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. 
Yum! These look FABULOUS!!
http://www.simplysweeter.blogspot.com
I’m so curious to see what homemade marshmallows taste like! They look pretty awesome in the pictures!
yum!!! i love homemade marshmallows!!! i like to chocolate dip 2 sides so they look like little ice cream sandwiches!
I wouldn’t even need chocolate and graham crackers to enjoy these. I could gobble them up all by their lonesome.
Hmm, I would think they’re really tricky but it sounds like I was wrong. I’m not the biggest marshmallow fan but I have a feeling that homemade taste way better!
Marshmallows have been on my shortlist for a while now. You just pushed me over the edge. I can just see some dipped in chocolate or rolled in toasted coconut and packaged up for the holidays! Question – where do you find the gelatin in the supermarket? In the baking aisle?
Rachel
http://theavidappetite.com
You can actually put the marshmallows in the fridge, and they will set up faster.
I don’t like store-bought marshmallows (unless they’re toasted), but the homemade ones just have such an incredible texture… and I love that you can flavor them however you want. I used to make 5-spice marshmallows at Flour. I really want to make them at home.
These look gorgeous! I might have to make some for hot chocolate season.
I
WANT
THESE
NOW.
Seriously. These look amazing!!
How many grams of gelatine are in each pack? I have a feeling different countries have different amounts…
I had a great cassis marshmallow at an afternoon tea recently and thought they were really hard to make.
I have yet to make homemade marshmallows….I need to get over that fear!
Silly question…
If I was making Rice Krispie Treats could I just mix the cereal in and then pour it all into a pan to set up?
I just thought they might taste better with the homemade marshmallow.
Thanks.
Rachel – The gelatin is near the Jello in my super market. It’s up on the top shelf.
Cupcake Kelly – My box of gelatin says 1 oz for 4 small envelopes. Does that help?
yipeiokyay – Sounds like it could work. You might want to throw some butter in too? Alton Brown did say you can use them to make Rice Krispies treats during the episode, but he implied that you do it after they have set up.
To everyone who has been afraid of making marshmallows – it’s seriously SO EASY. Do it!
I love love love making marshmallows! You can flavor them, too, so try out different extracts and flavorigns in them for an extra kick. Peppermint ones with mini chocolate chips on top are AWESOME
Okay, even tho I read your blog often, this is the first recipe I’ve actually tried. I’ve been dying to do homemade ‘mallows because the stay-puff ones taste like the gas they use to puff them up. 🙁 Mine are drying now, so no report on how they came out yet, but I have to agree – except for my nervousness working with hot candy (legacy of a drop of hot caramel on a bare foot that left a mark for years) – these were super-easy.
Question: my gelatin smelled kind of bad when it had sat in the water for a while, tho the smell seems to have gone away. Did this happen to you? Could my gelatin have been a little funky? (Can gelatin even go funky?). Thx!!
Virginia – I do remember the gelatin having a weird smell that does go away. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do. A friend told me that if you can’t wait the full 4-hours you can pop them in the fridge to speed up the process.