Sweet Walnut Maple Bars – Maple Walnut Pie Bars

Sweet Walnut Maple Bars have a cake mix base, a maple syrup gooey center and a crunchy walnut topping. Some people say these Maple Walnut Pie Bars taste like pecan pie!

Sweet Walnut Maple Bars

I have the perfect fall dessert for you. This bad boy tastes like pecan pie but it’s really a sweet maple walnut dessert that uses a secret ingredient. Ok, ok, it’s really not that secret because I use this ingredient in a ton of dessert recipes. Drum roll, please!!!

Maple Walnut Pie Bars

These are really cake mix maple walnut bars, or to be more precise, gooey maple walnut bars using yellow cake mix. 

The cake mix forms the perfect base for these maple walnut pie bars while the pie bit is actually in reference to the pecan pie vibes that this dessert gives off.

So the cake mix layer is the base. Then…

There’s actually both pure maple syrup (not to be substituted for fake pancake syrup) plus a little maple extract for good measure. The maple syrup gets mixed with a couple ingredients including three eggs to form a gooey custard layer. Next…

The icing on the cake is actually chopped walnuts that form a crust over the top while baking.

Maple Walnut Gooey Bars Ingredient List

• Yellow Cake Mix, divided
• Butter (or margarine), melted
• Large Eggs, divided
• Light Brown Sugar, packed
• Pure Maple Syrup
• Maple Flavoring (maple extract)
• Chopped Walnuts

How to Make Maple Walnut Bars Using Cake Mix

Step by Step Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and spray a 13 x 9 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Measure out 2/3 cup dry yellow cake mix and set aside for later.
3. In a large bowl, mix remaining yellow cake mix, melted butter, 1 egg until a dough forms; press into prepared baking dish or pan.
4. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Meanwhile, using a mixer, combine reserved yellow cake mix, maple syrup, 3 eggs, and maple extract and beat at low speed for 3 minutes.
6. Once the cake mix layer is done baking, remove from oven and pour maple syrup mixture over top.
7. Sprinkled evenly with chopped walnuts.
8. Bake for an additional 30 to 35 minutes but do not overbake, you want the filling to be slightly gooey.
9. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

For the full ingredient amounts and recipe steps for sweet maple walnut squares, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post. 

Recipe FAQs

• Melted butter or margarine works in this recipe.
• Yellow cake mix works best but white cake mix is an acceptable substitute.
• I think these would be awesome using chopped pecans; then it would truly be a maple pecan pie bars.
• Don’t forget to reserve 2/3 cup of the dry yellow cake mix for the filling.
• These maple walnut cookie bars follow a 2-step baking process; the cake mix base gets baked for 15 minutes. Then, remove them from the oven, pour the custard layer over top, sprinkle with walnuts and bake again for 30-35 minutes.
• Be sure to use real maple syrup. Pancake syrup will not produce the same results.
• Do not overbake. You want these to be a little gooey similar to the filling in pecan pie.
• Check out our Amazon store for our favorite kitchen items.

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Chocolate Cake Mix Gooey Bars

Bake Sale Recipes

Maple Walnut Bars make for a great bake sale recipe. Here are 5 more bake-sale winners:

1. Caramel Apple Crisp Bars
2. Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Balls
3. Fudge Nut Bars
4. Easy Cake Mix Caramel Bars
5. Grandma’s Pumpkin Bread