Legends are made of this recipe for ooey gooey butter bars. Even though there’s been a recipe for handmade butter bars using boxed yellow cake mix floating about for a while, nothing beats these handcrafted bars created from scratch. I swear, if you’re willing to put in the additional effort (and time), you can make an extravagant dessert bar that looks and tastes exactly as it did when Grandma made it. I can’t wait to tell you about this remarkable dish.
These layers are so thick and creamy; you won’t believe it if you’ve never had a gooey butter bar. The cake-like bottom is tender and wet, and the sweet custard-like cream cheese layer on top is just the cherry on top. Interesting fact: these bars are often referred to as Neiman Marcus bars due to their very rich taste.
These butter bars are great whichever you want to serve them; however, I have included some suggestions below. Come on, let’s bake!
What You Need Crust
2 and 1/4 cups of versatile flour
1/2 cup of sugar that has been ground into granules
2 teaspoons of baking soda
Two big eggs and half a teaspoon of salt
room temperature 3/4 cup of butter
Filling:
8 ounces of room temperature cream cheese
three big eggs
Sugar, powdered, four cups
one teaspoon of vanilla powder
Instructions
Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, butter, eggs, and granulated sugar in a big bowl. Add the baking powder and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until a dough forms. Use nonstick cooking spray to coat a 9×13 baking dish lined with foil, or coat the pan directly with cooking spray and omit the covering. You don’t have to use foil, but it does make it simpler to remove the bars simultaneously and obtain clean cuts.
Once the pan is ready, press the dough into the bottom and put it aside.
Cream the cheese in a large basin using an electric mixer until it becomes velvety smooth. Mix in the powdered sugar, three eggs, and vanilla extract; beat until blended and lump-free. Pour over the pan’s crust.
Fifty minutes at 350 degrees will provide a golden brown top. Since they are meant to retain a little gooeyness in the center, you’ll have to depend on their appearance—namely, how golden they appear—rather than the conventional toothpick test. When the cake has cooled all the way, you may cut it without worrying about the top layer melting.
Notes
As a hint, they’re best enjoyed warm, although they don’t look quite as nice when sliced. I recommend eating one while it’s still warm and setting the other one aside to cool. But you didn’t hear me say that!
Nutrition
About 209 calories