Since these are made with cream cheese, I thought for just a moment that I would name them Cake Batter Cream Cheese Bars. But since they aren’t REALLY an original recipe creation, I thought it better to stick with their original name: Chess Bars. But, since they are made with cake mix, I decided to add “Cake Batter” to the name to keep with this “cake batter” series of cookie bar recipes. So there you have it – Cake Batter Chess Bars!
There are so many recipes out there for Chess Bars AKA Chess Squares AKA Gooey Butter Bars AKA Ooey Gooey Butter Bars AKA Gooey Butter Cake plus many versions:
- Toffee
- Chocolate
- Pumpkin
- Cherry
- Caramel
- Coconut
- Peanut Butter
-
The list goes on!
Anyway, as I’m writing this post, I’m eating one for breakfast! I made them last night and they were delicious last night, but I wanted to try them the next day and see how they hold up. Well, they are still delicious! The butter crust is savory and crumbly and the cream cheese and sugar topping is gooey, sticky sweet and it finishes with a slight crunchiness from the crispy sugary top. Sweet, sticky, ooey, gooey delicious! But, I can only eat one because they are so sweet, so pounding back 5 in a row (like I can do with my Oatmeal Cookies) is not an option!
Each recipe I sourced online had slightly different ingredients (some use 4 eggs, for example), cooking temperatures, cooking times and serving sizes. In fact, one recipe said a 9″ x 13″ pan served 12! I’m here to tell you that if you serve 1/12th of this recipe to anyone, they will go into a diabetic coma! My serving size suggestion for a 9″ x 13″ pan is 32! Note the difference {grin}. So, this recipe is a combination of many recipes and hopefully will turn out as successfully for you as it did for me.
Here’s what I did:
- Grease a 9″ x 13″ pan. I used my Misto.
- Pour the cake mix into a mixing bowl. Add 1 egg and melted butter.
- Stir ingredients together until well mixed and batter is a thick dough.
- Turn dough out into greased 9″ x 13″ pan and pat down using fingers until the dough cover the bottom of the pan. I got a phone call and forgot to take a picture of the completed dough in the pan! The Price of Distraction – sorry!
- In a separate clean mixing bowl, add the powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar).
- Add two eggs and vanilla.
- Add cream cheese (I forgot to take a picture of the cream cheese – got another phone call! Hey, all of you out there – quit calling me when I’m baking! I keep screwing up! It’s a wonder I didn’t screw up this recipe too – just forgot pictures!). Just kidding about calling – love you all! 🙂 Mix until well combined.
- Batter should look like this.
- Pour topping batter over crust and smooth with a spatula.
- Ready to bake. Place in a preheated 325 degree oven and bake for 50 minutes.
- Check at the 45 minute time (every oven is different!). Crust should be golden brown.
- Finished golden brown Cake Batter Chess Bars. Cool completely until cold to the touch.
Close-up of Chess Bars. When completely cool, cut into small squares. A 9″ x 13″ pan will easily yield 32 bars.
Ooey, gooey, delicious Cake Batter Chess Bars!
Here’s the recipe:
PrintCake Batter Chess Bars
An ooey, gooey, yummy easy-to-make bar; satisfying on so many levels!
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 32 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 box of yellow cake mix (I used a butter recipe version)
- 3 eggs, divided (one for the crust and two for the topping)
- 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup), melted
- 1 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened
- 4 cups of powdered (confectioner’s sugar)
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Spray a 9″ x 13″ baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, stir together the cake mix, 1 egg and the melted butter until it is well mixed and has formed a dough.
- Turn dough out into prepared baking dish and using hands, press into bottom of baking dish, covering baking dish and set aside.
- In separate clean mixing bowl, mix together the sugar, cream cheese, vanilla and 2 eggs and blend with electric mixer until smooth.
- Pour over top of crust and use spatula to spread topping over crust.
- Bake for 50 minutes (check at the 45 minute point) until golden brown.
- Remove from oven and cool completely.
- Cut into squares using a knife inserted into hot water between cuts (topping is sticky and will tear easily if you don’t use this trick, making for messy bars).
Related Posts:
(other cake batter recipes)
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