Cinnamon Bun Cookie Bars

This month for the Improv Cooking Challenge our hostess Kristen of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker challenged the participating bloggers to make any recipe of their choosing using the specified ingredients of cinnamon and sugar!  I wanted to bake something sweet to share with some friends, so what better ingredients than cinnamon and sugar?  I thought about all my favorite cookie and bar recipes but realized that I tend to make the same cookies over and over again and I wanted to try something different.  So what did I do?  I checked out Pinterest of course and happened upon these cinnamon roll cookie bars from Blissful Whimsy.  

The bars sounded really good but I almost passed on making them because they use a box cake mix.  I don’t know what it is about me but I generally have this thing about using boxed mixes of any kind, thinking everything needs to be made from scratch…but something about these bars just allowed me to look past the whole cake mix thing and I’m so happy about that as these cookie bars are just wonderful.  There’s no trace of that cake mix flavor, in fact these cookie bars taste just like cinnamon buns.  Everyone really loved the crunchy edges and top and the chewy center and the glaze on top was the perfect amount of frosting.  Boxed cake mix and all, I hope that you’ll make these the next time you’re craving a sweet cinnamon treat.

Cinnamon Bun Cookie Bars (recipe from here)  

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 TBS. cinnamon
• 2-3 TBS. milk
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix the cake mix, butter, eggs, brown sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl and then spread into a greased 9"x13" baking dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Bake until the top is crispy and a pick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool a bit before piping on the icing.  To make the icing whisk the milk and powdered sugar together until smooth. 

Enjoy!

My previous Improv Cooking Challenge entries:

April 2013  Bacon & Eggs:  Mini Bacon & Swiss Quiche Cups 
March 2013  Carrots & Peas:  Mom’s Beef Vegetable Soup 
February 2013  Hearts & Flours:  Three Ingredient Fudgy Nutella Brownie Bites
January 2013  Bananas & Nutmeg:  Baked Bananas 
December 2012  Chocolate & Marshmallows:  White Chocolate Marshmallow Cranberry Cashew Bark    
November 2012  Sweet Potatoes & honey: Sweet Potato Glass Noodles with Honey Garlic Lime Shrimp 
October 2012  Oatmeal & Raisins:  S’mores Granola Bars   
September 2012  Zucchini & Brown Sugar:  Zucchini with Onion & Brown Sugar 
August 2012  Tomatoes & Peppers:  French Fries Hash Browns 
July 2012  Corn & Butter:  Fritos Crusted Pollock 
June 2012  Cherries & Almonds:  Dried Cherry Almond Tart 
May 2012  Strawberries & Cream:  Strawberry Soup 
April 2012  Peanut butter & Jelly:  Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars 
March 2012  Potato & Cheese:  Loaded Potato & Buffalo Chicken Casserole 
February 2012  Ginger & Carrots:  Shrimp & Avocado Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing 
January 2012 Lemon & Sour Cream:  Ponderosa Lemon & Sour Cream Tart 
December 2011 Eggnog & Cranberries:  Eggnog Popovers with Cranberry Butter 
November 2011 Pumpkin & Cream Cheese:  Praline Pumpkin Cheesecake
October 2011 Caramel & Apples:  Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies