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
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I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
im so sad it has come to an end too! anyway these must be pretty tasty
mmmmm those are one of our faves..i made them a TON last year..soo good
yours look great
These look delicious!! I bet they’d go over great at a 4th of July party! I loved your strawberry week- such a great idea!! 🙂
These look great! We definitely don’t need 3 dozen though and wouldn’t want so many to go bad. Do you think they’d freeze well? I was thinking of doing what you did with freezing the chocolate chip dough a few weeks back, but I’m not sure if the strawberries throw a wrench into the mix.
Sarah,
I’m not sure if these will freeze well. They were definitely best the day they were baked. Nice and crispy like a shortcake. The second day they were a bit more soft. I’d definitely be nervous to freeze them, but if you try it, let me know how it goes.
just made these, and we loved them! a nice little hot weather treat.
cheers,
*heather*
Yum! I’m planning to take my kidlets strawberry picking for the first time. This looks like a great way to use some berries.
Gena
I made mine canelle-style so they look like little pink footballs and sprinkled them with turbinado sugar…SUPER YUMMY!