Sweet Walnut Maple Bars – Maple Walnut Pie Bars
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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!!!
These are really cake mix maple walnut bars, or to be more precise, gooey maple walnut bars using yellow cake mix.
Maple Walnut Pie Bars
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
Eggs, divided
Light Brown Sugar, packed
Pure Maple Syrup
Maple Flavoring (maple extract)
Chopped Walnuts
How to Make Maple Walnut Bars Using Cake Mix
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and spray a 13 x 9 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Measure out 2/3 cup dry yellow cake mix and set aside for later.
- Mix remaining yellow cake mix, melted butter, 1 egg until a dough forms; press into prepared baking dish.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Meanwhile, using a mixer, combine reserved yellow cake mix, maple syrup, 3 eggs, and maple extract and beat at low speed for 3 minutes.
- Once the cake mix layer is done baking, remove from oven and pour maple syrup mixture over top.
- Sprinkled evening with chopped walnuts.
- Bake for an additional 30 to 35 minutes but do not overbake, you want the filling to be slightly gooey.
- 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.
Notes About Maple Walnut Cookie Bars
- 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.
Cake Mix Gooey Bar Recipes
Chocolate Chip Cake Mix Gooey Bars
Old Fashioned Lemon Squares Recipe
Bake Sale Recipes
Maple Walnut Bars make for a great bake sale recipe.
Here’s 5 more bake-sale winners:
- Caramel Apple Crisp Bars
- Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Balls
- Fudge Nut Bars
- Easy Cake Mix Caramel Bars
- Grandma’s Pumpkin Bread
Sweet Walnut Maple Bars - Maple Walnut Pie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 boxed yellow cake mix (divided)
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 4 eggs (divided)
- 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 1/3 cups pure maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon maple extract
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13 x 9 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Open the cake mix and reserve 2/3 cup for the custard layer.
- Combine remaining cake mix, 1 egg and melted butter, and stir to form a crust. Press into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown; remove from oven.
- Meanwhile, beat reserved cake mix, brown sugar, maple syrup, 3 eggs, and maple flavoring for 3 minutes on low speed.
- Pour over baked crust.
- Sprinkle chopped walnuts over the custard layer. Cook for an additional 30-35 minutes, but do not overbake.
- Cool completely before cutting into bars.
Notes
- 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 be the same.
- Do not overbake. You want these to be a little gooey similar to the filling in pecan pie.
- Love Fall desserts? Try these Pumpkin Crunch Bars.
- Please note that the carb counts, calorie counts and nutritional information varies greatly depending on the products you use. The auto-calculation is an automated estimate and should NOT be used for specific dietary needs.