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. 
Wow, that sounds amazing. I’m a fan of snickerdoodles, not a huge fan of ice cream (I can take it or leave it) but this one sounds right up my alley!
I had a feeling you’d be making ice cream with the leftover cookies! Can you please send some my way? 🙂
beantownbaker — May 20th, 2013 @ 8:17 am
Ha! Sorry for being so predictable 😉 Believe me, I wish there was still some leftover in our freezer right now. I might just have to cave and make this again for my sister this weekend…
Might be the best use of leftover frozen cookies I’ve ever seen. Yum!
I’ve been loving snickerdoodles lately! Snickerdoodles in ice cream sound fantastic!
I seriously need this ice cream this summer. I am so addicted to snickerdoodles so adding it to ice cream is so genius, I can’t even stand it!
sounds like you’re going to be baking more snickerdoodles this weekend 🙂 i’m definitely going to try this one, too!
Oh wow, I love this! I bet this tastes like heaven 🙂
sounds delish! i love snickerdoodles and cookie pieces in ice cream!
how much icecream does this recipe make?
beantownbaker — June 16th, 2013 @ 1:00 pm
~3 cups if I remember correctly.
HI, I’ve never used coconut milk, but want to be prepared when I go shopping tomorrow….2 cans…how many ounces is that? Recipe sounds delish, can’t wait to try it!!
beantownbaker — January 28th, 2014 @ 8:54 am
The cans I buy are 13.5 oz each.