Raspberry White Chocolate Dream Bars

The ingredients for Raspberry White Chocolate Dream Bars are ones I almost always have on hand - cake mix, butter, chocolate chips, evaporated milk, nuts and jam.

• 1 box white cake mix
• 1/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1-1/2 sticks melted butter
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
• 12 oz. white chocolate chips

First combine cake mix, milk, butter and nuts. Makes a very gooey dough. Spray a 9 x 13 pan, spread half of the dough into the bottom of the pan and Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Next, melt the raspberry jam in the microwave (about a minute) and spread on top of HOT crust. Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over jam.

Using your fingers, crumble remaining dough on top and bake an additional 20-25 minutes.

Cool completely before cutting. For bigger parties, this recipe easily doubles and can be made in a 15 x 10 pan.

Linda's German Chocolate Caramel Bars

Several years ago when I had a house full of teenagers, I got a recipe for German Chocolate Caramel Bars from my friend Linda which I made regularly for my kids and their friends.

Eventually I started messing around with the recipe, which I tend to do and that is how the Raspberry White Chocolate Dream Bars came about. I'll share Linda's recipe so you can see the similarity in the ingredient list.

• 1 box German Chocolate cake mix
• 1/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1-1/2 sticks melted butter
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 1/2 cup ice cream caramel topping
• 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Notice that the ingredient list is basically the same? You use a German Chocolate cake mix instead of the white one, caramel topping instead of raspberry jam and semi-sweet instead of white chocolate chips.

The method is exactly the same. Make the crust using half the dough, bake it, add caramel and chips to hot crust, crumble the remaining dough on top and bake again.

Here are some more ideas on how you can make this recipe your own:

• Lemon cake mix, lemon curd and white chocolate chips
• Spice cake mix, apple or pumpkin butter and cinnamon or white chips
• Devils Food cake mix, hot fudge and Andes mint chips

Can you see the possibilities with this recipe? Keep some of these basic ingredients in your pantry and you will be able to whip up an easy dessert in no time.

Need some more ideas? Visit our best dessert recipes page for lots of cupcake recipes, dessert fondues and more bar recipes.