Salted Caramel Chess Squares
What is about moving (or any other major life changes) that makes the “calories don't count” rule go into effect? We can't be the only home that does this. We have been on a major comfort food kick over the past few weeks (while we're basically in moving limbo…our closing has been pushed to early next week, hopefully).
So, if you're in need of a comfort dessert, I've totally got one for you today…Salted Caramel Chess Squares. These have the perfect mix of rich, salty, and sweet. They turned out so pretty and were insanely yummy. Noah's a huge fan of caramel, so I was really inspired to make these by him. They could be tailored to so many different flavors though – I can imagine these being perfect with chocolate or butterscotch flavors!
Salted Caramel Chess Squares
Ingredients
1 box butter golden cake mix
1 egg
1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter, melted
2 tsp vanilla extract
7oz canned caramel-flavored sweetened condensed milk (half of a 14oz can)
1 bag (11oz) caramel bits
7oz canned caramel-flavored sweetened condensed milk (half of a 14oz can)
2 tsp coarse sea salt
8oz cream cheese (room temperature)
2 eggs
3 cups powdered sugar
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, 1 egg, butter, vanilla extract, and half a can of caramel sweetened condensed milk. Mix will be thick but spreadable. Spread in the bottom of a greased 9×13″ glass dish.
In another bowl, mix caramel bits and the rest of the can of sweetened condensed milk. Melt in the microwave in 30-second increments until smooth.
Pour over the cake mixture in the glass dish and spread; sprinkle the sea salt over the top. Allow to set for 10-15 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix together cream cheese, 2 eggs, and powdered sugar. Pour over the top of the caramel.
Bake at 300 degrees for 40-45 minutes, until top starts to brown and is set.
Printable Version:
Salted Caramel Chess Squares
Ingredients
- 1 box butter golden cake mix
- 1 egg
- 1 stick 1/2 cup salted butter, melted
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 7 oz canned caramel-flavored sweetened condensed milk half of a 14oz can
- 1 bag 11oz caramel bits
- 7 oz canned caramel-flavored sweetened condensed milk half of a 14oz can
- 2 tsp coarse sea salt
- 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, 1 egg, butter, vanilla extract, and half a can of caramel sweetened condensed milk. Mix will be thick but spreadable. Spread in the bottom of a greased 9x13" glass dish.
- In another bowl, mix caramel bits and the rest of the can of sweetened condensed milk. Melt in the microwave in 30-second increments until smooth. Pour over the cake mixture in the glass dish and spread; sprinkle the sea salt over the top. Allow to set for 10-15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, mix together cream cheese, 2 eggs, and powdered sugar. Pour over the top of the caramel.
- Bake at 300 degrees for 35-40 minutes, until top starts to brown.
Enjoy! I hope you love these as much as we've loved them.
Yum!! Can not wait to make this. Is ther e really 2 cans of Carmel condensed milk or a misprint? Do you swirl the cream cheese mixture? Thanks.
Really it’s just 1 14oz can, you’ll just use it in two separate parts of the recipe so I split it up in the directions. And I didn’t swirl, it just kind of did that on it’s own – I’m sure you could if you’d really like it mixed more! I liked it a little separate so you could tell the difference in the chewy caramel and the creamy topping.
They were wonderful!!! The recipe is a key e per. Thanks for sharing.
I’m so glad! 🙂
Yes wondering about the two cans of caramel as well. Are the caramel bits like Skor bits or is it something else?
Here’s a link to the bag of caramel bits I used: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kraft-Caramel-Bits-11-oz-Bag/10308416 – and here’s the sweetened condensed milk: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Eagle-Brand-Elsie-Borden-Caramel-Flavored-Sweetened-Condensed-Milk-Limited-Edition-14-oz/48813386
Is the cooking temperature 300 or 325?
Sorry about that, 300! Just updated the post with the correct temp in both places.