The joy of eating Oreos with milk is that the cookie gets beautifully soft and melts in your mouth if you dip it long enough. But what if Oreos started out soft and tender? That’s what these Fudgy Oreo Bars set out to accomplish and oh boy, did they succeed. Instead of a crunchy chocolate cookie sandwiching some vanilla cream, these bars give you two layers of soft fudgy cake-like chocolate that sandwich a silky vanilla filling.
The batter is made from a boxed cake mix (to keep things really easy!) and it’s mixed with eggs and oil into a rather thick mixture. You spread that out in a 9×13-inch pan and bake it briefly, just for ten minutes.
While it cools, you mix up the vanilla filling, which is a combination of cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Once the chocolate has cooled, you cut it in half and spread the frosting over one side…
… before placing the other layer of chocolate on top.
It helps to chill the bars for a while before trying to slice them, or else the filling has a tendency to squeeze out.
The flavor is the same as the sandwich cookie you know and love – sweet, creamy vanilla frosting encased in two layers of rich chocolate – but the texture is a totally different soft and fudgy comfort. There’s no crunch here, but these will please any Oreo fans far and wide.
Fudgy Oreo Bars
Ingredients
- 1 box Devil's Food cake mix
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 to 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 9x13-inch baking pan with parchment paper. (You can also use a rimmed sheet pan, but only press the dough into half of the pan.)
- In a medium bowl, stir together cake mix, eggs, and oil. It will be a thick dough; press out evenly into prepared baking pan.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes; dough should still be fudgy.
- Let cool in pan while you make the filling:
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth. Add vanilla and 2 cups of the powdered sugar and beat until combined. Add more sugar until desired consistency is reached.
- Cut chocolate dough in half and spread frosting over one half. Place other half of dough on top.
- Chill in refrigerator until firm, about 20 minutes, then slice into bars. Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Your Cup of Cake.