Take 5 Cake Mix Bars

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas! I know I certainly did. Lots of family and lots of food :) And Santa (my sweet husband) gave me this:

Isn't she a beauty? I was so excited to try it out! In honor of its first mixing, I created a sweet treat that I hope you'll enjoy as much as I did!

You get the salty pretzel, chewy caramel, creamy peanut butter, and delicious chocolate flavors of a Take 5 bar sandwiched in cake batter! 

 

Take 5 Cake Mix Bars
1 box yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons milk
2/3 cup broken pretzels
1/3 cup + 1/4 cup peanut butter
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/4 cups caramel candies
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together cake mix, 1 egg, butter, and milk until it comes together as a thick batter. Divide the batter in half. In one half of the batter, mix in the pretzel pieces. Press that mixture into a 9 x 13" pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 8 or 9 minutes, until the batter is barely set.

Next, cream together the other egg, peanut butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. Carefully spread that mixture over the pretzel mixture. For the caramel part, I used those caramel squares you can buy in bulk at the grocery store. Feel free to use whatever caramels you like. Since the caramel squares were pretty big, I cut them in half. Sprinkle the caramels over the peanut butter mixture. 

Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the peanut butter mixture, too. Feel free to be generous with the sprinkling :)

Now flatten little pieces of the remaining half of the cake batter to evenly cover the top of the bars. 

Bake for 18-20 more minutes. The cake batter on top should be golden and puffed. 

Let cool and enjoy!