you and I wish you tons and tons of luck in this terrific adventure!

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  2. Thank you so much, Jeannie! It makes me so happy to read your comment...I really appreciate the fact that you are following my blog! I have loved reading yours!! I find a lot of inspiration in reading about others' adventures and experiences with cooking and baking. So thank you for sharing all of yours! :)

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