Cinnamon Cake Bars

As is often the case, I struggled quite a bit to come up with a name for these.

The original recipe calls them Gooey Cinnamon Squares, however because their texture is soft like a sponge cake, the word cake really needed to be included. I hesitated to add coffee cake to the title since the touch of cinnamon reminds me of a soft coffee cake, but because there is no streusel and because it’s more sheet cake -esque, that didn’t quite work either.

The middle layer is meant to be gooey, and is definitely the best part of these, but it’s not SO gooey to earn a spot in the title.

To make things more complicated, I flirted with the word Snickerdoodle. Fresh out of the oven, they taste a little like a snickerdoodle in cake/bar form, thanks to their base layer. However, once completely cooled, cinnamon was more dominant instead of that almost sour cinnamon flavor found in snickerdoodle desserts.

Long story short (sorry for giving you both, haha), I present to you Cinnamon Cake Bars. They are comprised of three layers:

1. A cake-y cookie base, reminiscent of a sugar cookie or snickerdoodle but fluffier.
2. A gooey middle layer, reminiscent of a butter cake.
3. A topping of cinnamon and sugar

If you enjoy butter cakes and/or snickerdoodle cookies, you’ll absolutely love these addictive cinnamon cake bars. Perfect for any time of day with any type of beverage.

*Important note: Do not over-bake these, or they will lose the gooey middle layer. Take them out when the cinnamon sugar topping is crisp, the edges are slightly browned, and the middle layer is seemingly under-baked. This layer will continue to bake and firm while cooling. YUM!