Chocolate Chip Ooey Gooey Pumpkin Bars — Incredibly gooey, soft, and chewy bars bursting with PUMPKIN and CHOCOLATE in every bite!! The vanilla spiced glaze complements these EASY bars just perfectly!!
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Gooey Bars Recipe
The gooier a dessert is, the happier I am. So I was in a state of pure bliss after sinking my teeth into these incredibly gooey, soft, and chewy bars.
These gooey butter pumpkin bars incredibly easy to make, packed with the perfect amount of pumpkin flavor, and lots of semi-sweet chocolate to balance the sweetly spiced glaze.
The gooey component comes via a half can of sweetened condensed milk that’s sandwiched in the middle of the bars. I hate throwing away ingredients, and these easy seven-minute microwave caramels make use of the rest of the can of sweetened condensed milk.
Ooey Gooey Pumpkin Bars Ingredients
To make the chocolate chip gooey butter pumpkin bars with spiced vanilla glaze, you’ll need:
- Krusteaz Pumpkin Spice Cookie Mix
- Egg
- Unsalted butter
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Water
Can I Use Another Cookie Mix to Make the Bars?
Yes! Krusteaz has various cookie mixes that you could use as the base for this recipe. The pumpkin spice cookie mix needed for these gooey pumpkin bars is a seasonal product, so you’ll have to wait until the fall to purchase it.
How to Make Ooey Gooey Pumpkin Bars
Chocolate chip pumpkin gooey bars come together quickly with the help of a store-bought baking mix. I don’t mind using baking shortcuts when they taste this good!
Here’s how the ooey gooey pumpkin bars are made:
- Make the bars by mixing up a box of Krusteaz Pumpkin Spice Cookie Mix with an egg and butter. I already have many pumpkin cookie recipes and wanted to get creative with this cookie mix and it proved to be very versatile and super tasty.
- Turn about two-thirds of the dough out into the pan.
- Add a half can of sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, and top with the remaining dough. The dough is a little sticky but smooth it with a spatula the best you can. There won’t be complete dough coverage but that’s okay because it ‘grows’ together during baking.
- Bake the bars just until the edges are golden and the middle is just set. Err on the side of underbaking versus overbaking the bars because you want them to remain gooey!
- Top with the easy, whisk-together spiced vanilla glaze and you’ve got yourself a rich and decadent treat that tastes like you slaved over it.
Can the Recipe Be Doubled?
Of course! Just double the ingredients and bake the bars in a 9×13-inch baking pan. The bake time should remain roughly the same.
Recipe Variations to Try
These gooey butter pumpkin bars are delicious as is, but you also can try one of the following ingredient swaps to customize the bars to your liking:
- Swap the chocolate chips for chopped dried fruit or chopped nuts.
- Use a different flavor of chocolate chips such as milk or dark.
- Use another baking chip altogether like toffee bits, butterscotch chips, or anything you’d like to pair with the bars.
- Swap the glaze for cream cheese frosting. (The bars will be extra rich!)
- Use a different cookie mix. The gooey bars could be made with chocolate chip cookie mix, snickerdoodle cookie mix, you name it! It’s a method more than a recipe.
Tips for Making Gooey Pumpkin Bars
Cookie mix: Pumpkin spice cookie mixes are seasonal products that you can’t buy year-round. So you may need to wait until September / October to make these bars.
Bake time: Bake the bars just until the edges are golden and the center is barely set. If you overbake the bars, they won’t stay as gooey!
Glaze: The bars can be glazed while they’re still slightly warm, but not hot. If you glaze the bars when they first come out of the oven, the glaze will just sink into the bars and make a mess.
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Chocolate Chip Ooey Gooey Pumpkin Bars
Ingredients
- one package Krusteaz Pumpkin Spice Cookie Mix
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 7 ounces sweetened condensed milk, half of one 14-ounce can
- ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 3 to 4 tablespoons water, for mixing with packet of glaze
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350F, line an 8×8-inch pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- In a bowl, combine the packet of pumpkin spice cookie mix (reserve glaze packet), butter and egg.
- Place 2/3 of the dough out into prepared pan, smoothing lightly with a spatula as necessary; reserve remainder.
- Evenly drizzle half the can of sweetened condensed milk leaving a bare 1/4-inch margin around the edges.
- Evenly sprinkle the chocolate chips.
- Place remaining dough on top of chocolate chip layer (There won’t be complete coverage but that’s okay because it ‘grows’ together during baking.)
- Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes or until edges are set and the center is mostly set; it’s okay if it’s a little jiggly. I judged the doneness by looking at the edges and as they turned light golden brown.
- Allow pan to cool on a wire rack for at least 2 to 3 hours, or until bars have firmed up enough to cut.
- Once the bars have cooled, combine the water with the reserved glaze packet to create the vanilla spiced glaze. Drizzle over the bars before slicing.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy Pumpkin Desserts:
My FAVORITE PUMPKIN RECIPES on my blog!
My cookbook, Cooking With Pumpkin: Recipes That Go Beyond the Pie is my second cookbook and there are over 50 pumpkin recipes including sweets, savory, drinks, and a photo for nearly every recipe. I’d be super grateful if you headed over to Amazon to check it out!
Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting — These super soft and moist pumpkin bars are the perfect EASY fall dessert!! Tangy cream cheese frosting is a wonderful complement to these perfectly pumpkin-spiced bars!!
Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars — Super soft and are like biting into a piece of rich pumpkin fudge! Loaded with chocolate and crazy good!
Soft Praline Pumpkin Bars (with Cake Mix!) — SUPER soft pumpkin bars studded with chocolate chips, candied pecans, and plenty of pumpkin pie spice!!
Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake — Like a gooier, richer version of pumpkin pie with a spice cake crust!! Butter + cream cheese = lives up to its GOOEY name! Make it for Thanksgiving instead of pumpkin pie!!
Soft and Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies – No cakey cookies here! Soft, chewy, thick, loaded with chocolate and bold pumpkin flavor! Your new favorite pumpkin cookies!
The Best Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake with Chocolate Ganache — One of my all-time favorite cakes, EVER! This is a must-make that everyone loves!
Cream Cheese-Filled Pumpkin Bread – Pumpkin bread that’s like having cheesecake baked in! Soft, fluffy, easy and tastes ahhhh-mazing!
Post is brought to you by Krusteaz. The recipe, images, text, and opinions expressed are my own. Follow on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and Instagram
Hello,
I am dying to try this recipe, but I cannot find this particular cookie mix anywhere, not even on walmart.com. Have you tried making this recipe with a homemade dough?
It’s a seasonal product so probably will hit shelves soon. I haven’t tried with a homemade dough. I’m sure refrigerated storebought will work; just won’t have the pumpkin flavor.
I like my bars gooey too! Looks yummy!
Pumpkin and sweetened condensed milk, sign me up!!
hey girl these look amazing! Yummy!
These bars looks so good, tis the season for everything pumpkin!!
You got that right! :)
There is not much better than this!! Love that mix.
They have so many great mixes :)
Averie, you are the bar queen! I have no words for this creation.
Ok, I saw your instagram account recently. I love watching the short videos. It’s so cool how you “snap” your fingers and steps are automatically done. Is that a camera trick or do you have to hire people to create videos for your recipes? When you make these videos it truly shows your viewer how easy your recipes are. (I’m talking about the generally public, I have always thought your create simple to do recipes)
Lastly, Averie I had no idea you were a cat person. I absolutely love your new fur ball. She is so frickin cute. I hope shes not tearing up your pillows or being a naughty kitty! Pls post more pics.
Thanks, yes, I have been told I’m the bar queen :)
I have people help with video production and editing. There’s a very steep learning curve with it and for me, with everything else on my plate both on my blog and in my real life, I need some help with that aspect.
Thanks, love the new kitty. She’s a hot mess, into everything, all the time, nonstop, it’s like having a toddler again but we love her SO much!
HOW can you still be coming up with delicious ideas after writing a whole cookbook about pumpkin?!?!!? I’m so impressed!
Thank you. Sometimes the new ideas come easier than others but thanks for realizing that!
These bars look so good! Loving pumpkin and chocolate desserts!
I adore pumpkin season and anytime I can add chocolate to the mix…I do! Scrumptious.
This makes great use of a boxed cookie mix and the gooey factor of sweetened condensed milk baked into bars is the best! I see krusteaz at the grocery and Costco but haven’t ever actually tried it. These make me want to buy a box!!
Agreed that sweetened condensed milk baked into bars is the best!