I’m Making These “Ooey Gooey Bars” for Every Holiday Party (It’s Neil Patrick Harris’s Recipe)

Some people love retro cookbooks; I'm more of a '00s magazine person. I recently found a magazine clipping from 2013 where Neil Patrick Harris shared a recipe for ooey gooey bars from his mom, Sheila. I'd never heard of "ooey gooey bars" before, so I did some research.

It turns out this recipe is similar to St. Louis gooey butter cake and Neiman Marcus cake. NPH isn't from St. Louis (he grew up in Albuquerque), but if he recommends the recipe, I figure it's worth tuning in.

How To Make Sheila’s Ooey Gooey Bars

The recipe starts with a baking shortcut I can't resist—a box of yellow cake mix. This is mixed with two eggs and softened butter. The batter (it will be pretty thick) is spread evenly into a 9x13-inch baking pan, then covered with a top layer made of cream cheese, powdered sugar, and two more eggs. NPH's mom bejewels the bars with coarsely chopped pecans before she pops them in the oven to bake.

After 30 minutes in the oven, the bars should be caramelized around the edges and visibly soft and gooey in the middle. Sheila serves the bars warm after a five-minute chill, but I can tell you, this dessert is equally great at room temperature or straight out of the refrigerator.

Once I tested this recipe, I could see how this dessert lives up to its name: The bars are super ooey and gooey. The magic of boxed cake mix strikes again, and the base of the bars is insanely soft and tender, with the comforting vanilla scent of yellow cake. But that’s not all. Because the cream cheese and pecans almost become one in the oven, the combination captures the rich taste of pecan pie filling. If it wasn’t for Sheila Harris, I would have never thought to add pecans to gooey butter cake.

As we head into the holiday season, I'm going to keep this recipe handy. It would be an excellent dessert to share at a party because A) it's ridiculously good and B) I can say I got the recipe from Neil Patrick Harris himself. Plus, the ooey gooey bars are nothing short of legen…wait for it…dary!

Tips For Making This Dessert

• Ease up on the sugar: Sheila Harris calls for a lot of powdered sugar in this recipe. She puts two and a half cups in the top layer of the bars, plus another cup sprinkled on top after baking. I made it exactly as she instructed, and her recipe definitely has a mom's touch. You could easily dial it back with a light dusting of powdered sugar instead of a heavy hand.
• Let cool before serving: To enjoy the bars in their best ooey-gooey form, practice patience and allow them to cool before you slice and serve. This will allow for the cleanest cuts without the risk of the bars running or being too messy, because the chill time allows the gooey center to set and firm up.

I love simple bakes like this because after you make the recipe once or twice, you know exactly what you're working with. Then comes the fun of playing around with different ingredients. Instead of yellow cake mix, I want to try chocolate, Funfetti, or lemon. I might even add more pecans, or a different nut, or sprinkles!