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. 
What a great flavor combination! And now I’m officially hungry.
beantownbaker — May 29th, 2013 @ 11:45 am
Ha – sorry to make you hungry! We all REALLY enjoyed these. I like snickerdoodles enough, but these were just awesome.
These are so genius! I love snickerdoodles but combined with cheesecake, its even better!
beantownbaker — May 29th, 2013 @ 11:45 am
You should definitely make these, they’re as delicious as they look!
Love the “random” dollops of cookie on top. They look like mini cookies. Snickerdoodles are the best, I love the way you’ve made them shine in this cheesecake!
beantownbaker — May 29th, 2013 @ 6:45 pm
Ha, I tried to make them random, but I pretty much failed at it 😉
I havn’t baked anything sweet for a lonnnggg time now (been living in a campervan and now I have an oven once more been on a bread baking / savoury kick) but Ive been looking for THAT recipe to get me back into sweets. I think this is it! I tried snickerdoodles once and looovvedd them, yours look so so pretty, I cant wait!
beantownbaker — May 30th, 2013 @ 9:12 am
I think this would be the perfect recipe to get you back into baking sweets!
This looks wonderful 🙂 I love snickerdoodles alone, so I imagine this cheesecake tastes heavenly!
oh boy, you may have outdone yourself with this one 🙂 sounds like it was the perfect treat for your sister and her husband!!
daughter came over last night and she lovveessss Snicker Doodle so I made this…she took the whole dish home…that is how much she enjoyed it…it tasted just like snickerdoodle ..I love your recipes…keep them coming…
beantownbaker — July 14th, 2013 @ 4:18 pm
Thanks 🙂 So glad your daughter enjoyed them. My snickerdoodle loving sister sure enjoyed them as well…