Gooey Bars (aka Cream Cheese Bars)

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Gooey Bars (aka Cream Cheese Bars)

I have no idea what these bars should actually be called or where this recipe really came from… It’s likely to have come on the back of a cream cheese box for all I know. (Actually, Google helped me to find this recipe which is the same). This is another recipe that my family loves. My sisters practically know this recipe by heart. Similar to the “best dang thing ever bars”, my sisters also prefer to underbake these bars, hence the name gooey bars. I tend to like my bars fully cooked so they hold their shape better. If you prefer an even gooier texture, take these out of the oven a couple minutes early.

I know some of you will shudder at the thought of using a box cake mix. I agree that in general, I would much rather make a cake/cookie/brownie from scratch. For starters, it’s a lot more fun as a baker to measure everything out and follow a recipe that has more than two steps. Not to mention knowing exactly what is in your food (and being able to pronounce it all!) I do however believe that boxed cake mix has a time and a place. One of those places being in this bar.

These bars taste almost like a cheesecake with a great chewy shortbread crust. Everyone that tried one really enjoyed them and Hubby ate an embarassingly large number of these bars.

Gooey Bars

Yield: 30

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 eggs
1 pound powdered sugar
1 8-oz package cream cheese

Directions:

Mix cake mix, margarine & 1 egg with fork. Press into bottom of greased 9 x 13 pan, set aside.

Beat powdered sugar, cream cheese and 2 eggs for 4 or 5 minutes. Pour over cake mixture.

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Cool completely. Cut into bars.

Recipe from my step mom

Don’t forget – I’m offering a chance to win a cute tote if you donate $5 or more to my Avon Walk by the end of January. See details here.

Bars and Brownies, Dessert, Family Favorites

27 comments »

12 Responses to “Monkey Bread”

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1

jCam — July 23, 2009 at 1:02 pm

Mmm I love monkey bread!
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2

Jessica Segarra — July 23, 2009 at 5:05 pm

That looks so good! I am going to have to try this soon!
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3

Memória — July 23, 2009 at 5:42 pm

This looks yummy! I love making monkey bread with homemade dough. To make it even richer, you could use leftover brioche dough. I have tried using the Artisan Bread in Five minutes recipes to make it quicker and easier. YUM!!!

Lovely photos.
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4

Amy Kingman — July 23, 2009 at 5:45 pm

looks delicious! Mmmmm!
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5

madebymel — July 23, 2009 at 11:18 pm

I LOVE monkey bread! I can only make it for company or I will seriously eat the entire pan!
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6

oneparticularkitchen — July 24, 2009 at 2:19 am

You are killing me with those pictures! That looks amazing.
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7

newlyweds — July 24, 2009 at 1:39 pm

I just posted about monkey bread also. Love the stuff, here is my link if your interested.

http://newlyweds.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/monkey-bread/
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8

Jennifer — July 24, 2009 at 11:49 pm

I LOVE monkey bread, yours looks great!!
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9

Ingrid — July 26, 2009 at 1:10 am

We L-O-V-E monkey bread! I’ve been making it for my children for several years now. I’ve also made monkey bread muffins which is the same thing but baked in muffins tins.
~ingrid
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10

Lee — July 26, 2009 at 10:32 pm

My family used to make monkey bread when we were growing up too! YUM!
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11

Mermaid Sweets — July 27, 2009 at 5:06 am

I have yet to make this, but this looks amazing. Love the new blog look.
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12

alexandjess — October 6, 2009 at 3:29 am

I know I’m about 3 months behind, but I saw this recipe in your “Blog Recap – Big Hitters” post and added it to my list of things to try. It only took me a month and a half to get to it ;).

Like you, I made it on a Sunday morning as a suprise for my husband and he loved it!

I blogged it here, if you want to check it out:

http://alexandjess.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/monkeys-for-breakfast/

Thanks for sharing your fun recipe!

Gooey Bars (aka Cream Cheese Bars)