Cinnamon Gooey Butter Bars (2024)

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by Annalise Sandbergon Oct 31, 2022

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5 from 1 review

Half gooey butter cake and half snickerdoodle cookie, these cinnamon gooey butter bars are soft, full of rich flavor, and simply irresistible.

I have the most perfect cozy dessert right here! All three layers of these cinnamon gooey butter bars combine to make a deliciously rich and flavorful treat that everyone will go nuts for.

Here’s what these bars are made of:

Snickerdoodle-like cookie base
Super soft and slightly gooey cake-like center
Crispy lid of cinnamon sugar on top

They may look simple and unassuming, but looks aren’t everything. These cinnamon gooey butter bars are amazing! Make a batch for your next party or gathering, and I promise everyone will be asking you for the recipe.

Ingredients you’ll need

Here’s everything required to make these cinnamon gooey butter bars (full recipe at the end of this article). You likely have most (or all) of these ingredients already in your kitchen!

How to make cinnamon gooey butter bars

Prepare cookie base. This recipe usesthe creaming method to make both the cookie and gooey butter layers. Use an electric mixer to cream butter and sugar together, then add egg. Add dry ingredients in two additions, alternating with the milk. Dollop the dough evenly into a 9×13-inch baking pan lined with parchment paper, then use an offset spatula to spread it into an even layer.
Prepare gooey butter layer. This layer is very similar to the cookie base (and you can use the same bowl without washing it!). Cream butter and sugar together, then add egg. Whisk together milk, corn syrup, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with liquid ingredients. Dollop and spread batter over the top of the cookie base.
Top withcinnamon sugar. Combine cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over the batter. It may seem like a lot, but use the full amount!
Bake(but don’t overbake!): These bars are done when the edges have browned, but the center still jiggles slightly when the pan is gently shaken, 25-35 minutes. Error on the side of underbaking than overbaking.
Cool. Let the bars cool completely to room temperature to let the gooey middle set up properly, which can take an hour or more.
Slice, serve and enjoy! Use a sharp knife to cut bars into 24 squares.

The challenge to not overbake

It’s hard to know when to take things out of the oven, at least for me. I’m constantly peeking into the oven and thinking to myself“maybe just a minute or two more…” Often our fear of under baking trumps our concern of over baking and we bake things a little longer than we should.

Sometimes it’s not really noticeable, other times it is. If you bake these gooey cinnamon squares for too long, you lose the gooey layer and the best thing about them. Take these out of the oven when the cinnamon sugar is crisp, the edges have browned, but the center appears set but jiggles just slightly when the pan is gently shaken. It will firm up when it cools, I promise.

More tips for this recipe

You can use honey or maple syrup in place of the light corn syrup in this recipe.
Whole milk will provide the richest flavor, but 2% milk will also work great. I do not recommend 1% or skim milk.
Make sure you scrape down the bowl of the mixer often! To ensure the batter (for both the cookie and gooey butter layers) mixes and bakes evenly, stop the mixer frequently and use a flexible spatula to scrape down the whole bowl at least once during each stage of mixing— creaming the butter and sugar, adding the egg, and mixing in dry ingredients along with the wet ingredients.
There’s no need to wash the mixer bowl in between the cookie base and gooey butter layer. Simply scrape it out well with a spatula and you’re good to go.
Baking these bars in a parchment-lined pan makes it easy to lift the cooled bars out of the pan for slicing.
For the cleanest slices, make sure the bars have cooled completely to room temperature. Use a sharp knife to cut the bars into squares, wiping the knife clean in between each cut.
These bars will keep for several days at room temperature in an airtight container (if they last that long!).

More cozy cinnamon recipes

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Layer Cake
Cinnamon-Sugar Scones
No-Knead Cinnamon Rolls
Cinnamon-Sugar Pretzel Bites

This recipe was originally published in March 2013 to celebrate Deb Perelman’s new cookbook,The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.

5 from 1 review

Gooey Cinnamon Squares

Servings: 24 squares

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 30 minutes mins

Cool Time: 1 hour hr

Total Time: 40 minutes mins

Half gooey butter cake and half snickerdoodle cookie, these squares are irresistible.

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Ingredients

Cookie base:

▢ ½ cup unsalted butter , at room temperature (113 grams)
▢ ¾ cup granulated sugar (150 grams)
▢ 1 large egg
▢ ¼ cup whole or 2% milk (60 ml)
▢ 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour (188 grams)
▢ 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
▢ ½ teaspoon baking soda
▢ ¼ teaspoon salt

Gooey layer:

▢ ¼ cup light corn syrup (60 ml)
▢ ¼ cup whole milk (60 ml)
▢ 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
▢ ¾ cup unsalted butter , at room temperature (170 grams)
▢ 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
▢ 1 large egg
▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
▢ 1 cup all-purpose flour (125 grams)

Topping:

▢ 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
▢ 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

To make the cookie base:

Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 9×13 inch baking pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a bowl with a hand-held mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium high speed until pale and creamy.
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Soft & Thick Snickerdoodles - Sally's Baking Addiction Winger's Sticky Fingers Texas Sheet Cake Cookies How to Make Strawberry Butter
Add the egg, mixing until incorporated, and scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk, and mix just until combined. Spread batter into the bottom of the prepared baking pan (Mixture will be thick. Dollop spoonfuls of batter evenly into the pan, then use a spatula to spread batter to the edges).

To make the gooey layer:

In a small bowl, whisk together the corn syrup, milk, and vanilla.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a bowl with a hand-held mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium high speed until pale and creamy.
Add the egg, mixing until incorporated, scraping the bowl down as needed. Add the flour and salt in three additions, alternating with the milk mixture, starting and ending with the flour. Spread the batter evenly over the cookie base in the baking dish (Use the dollop-and-spread method here too for easiest spreading).

To make the topping:

In a small bowl, combine the sugar and ground cinnamon to make the topping. Sprinkle evenly over the batter. Bake until top is golden brown, 25-30 minutes. Let bars cool completely to room temperature (the gooey layer won't set until the squares have cooled completely).
Let cool, then slice into 2-inch squares. Store in an air-tight container at room temperature.

Notes

Recipe adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.

Calories: 213kcal, Carbohydrates: 29g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 10g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Cholesterol: 40mg, Sodium: 83mg, Potassium: 48mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 19g, Vitamin A: 323IU, Calcium: 14mg, Iron: 1mg

Cuisine: American

Course: Dessert

Author: Annalise Sandberg

Have you tried this recipe?I’d love to hear about it! Leave a rating and review below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram @completelydelicious with #completelydelicious.

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published on Oct 31, 2022

29 comments Leave a comment »

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29 comments on “Cinnamon Gooey Butter Bars”

Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar — March 4, 2013 @ 10:30 am Reply
I loooove this!!!
Liz — March 4, 2013 @ 12:03 pm Reply
I can’t wait to try these – I love cinnamon! If I can sneak it in all my baking I would!
Rosie @ Blueberry Kitchen — March 4, 2013 @ 2:29 pm Reply
Ah yum, these look and sound lovely!
See Also
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Janine — March 4, 2013 @ 3:18 pm Reply
These look incredible! Not something you want to see when you’re trying not to eat sugar for five days…
Alaina @ Fabtastic Eats — March 4, 2013 @ 4:12 pm Reply
omg…these look amazing! Snickerdoodles are my favorite!! As soon as my sugar free march is over, Im trying these for sure!!
Julie @ Table for Two — March 4, 2013 @ 5:48 pm Reply
awww look how happy you look there 🙂 so pretty!! i think it’s so awesome that you got to meet your idol and that you look up to Deb so much – a lot of us do too and I think you’re such an inspiration for going to culinary school to feed (ha) your passion! these cinnamon squares look SO gooey and delicious! i’d love the pan, please!
Elisa @ Insalata di Sillabe — March 4, 2013 @ 11:52 pm Reply
I SO love Smitten Kitchen, too! Deb’s recipe are always very inspiring!
These bars look truly delicious, and I bet they’d be perfect with a cup of tea or a mug of coffee in the morning!
xo, Elisa
Maria — March 5, 2013 @ 7:00 am Reply
It was fun meeting Deb, she is fab! Now I need to make these:)
Meghan {For the Love of Dessert} — March 5, 2013 @ 9:47 am Reply
I love this post! Smitten Kitchen is definitely an amazing inspiration and was probably the first food blog I ever really started following. I’m so jealous that you got to meet her! Never wash those hands again! Just kidding, you work with food. That would be gross.
Kelli @ The Corner Kitchen — March 5, 2013 @ 3:04 pm Reply
Awesome post! Sounds like such a fun experience. Way before I even considered writing a blog, Deb’s was also one of the first blogs I started reading!
Cinnamon squares are going in my oven asap!!
Sues — March 7, 2013 @ 7:51 am Reply
I got Deb’s cookbook a couple months ago and this recipe is definitely marked!! I have a feeling she’s influenced more than a few food bloggers 🙂
I wish I had these in front of me for breakfast!!
Erin @ Texanerin Baking — March 9, 2013 @ 8:41 am Reply
I love how ridiculously happy you look. 🙂
And Smitten Kitchen was the first and only blog I read for about 6 months. Then I realized there were other food blogs, too. Crazy.
Anyway, these bars look incredible! I love anything with the word gooey in it and cinnamon / snickerdoodly is even better. 🙂
kelley {mountain mama cooks} — March 11, 2013 @ 1:51 pm Reply
These bars do look incredible- I love anything snicker doodle! I’m so glad you got the chance to meet Deb and thank you for organizing what turned out to be such a fun night. You are incredible at what you do and the recipes you put out are drool worthy. Anytime I need a dessert, I come here first for inspiration. Deb inspired you, you inspire me. Funny how that works! Keep it up, friend!!
Emily — April 1, 2013 @ 11:34 am Reply
These are insanely delicious. A little labor intensive, but well-worth it! I didn’t have corn syrup, so I used honey. Best made for a large group, so that you don’t eat the whole pan yourself!
AmyRuth — September 30, 2013 @ 8:14 pm Reply
Yes, I have baked these in the bakery where I work and at home in an oven (new), with whom I am getting acquainted. Gosh it is hard to know….when to pull them out. At home where I had less to loose, they were way underdone and actually raw. I do love gooey and have vowed to myself when I bake another batch at the bakery to listen to the little voice in my head that says “now” and pull them from the oven. he he Thanks for the encouragement and yep the tempting photos. They help. This one was a stumper.
AmyRuth
- Annalise — October 2, 2013 @ 12:05 pm Reply
  It is hard to know when to pull them out! The first time I baked them they were overdone and completely set (no gooey layer), but still 100% edible and delicious. My guests had no idea they weren’t right. The second time I made them I listened to that voice, like you said, and just went with it. And they were perfect! It would be a hard call at a bakery though, good luck!
Sandra — December 5, 2013 @ 11:53 pm Reply
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe of gooey cinnamon squares. I can’t wait to try them and really appreciate that you give the measurements in grams too as I live in Switzerland and we don’t have “sticks” of butter here with a specific weight!!
I have an important question though! What can I use to replace the corn syrup in the gooey layer? I don’t even know what that is and it definitely doesn’t exist in Europe as far as I know! Is it sweet? If so, could I use light molasses to replace it? Thank you so much for telling me when you see this message! Sandra
Fran — December 14, 2013 @ 9:44 am Reply
Can you make ahead and freeze these?
- Annalise — December 15, 2013 @ 9:43 am Reply
  You probably could, though since I haven’t tried it myself I couldn’t say for sure!
Fran — December 14, 2013 @ 9:44 am Reply
Has anyone tried freezing these?
Deb c — January 25, 2014 @ 7:48 pm Reply
What did I do wrong?
My bars turned out like a cakes, rather than a cookie base & gooey center.
- Annalise — January 26, 2014 @ 8:54 am Reply
  Sounds like they were over baked. Baking time can vary from oven to oven, so next time try taking them out a few minutes earlier.
- Manda — February 5, 2014 @ 11:57 am Reply
  As the cake was cooling, Was imagining the taste and feel the texture in my mouth of ooey gooey- ness but the final product was far from this. Mine came out more like a cake around the outside but the inside was still kind of raw. I am not sure what happened but I am leery about trying it again.
  - Kaitlyn — August 26, 2017 @ 7:40 pm
    Something similar happened to me! It looks like the cookie layer rose up around the edges of the pan, pushing the cinnamon sugar and the gooey layer down and towards the middle. Any tips for next time?
Molly — January 28, 2014 @ 12:01 pm Reply
Do you think it would work, subbing real maple syrup for the light corn syrup? A maple, cinnamon flavor sounds delicious to me, but I wonder if the texture would be affected.
maci — September 30, 2014 @ 1:54 pm Reply
ah! these look so good! for some reason they struck me today like they never have before when i’ve flipped by them in her book. also, i started my blog because of deb too… i get it 🙂
Melanie — November 30, 2019 @ 5:34 am Reply
Thank you thank you thank you for your tip about when to take these out of the oven! I had literally just set the timer for 5 more minutes when I doubted myself and started frantically searching for someone who had experience baking these. Got them out in the nick of time ❤️
- Annalise — December 2, 2019 @ 9:04 am Reply
  Yes!! So happy I could help.
Hungry Heather — June 1, 2020 @ 5:58 pm Reply
“Bake until top is golden brown, 25-30 minutes.”
I would recommend changing that wording! Golden brown = overdone. Even though I lost the gooey layer, these tasted amazing. Unfortunately, the cookie layer was more of a dry cake layer. Nevertheless, I’ll make these again and do it right!