Why use a cake mix?

After a weekend spent packing up and organizing my parents house I was inspired to do a little late summer cleaning of my own.  Slow but surely Mr. J and I have been collecting unwanted and unused items from the bedroom, closets and kitchen pantries.  

We had a lot of junk that go thrown out. Several bags were taken to Goodwill.  New items were discovered in the kitchen pantry.  We still have a long ways to go but there is something very satisfying to me about organizing and cleaning.  I kind of love it.

One unexpected pantry item was a yellow cake mix box. I rarely buy mixes.  I even more rarely buy cake mix since Mr. J doesn't like cake.  When and where I bought this I have no idea.  The beauty is no matter how old, it still worked like a charm.

See not too long ago I saw a recipe on Cookies and Cups that was just calling my name. 

It was a toffee bar recipe that called for six ingredients and it looked fantastic.  There were two problems though. Mr. J doesn't like toffee and the recipe had cake mix.  I tend not to make things that Mr. J doesn't like because I end up eating way more than I should.  That is alright on occasion but typically I end up with a massive stomachache too.  I have trouble stopping.

If you add in having to go out and buy a special ingredient, it probably isn't going to happen.

But then I found the cake mix.  Oh the joys of cleaning.

I had all of the other ingredients on hand so there you go.

I solved the problem of eating it all by bringing in the extras to work.  90% of the pan was gone within an hour. Not too shabby for for an office with only 30 some people.

Good thing too because these babies were sweet. One bar and I thought my whole set of teeth were going to rot right then and there.

Mr. J ended up really liking them, of course.

Cake Mix Toffee Bars

by Cookies and Cups

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients (24 bars)

• 1 vanilla cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup butter. melted
• 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup toffee bits or Heath Bar bits

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°

Spray a 9x13 pan lightly with cooking spray.

In a bowl combine dry cake mix, 1 egg and melted butter until evenly incorporated. Press this in the prepared pan.

In another bowl combine sweetened condensed milk, egg, vanilla and toffee bits. Whisk together until combined.

Pour this over the first layer.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until edge are golden brown and center is set.

Let cool completely before cutting into squares.

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Note: Mine took about 35 minutes to bake.  The center went from super wet to cooked through in 2 minutes.  Be careful at the end.