bar cookies Archives - The Midnight Baker

Congo Bars

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 23:00:44 +0000

Try these gooey congo bars with glass of milk and you’re in heaven.

Delicious Congo Bars

I can’t say enough how delicious these congo bars are.

Recently, someone in one of my cooking groups posted pics of these that they had just made and I wanted to dive into that photo!

The name is pretty curious since I doubt that they’re a popular cookie in the Congo. One day I’ll make it a point to find out–they may be popular there but I don’t know.

Regardless, these are some awesome bar cookies. They’re easy to make which is a definite plus for me.

Not A Typo

I know you looked twice at the amount of brown sugar in this recipe. Nope, it’s not a typo; there is that much brown sugar in these.

That’s what gives them that marvelous caramel-like flavor. Until I made these, I thought they were just another iteration of toll house bar cookies. They are, but then again, they are not.

The brown sugar also accounts for the chewiness of these cookies. That’s the first thing you notice at first bite. Then comes that blast of chocolate caramel flavor. It’s quite heady and very addictive.

Storage

How you store these cookies is very important.

They must be stored in a container that is as air-tight as possible. Otherwise they will dry out and won’t taste as good as they did the day they were baked. The flavor will suffer and that is something I discovered first hand with these.

However, warming them up a bit in the microwave will revitalize them considerably. I would recommend you do that even if your container is pretty sturdy. The chocolate chips will harden upon cooling and that does change the texture as well. Heating them up the next day will soften up the chocolate and make them much better.

The Recipe

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Congo Bars

Oooey and gooey bar cookies

Prep Time15

Cook Time25

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bar cookies with chocolate chips, cocolate chip bar cookies, congo bars, easy chocolate bar cookies

Servings: 12

Calories: 521kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

2/3 cup unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled
2 1/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
Spray a 9 x 13-inch pan with non-stick spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment,beat the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each.
Add the vanilla then slowly add the dry ingredients until mixed in but don't overmix.
Fold in the chocolate chips by hand then spread the batter in the prepared pan evenly.
Bake for 25 minutes. Cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting bars into the size of your choice

Nutrition

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Linzer Tart Bars

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 23:00:54 +0000

Love linzer tarts but not the work involved in making them? Here’s linzer tart bars.

Linzer Tarts Made Easy

Linzer tarts are one of my favorite cookies and I often make them for the holidays.

However, they are fussy and time consuming to make which is why I limit myself to making the real deal only at holiday times.

Then I found out I could enjoy these wonderfully flavored cookies more often and without all the work since these are easy bar cookies!

I got this recipe from someone who posts in a cooking group I belong to. The members there are all seasoned home cooks and if one of them says something is good, then it is.

And these linzer tart bars sure are!

Jam

The traditional jam to use in linzer tarts is raspberry, so I kept to that. However, it will taste good with anything you use so don’t buy anything special.

The only thing I would advise if you are not using raspberry for the filling is to omit the almond extract. Where almond pairs wonderfully with raspberry, it doesn’t seem to pair well with other standard fruit flavors. Of course, that’s just my opinion and if you like it, use it!

Now, if you do use raspberry, go for the seedless variety jam. Those seeds are something else if they get caught in dental work–I used to think this was funny; until I got some of my own “dental work.” So it safest to go seedless.

Use Butter

While it might be tempting from an economy standpoint to substitute in this recipe, it will only work–and taste good–with butter.

Butter is where they primary flavor for these linzer bars comes from. Plus they need to solidify after they cool. Using margarine, or worse yet, “spreads,” result in an oily cookie that may not even set up; especially the spreads because they contain a lot more water than margarine or butter.

The Recipe

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Linzer Tart Bars

Easy take on an old classic

Prep Time15

Cook Time25

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: easy linzer tarts, holiday cookies, linzer tart bar cookies

Servings: 9

Calories: 403kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 cup butter room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
pinch of salt

Filling

1 1/2 cups raspberry preserves seedless preferred
1 tsp almond extract

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Lightly spray bottom and sides of a 9-inch/23cm
In a large bowl, stir together all ingredients except preserves and almond extract until combined.
Reserve 1/2 of the mixture for topping. Press mixture into prepared pan.
Bake 20 minutes.
Meanwhile microwave the preserves and almond extract in the microwave for 1 minute.
Stir until completely combined.
Take out bottom layer out of the oven.
Spread with preserves and sprinkle with crumb mixture.
Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely.

Nutrition

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Buttery Coconut Bars

Judith Hannemann — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 00:00:01 +0000

These coconut bars are rich and sinful, but easy to make with standard pantry items.

Richness Personified

Yep, that’s what these coconut bar cookies are. Of course they’re rich and buttery and loaded with calories–who’d have guessed, right?

There’s one good thing about all this forbidden decadence; they are so rich, a small portion will certainly suffice.

They’re packed with coconut so if you’re a coconut freak like I am, you are going to fall in love with these bars. Yet another thing to fall in love with is how easy they are to make. And since you can use the same bowl you made the base in, there’s little to clean up.

Straight From The Cupboard

These coconut bars use common ingredients I’m sure everyone has on hand.

With these you can dust off that can of condensed milk that’s taking up shelf space as well as that bag of coconut that’s been sitting on the shelf. The rest are so common like flour, brown sugar and eggs.

In fact, you’ll wonder how such simple things can combine to make something so delicious. I’m still amazed and I’ve been cooking for ages. Now I stick to mostly simple dishes and treats since they taste best. A lot of stuff you have to fuss over really isn’t worth the fuss.

Parchment Is Necessary

You’re working with very sticky stuff here. Ordinary greasing or spraying just isn’t going to cut it. You must use parchment.

When you line the pan, make sure there’s an overhang on both sides (the long sides) so that you can grab the overhang to lift out the cookies. Another good, but secondary reason for using a parchment lining is that clean-up will be easier. You may get some seepage, but overall removing the bars will be pretty easy.

The Recipe

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Buttery Coconut Bars

A rich and creamy treat

Prep Time15

Cook Time30

Crust Baking Time15

Total Time1

Course: cookies, desserts, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bar cookies with coconut, coconut bars, rich coconut custard filling

Servings: 16

Calories: 475kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

Crust:

2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter melted
1/2 tsp salt

Filling:

3 eggs at room temp
1 14 oz can condensed milk
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter melted
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups sweetened shredded coconut

Topping:

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line a 13x9 baking dish with parchment and let the ends extend up and over the sides.
Mix the dry crust ingredients in a large bowl till they’re well blended. Add the melted butter mixing well. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan.
Bake for 12-15 min, until light brown. Remove and cool 10 minutes on a rack. Reduce oven temperature to 325F/160C.
In a large bowl, whisk all the filling ingredients, except the coconut, until well blended. Fold in the coconut. Pour filling over the crust and sprinkle top with the remaining 1 cup of coconut.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until top is a light golden brown. Cool completely on wire rack.
Lift cooled bars out of the pan using the parchment overhang. Cut into bars.

Nutrition

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Blueberry Bars

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 23:00:37 +0000

Buttery crust, fresh blueberry and a hint of lemon. What’s not to love?

The Glorious Blueberry

Blueberries are so mild and delicious that they pair well with many things. They’ve experienced a surge in popularity in the last few years too. They’ve always been available but now you see them everywhere since everyone seemed to rediscover them.

Blueberries are very mild with a subtle flavor. You can coax a lot of flavor out of them with the addition of just a little bit of lemon zest. That’s the secret to great blueberry flavor!

Oh That Crust!

This crust is absolutely divine! It’s rich and buttery and the flavor doesn’t get lost in the translation.

The best advice I can give here is to use a food processor or Ninja to prepare this. Using a pastry blender will just make the process longer and more labor intensive.

The crumbs are supposed to resemble wet sand, so there would be a lot of work involved by doing it by hand.

The jam called for in the crust ingredients is used after you bake and slightly cool the crust. The original recipe (it’s from an old book so I cannot supply a link) calls for blueberry jam. The only time I ever had that variety was when a neighbor gifted me with some she bought whilst on vacation.

Most of us have raspberry jam or grape jelly at our disposal so it’s not necessary to run out and buy blueberry jam. All the jam really does is “seal” the pastry so it doesn’t get too soggy. And on that note, don’t store them covered!!! They’ll get soggy and inedible. Just store them on a rack open to the air.

The Glaze

Even though I used the glaze on the most recent batch I made, my thinking is that it’s an optional ingredient here. As I said before, the bars are soft so any additional liquid ingredient will make them even softer. So if you don’t feel like glazing them–don’t. They’re totally awesome without it.

The Recipe

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Blueberry Bars

Buttery crust, fresh blueberry and a hint of lemon. What’s not to love about blueberry bars?

Prep Time20

Cook Time40

Total Time1

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: blueberry bars

Servings: 12

Calories: 314kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

Crust:

1 1/2 cups flour
3 tbs confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp salt
8 tbs cold unsalted butter cubed
6 tbs berry jam any variety

Filling:

3 cups fresh blueberries
2 tbs sugar
1 tbs fresh lemon juice
2 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp lemon zest
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze:

1/2 cup sifted confectioners sugar
2-3 tbs heavy cream
1 tbs lemon juice

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly spray a 13 x 9-inch pan with non-stick spray.
Pulse the first 3 crust ingredients in a food processor. Add the cubes of cold butter and pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand. Press the crust evenly in the pan and bake for 15 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes then spread the jam over the top of the crust. Leave the oven on at 375.
Mix the blueberries, 2 tbs sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch and lemon zest in a medium bowl; set aside. In a large bowl, mix the 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour, baking powder and salt, combining well. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Fold in the blueberry mixture and spread over crust. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely.
Mix glaze ingredients and drizzle over cooled bars. You may need more (or less) cream to get the right consistency. Always start with the least amount; you can always add more liquid.

Nutrition

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Blonde Brownies

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 03 Oct 2017 23:00:11 +0000

Blonde brownies are probably one of the easiest bar cookies you can make. They’re also perfect for the upcoming holidays.

Chocolate Is An Add-in

Blonde brownies aren’t entirely without chocolate. Chocolate appears in the form of chocolate morsels!

While you still get some good chocolate flavor, it’s not overpowering. I suggest using mini chips because they disperse better and you can use half the amount called for with regular-sized morsels because they do disperse better in any batter. I used regular size because that’s what I had on hand, but I do prefer the minis.

Great Butterscotchy Flavor

That great taste of butterscotch comes from the amount of brown sugar in the recipe combined with the butter.

Since much of the flavor derives from butter, please resist the urge to use margarine. The taste, of course, will not be as good.

If you like them, you could also use butterscotch chips instead of chocolate chips. They are a good substitute in case you’re feeding anyone with a chocolate allergy. They don’t taste bad either!

Another thing you could do is use half butterscotch and half chocolate chips. That’s a wonderful flavor combo.

Easy Peasy

These are one of the easiest bar cookies I make. There’s no muss or fuss to them and they come together in a jiffy.

Where nothing beats those “one-bowl brownies” for ease and especially clean up, these blonde brownies come pretty close!

Because they are easy and a bit different, they’re an excellent holiday cookie. I’m sure Santa wouldn’t mind a couple of these with a glass of milk!

The Recipe

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Blonde Brownies

Blonde brownies are probably one of the easiest bar cookies you can make. They’re also perfect for the upcoming holidays.

Prep Time10

Cook Time25

Total Time35

Course: cookies, desserts

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bar cookies, blonde brownies, brownie recipe

Servings: 24

Calories: 201kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups packed brown sugar
3/4 cup 1 1/2 sticks butter or margarine, softened
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips see NOTES

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl. Beat sugar and butter in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract; gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Spread into prepared pan.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until top is golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack.

Notes

If using mini morsels, use HALF the amount (1/2 cup)

Nutrition

*Adapted from Pillsbury

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Apple Bars

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 23:00:33 +0000

These apple bars are so delicious, you won’t believe they’re healthy too!

Apple Bars Everywhere

Fall has arrived! Maybe not by the calendar yet, but to most of us Labor Day marks the end of summer.

I live smack dab in the middle of New York’s apple country. Orchards are everywhere and we’re beginning to see our local apples in the food store. When you see them all around you, you definitely start thinking about making some recipes with them.

Apart from the usual strudels, pies and spiced rings for pork, I wanted to try something I’ve never made before. These apple bars, as simple as they are, filled the bill for something new.

These Are Good–And Healthy Too

I ran across this recipe while pinning content for BHG. It sounded very interesting and it was easy to make.

The apples aren’t peeled so that’s a prep step that can be eliminated. It also uses white whole wheat flour and I liked the idea of sneaking some whole-grain flour in here.

But wait, there’s more–it uses very little fat! I consider this an added bonus that this is a healthy snack. First and foremost, they are delicious and that’s the main point!

If you don’t have white whole wheat flour on hand, you can easily substitute all-purpose flour. I just happened to have some white whole wheat on hand from another project, but you don’t have to buy it special, although it’s nice to have on hand. My tip for flours/grains that you want to have on hand but don’t use often is to freeze them! I do this with all flours, especially when it’s on sale and I want to stock up.

Yummy Topping

If these apple bars weren’t good enough by themselves, they also have a yummy topping!

The topping resembles crumbs when you make it, but they melt on top of the bars. They are slightly chewy and even though they use very little butter, they have a lovely buttery spicy flavor.

The Recipe

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Apple Bars

These apple bars are so delicious, you won’t believe they’re healthy too!

Prep Time20

Cook Time25

Total Time45

Course: Breakfast, cookies, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: apple desserts, bar cookies, brownie recipes, things to make with apples

Servings: 16 -20 bars

Calories: 128kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour all-purpose is OK too
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chopped apple I used 1 braeburn and 1 granny smith

Topping

2 tbsp white whole wheat flour all-purpose is OK too
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp butter

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350℉. Line a 13 x 9 pan with foil or parchment. Spray the foil or parchment with non-stick spray.
In a medium bowl, mix sugar, flour cinnamon, baking soda and sale. Blend well.
In another medium bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs and vanilla. Stir in chopped apples. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix just until moistened.
Spread in prepared pan.
For the topping, in a small bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut the butter in with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle crumb mixture over batter in pan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a rack. Lift the cooled cookies out of the pan by grabbing the edges of the foil or parchment. Cut into bars.

Nutrition

*Adapted from BHG.com

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Tropical Pineapple Bars

Judith Hannemann — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 00:00:49 +0000

Tropical pineapple bars are so incredibly easy to make, you’ll make them year round!

Easiest Cookies Ever

When you need a batch of cookies on the double, these tropical pineapple bars might be the answer to your prayers!

Believe it or not, there is no preparation at all because it uses refrigerated cookie dough. The remaining ingredients are added right out of the box.

Tropical Pineapple Bars: The South Seas In A Cookie

These pineapple bars are loaded with all things tropical. Close your eyes and take a bite. Then imagine you’re on a south seas cruise! This is why they are a good snack for the winter.

These bar cookies are a tad on the sweet side since they use candied pineapple, but if you want more of a “bite” to them, substitute dehydrated pineapple for the candied.

The flavors blend very well together and the thing that ties it all together are the macadamia nuts. They get slightly toasted when they bake and are just magnificent. I used macadamias that had no seasoning or salt, but if you cannot find natural nuts, the ones with the bit of salt will do just fine.

The Recipe

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Tropical Pineapple Bars

Tropical pineapple bars are so incredibly easy to make, you’ll make them year round!

Prep Time5

Cook Time25

Total Time30

Course: cookies, desserts

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bar cookies, coconut, macadamia nuts, pineapple

Servings: 48

Calories: 132kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1- can sweetened condensed milk
8 oz candied pineapple
1 1/2 cups white chocolate morsels
1 cup flaked coconut
3/4 cups macadamia nuts coarsely chopped
18 oz. package refrigerated sugar cookie dough

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly spray a 15×10″ baking pan with nonstick spray.
Press cookie dough onto bottom of pan, top evenly with the sweetened condensed milk, candied pineapple, white chocolate pieces, coconut and macadamia nuts, press firmly into cookie dough. Bake 18-25 minutes or until lightly brown.
Cool in pan, cut into bars.

Nutrition

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Cherry Bars

Judith Hannemann — Wed, 14 Dec 2016 00:00:14 +0000

Yummy cherry-topped buttery bars are the perfect dessert and are easy to make too!

Need A Quick Dessert?

If you need a dessert on the double-up, these cherry bars may just be your answer. The bars taste great. The crust is rich and buttery and the tartness of the cherries complement and offset the richness.

You probably have everything you need to make this right on your shelf and refrigerator! But if you don’t have cherry pie filling, then any other fruit flavor will do!

There’s also no complicated shaping or decorating. All you do is pat the dough in the pan, bake it a bit, then spread the pie filling on top and drop mounds of the reserved dough on top. The nuts are optional and so is the icing if push came to shove, but the icing does make it taste great if you flavor it with almond!

Full Of Color

These bars look great if made with cherries. The red against the white gives a striking pop of color. Plus cherry pie filling is a bit more tart than other flavors, so it offsets the sweetness somewhat.

This would also be fantastic with strawberry pie filling–or even rhubarb! There are so many possibilities with this dessert. All you have to do is alter the pie filling flavor.

Adding some streusel crumbs would add another dimension to these cherry bars as well. Let your imagination run wild!

The Recipe

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Cherry Bars

Yummy cherry-topped buttery bars are the perfect dessert and are easy to make too!

Prep Time15

Cook Time42

Total Time57

Course: cakes, cookies, desserts

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bar cookies, cakes, cherry dessert

Servings: 12 -18

Calories: 536kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 21 ounce cans cherry pie filling see NOTES
1/2 cup sliced almonds optional

ICING

1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
3 - 4 teaspoons milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl beat butter and shortening with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds.
Add sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, and vanilla until combined.
Mix in the flour.
Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the dough.
Spread remaining dough in the bottom of an ungreased 15x10x1-inch baking pan.
Bake for 12 minutes.
Spread pie filling over crust in pan. Spoon reserved dough into small mounds on top of pie filling. Sprinkle with nuts, if using.
Bake about 30 minutes more or until top is light brown. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
Drizzle top with icing. Cool completely.
To make icing, mix the confectioner's sugar and extract in a small bowl. Add just enough of the milk to make a smooth icing that will drizzle.

Notes

Any fruit flavored pie filling can be substituted

Nutrition

*Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens

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Strawberry Oat Bars

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 05 Jul 2014 23:00:00 +0000

Strawberry Oat Bars

Perfect summertime bar cookies! Fresh strawberries top these classic oatmeal bars. Easy to make too!

It’s strawberry season here in upstate New York, and of course the stores are packed with locally grown strawberries.

Perfect for picnics

I love strawberries, especially for smoothies, but wanted to use them in some kind of baked goods. While searching Google images for something that looked good, I happened upon this recipe from Italian Chips. Looked like the perfect fit for me. Only changes I made in this recipe was baking in a larger pan since there was an awful lot of crumb mixture for the stated 9×9-inch pan, which may be a typo on that site since she converted from metric to US measurements. I also used a whole egg, but basically it’s all the same. The filling I just doubled because it seemed pretty skimpy.

I would also advise doing the parchment lining. Two reasons is, it will keep your pan clean AND you’re not adding chemicals to your cookies like you are with the sprays. The parchment won’t conform to the pan shape when empty, but when you press in the crumbs, it holds it’s shape nicely.

Parchment lined pan for easy clean up

I will caution, these are not overly sweet, but remember, this is originally a European recipe and continental tastes vary from American’s tastes, especially when it comes to sugar. I liked them, but I haven’t got an overly sweet tooth anyway AND my background is European, so I’m sorta used to it.

You can always dust it with some confectioner’s sugar to add sweetness–and maybe serve with some ice cream on top, which would be FABULOUS!

Strawberry Oat Bars

Base
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut in chunks
1 egg

Strawberry Topping:
4 cups strawberries, washed, hulled & sliced thinly
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbs cornstarch

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13 x 9-inch pan with parchment -OR- spray well with non-stick spray (I used parchment–it will hold the shape of the pan when you press in the crumbs)

I used a food processor for the base, but you can use a pastry blender if you wish. I’m giving directions for the food processor. If you use a pastry blender, cut in the butter until you get crumbs the size of small peas.

Place flour, sugar, baking powder and oats in the bowl of a food processor; pulse to blend. Add butter chunks and pulse until mixture looks like small peas. Add the egg and pulse–just pulse until blended. Don’t let it ball up like a dough!

Place 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 tbs cornstarch in a bowl and mix well. Add the sliced strawberries and toss until coated. Let this stand for about 5-10 minutes.

Reserve 1/4 cup of crumbs for topping. Press the remainder into the prepared pan. Top with strawberry mixture and sprinkle with reserved crumbs.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-50 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.

Cut into bars when completely cool.

Makes about 12 bars.

Strawberry Oat Bars

Follow The’s board Hot Fun in the Summertime Blog Hop on Pinterest.

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5 Ingredient Cheesecake Bars

Judith Hannemann — Thu, 24 Oct 2013 23:08:00 +0000

5 Ingredient Cheesecake Bars

Five ingredients. Five minutes to mix. Delicious too!

I have to love anything that uses few ingredients and is easy to boot.

These 5 Ingredient Cheesecake Bars really fill that bill. These are also items that most people have in their fridge or pantry already. In the southern USA, I believe they are called “Chess Bars.”

Don’t let the amount of sugar deter you–yes they are sweet, but not overly so. The filling actually reminds me of the taste of sweetened condensed milk. This has got to be one of the most easy desserts I’ve ever made.

They can be served room temp or chilled, but since one of the main components of these cheesecake bars is cream cheese, I would suggest storing them in the fridge–if they last.

5 Ingredient Cheesecake Bars

1 box (15-18 oz) yellow cake mix
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 eggs
1 lb (4 cups) confectioner’s sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Spray or grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix the cake mix, one egg and the melted butter to form a smooth dough. Pat in prepared pan evenly.

In another large bowl, beat the cream cheese with the remaining 2 eggs, adding one egg at a time and beating well after each addition. Add the confectioner’s sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat until smooth–CAUTION–this is a thick mixture. Use of a heavy-duty stand mixer is advised!

Pour cheese mixture on top of crust. Spread evenly across the crust.

Bake at 300 degrees F for 40-50 minutes, or until top is beginning to get brown.

Approximately 12 servings, depending on how it’s cut.

5 Ingredient Cheesecake Bars

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