Caramel Walnut Dream Bars

I am usually all about making cakes and cookies and other treats from scratch, but every once in a while I run across one of those recipes that combine using some kind of prepared mix with enough "scratch" ingredients that it seems just close enough, and this is the kind of recipe that can completely shock you (in the best possible way) with how good it is.  I'm talking Ridiculously Easy Peach Crumble.  I'm talking Butterfinger Cake.  And I'm talking these Caramel Walnut Dream Bars, which sucked me in on the basis of the title alone.  Caramel, Walnut and Dream all in the same title.  Oh yeah, I'm there.

As you can tell, this is a delectably sweet treat.  Sweet, sweet, sweet.  Want to know something else that is impossibly sweet?  (This has nothing to do with food in any way, so if you just want the recipe, feel free to skip on down to the bottom.  It's just too good a story to NOT tell, so I'm a-telling it.)

The teenager and her adorable boyfriend have been going out for a year now, which is like 50 years in teenage time.  And so the boyfriend brought her a t-shirt on which he had painted the words

Happy Anniversary

I Love You 

Emma

♥

She loved it, of course. Then he started pestering her to wash it. Wash it, wash it, wash it, said he. Tonight she finally did -- and most of the letters came off in the wash. Except for the ones P R O M and the question mark, which was part of the heart. She wrote the answer in herself once the shirt came out of the dryer.

Now if that isn't sweet, I just don't know what is!

Meanwhile, back at this sweet recipe, here's the scoop.  You make a base out of cake mix that has been moistened with butter and egg and press it into the bottom of a baking pan.  Then you mix up a topping of condensed milk, another egg, some vanilla, some chopped walnuts and some toffee bits, and pour that on top.  Bake, cool, cut 'em into squares, and give one to someone you have or would like to take to the prom. 

Sweet!!

Caramel Walnut Dream Bars, adapted from Anita's Recipes

• One box yellow cake mix (18.5 ounces)
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• One 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 teaspon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 cup toffee bits (I used the Heath Bar, brand, usually found near the chocolate chips)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a 13"x9" pan with cooking spray; set aside.
2. To prepare base, combine cake mix, butter, and one egg in a mixing bowl. Mix until crumbly. Press mixture onto bottom of prepared pan; set aside.
3. In another mixing bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, remaining egg, vanilla extract, walnuts, and toffee bits. Mix well. Pour over base in pan.
4. Bake for 35 minutes or until light brown on top.  Cool and cut into squares.

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