What is in the pic below, you ask? If you have a sweet tooth... no, make that many sweet teeth, this dessert is for you. (lame, i know. blame it on my major SUGAR high). Yes, I'm snacking on these buttery, tasty treats as I write this.
I first saw this recipe on The Pioneer Woman site. I wanted to know if others had altered the recipe in any way, so did a search on Google and found three other sites that had the same recipe... the one thing I noticed on most of them was the suggestion of only adding two cups of powdered sugar instead of four. I did this, and these 'bars' are still pretty sweet; I can't imagine what they would have been like had I added all four cups. Oh, and by the way, it's called 'Gooey Butter Cake'. I think of it more as bars. Anyway... you will find the recipe below, minus the two additional cups of powdered sugar.
Here are the ingredients. Not much to it, really... mostly lots of butter (hence the name), and lots of that white, powdery goodness (referring to powdered sugar, of course). In case you can't tell in the pic, it calls for a 'yellow' cake mix.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Pour the yellow cake mix into a mixing bowl...
then add a stick of unsalted butter. I wouldn't suggest you do as my cute little baker did... please refrain from taking a taste of the butter. (silly gal)
But do melt the butter before adding it to the cake mix. (i melted it in the microwave)
Then add one egg.
Then mix the three ingredients together. This is the crust.
Spoon the crust into an ungreased 9x13 baking pan.
Spread it out. Start with the spoon, then use your hands to spread it out evenly.
Next do the filling. This consists of an 8 oz package of cream cheese...
Use an electric mixer and beat the cream cheese until it's smooth.
Beat in two eggs.
Add one teaspoon of pure vanilla extract...
yes... add another stick of unsalted butter. It is a gooey butter cake, after all. Be sure and melt it first. Use the mixer to mix in the vanilla and the melted butter.
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Add one cup of powdered sugar. Mix well. Then add another cup of powdered sugar. Mix well. You can add another two cups of powdered sugar if you so desire, but whoa will that be sweet!!! If you do add them, be sure and add them one at a time, and use the mixer each time.
You are now ready to spread the filling on top of the crust. (as you can see, caitie takes this quite seriously)
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Spread it all around with a big spoon, or however you wish to do it.
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The final step is to sprinkle about a cup, or a little less, of chocolate chips on top. (optional) I'm a chocoholic, so this was a must. You then put it in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake it for 40 to 50 minutes. When done it should be lightly brown on top and slightly gooey in the middle. Yum!
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This was her favorite part (it's one less thing i have to wash, so i'm not complainin'... um, yeah). This is what one does when waiting for the oven to do its job.
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Takin' a look at her 'handiwork'... and waiting for it to cool before tasting its sweet goodness. Once cooled, I cut it into little squares (bars); a little goes a looong way... talk about sweet!
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Then it was time to take off her apron and pig out! And what better place to do it than in a kitchen chair in the middle of the backyard on a gorgeous almost springlike day.
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What was Bailey doin' the whole time Caitie and I were baking? She was a snoozin'. I had some music playing on my 'online playlist', which was playing through the TV speakers, this lulled her to sleep. I added the 'playlist player' on the sidebar to your right if you care to listen to some or all of the music we enjoyed while nappin' and bakin'. (make sure your speakers are turned on and click on the song(s) you want to hear)
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What woman wouldn't want such long and lush eyelashes and full lips?
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Somehow she realized the goodies were done... thinkin' she would get to enjoy them too. She had a tasty bottle instead.
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"What the... ?!?" Bailey must have thought she would get a taste of the baked goodies if she cooperated and posed for a pic or two... sorry, Sweetie. (no pun intended... um, yeah)
