Amongst many other baking expeditions (that I have failed to post on) over the last week, this one turned out to be an amazing change from pumpkin. I have seen quite a few of these type recipes in the blog world and I can see why. It’s easy and pretty much fool-proof. A cake mix makes up the crust and the top crumbles, and the gooey chocolate inside, well, it makes the dessert. A great ending to the Thanksgiving week.

Chocolate Shortbread Crumble Bars

• 1 box (18 oz) white cake mix
• 1/3 cup oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, sliced into pieces
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
• 8 ounces chocolate chips or chunks*

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 13 x 9 inch pan by lining it with foil and lightly coating with baking spray.

Combine cake mix, oil and eggs in a large bowl until well combined. Press 2/3 of dough in bottom of pan, reserving remaining dough. In a large microwave safe bowl combine butter, salt, condensed milk and chocolate and microwave on high for 1 minute. Remove and stir until smooth. Pour over dough and crumble remaining dough over the top. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove and cool completely then remove foil and slice into bars. Enjoy!

*For the chocolate: the original recipe called for semi-sweet chocolate. I used 2 ounces of 72% cocoa and the remaining was milk chocolate chips. Both were Ghirardelli brand.