• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

My Recipe Reviews

Recipe Reviews, Recommendations, Tips and Musings. Thanks for visiting!

  • Home
  • Recipe Index
    • All Recipes
    • Appetizers
    • Bars
    • Beef
    • Breads/Muffins
    • Breakfast
    • Cakes
    • Candy
    • Casseroles
    • Chicken/Poultry
    • Cookies
    • Cooking for Two
    • Fruit
    • Holiday Recipes
    • Ice Cream/Sorbets
    • Lighter Recipes
    • Pasta
    • Pies/Pastry/Puddings
    • Pork
    • Seafood
    • Snacks
    • Soups, Stews, and Salads
    • Throw and Go! (Crockpot Recipes)
    • Vegetables/Side Dishes
  • Recipes Without Pictures
  • What’s Hot/What’s Not
  • About Me
  • Privacy Policy/Contact

Cream Cheese Bars

Chocolate Texas Gold Bars

August 15, 2015 by sblades Leave a Comment

Updated: December 2020 

When I was in my early twenties, my Mother created a cookbook of sorts for me.  She hand wrote her favorite recipes on paper pulled out of a spiral-bound notebook and put them all into a three-ring binder.  Oh, and between some of the recipe, she wrote little ditties like,

Flirt while you bubble and simmer the stew;
His mind’s on the dinner,
but his heart is with you!

I still laugh out loud when I read these.  Not being married at the time, she was still holding out hope it would happen one day.  I held out till that perfect man came along (one who would put up with me) and she was a very happy woman!

This is an interpretation of one of my favorite recipes of hers.  It’s known by many names….”Texas Gold Bars,” “Golden Cheesecake Bars,” “Eat This and Die Happy Bars…..”  

Many years ago she told me “don’t make this with chocolate or you’ll faint.”   I assumed she meant because they’d be so rich, so of course I decided to make these into Chocolate Texas Gold Bars.  Good choice.

They’re fairly easy to throw together.  Make the chewy base, pour in the cheesecake filling and throw them into the oven.

Chocolate Gold Bars

chocolate gold bars2
chocolate gold bars3
What would be better with chocolate than more chocolate?  

I added mini chocolate chips on half of it to see how it would turn out.  Judges decide – keep the chocolate chips!  Besides, it makes them look prettier.

chocolate gold bars5

The chewy chocolate base is perfect when paired with the chocolaty cheesecake filling . Gooey, chewy, with that slightly crunchy top – delicious.

Cut small pieces, though, or you may go into sweetness overload.

I did make an attempt at, well, not making them healthy, but lowering the “oh, no, I can’t eat these!” factor by use Neufchatel (1/3rd less fat) cream cheese. They still came out delicious and surprisingly a little less rich.

chocolate gold bars4
The only thing I miss from the vanilla gold bars is the very slight saltiness of the yellow cake mix.  

Besides that, these Chocolate Texas Gold Bars get four thumbs up (mine and Bret’s)!

Ready for more terrific dessert bars?  Try my Lemon Blueberry Crumble Bars or Chocolate Chip Meringue Bars.

Gold bars with chips

Chocolate Texas Gold Bars

Yield: 20
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes

Excellent.

Ingredients

  • 1 pkg. chocolate cake mix
  • 3  eggs
  • 1 stick butter, , softened
  • 1, 8 oz pkg cream cheese, , softened
  • 1 box, (16 oz.) powdered sugar
  • 2 tbsp cocoa
  • 1 C mini chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  
  2. Combine the cake mix, 1 egg, and the butter and mix until thick and doughy.  Press into the bottom of an 8 1/2 X 11 glass baking dish, making sure to push it up the sides of the pan as far as possible.
  3. Mix together the softened cream cheese, 2 eggs, powdered sugar  and cocoa until totally combined and creamy .  Pour the mixture evenly on top of the crust base and sprinkle with the chocolate chips.  Bake for 35-45 minutes until set.
  4. Let cool before slicing.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

Make sure and press the base up the sides of the pan as far as you can.  To me, the thinner the very bottom crust is, the better.  It will puff up when baking.

I used Neufchatel (1/3 fat cream cheese).  Regular cream cheese is a touch better, but both work fine.

The next one I make will have a strawberry cake base with about 1/2 cup of crushed fresh strawberries mixed into the filling.  Yum.

After baking for 45 minutes, it still may look a little wiggly, but go ahead and take it out, so it won't over bake.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 20 Serving Size: 1 bar
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 141Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 52mgSodium: 94mgCarbohydrates: 8gFiber: 1gSugar: 6gProtein: 2g
© sblades
Category: Bars

Filed Under: All Recipes, Bars Tagged With: Chocolate Cheesecake bars, Cream Cheese Bars, Texas Gold Bars

Creme Brulee Cheesecake Bars

October 20, 2013 by sblades 2 Comments

 
Oh, my, oh my oh my are these Creme Brulee Cheesecake Bars good!  Crunchy toffee topping, creamy cheesecake, sugar cookie crust – what’s not to like? 

These easy-to-make bars originated at the Betty Crocker web site, but I think my changes in ingredients and instructions make them a little bit better.  It’s hard not to sneak to the refrigerator and grab one!

close up brulee bars 5

Creamy filling and that carmely crunchy top with a nice base to hold it all.  Incredibly delicious!

These are best eaten the same day you make them.

Creme Brulee Cheesecake Bars

Crème Brulee Cheesecake Bars

Yield: 32
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 37 minutes
Inactive Time: 3 hours
Total Time: 4 hours 2 minutes

Creamy center and crunchy caramely topping.

Ingredients

  • 1 pouch, (1 lb. 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
  • 1 box, (4-serving size) vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix
  • 2 tbsp packed brown sugar
  • ½ C butter, melted
  • 3 tsp vanilla
  • 2 eggs plus 3 egg yolks
  • 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese
  • 1 (8 oz.) package Neufchatel  cream cheese
  • ½ C sour cream
  • ½ C sugar
  • 1 C toffee bits, , finely crushed

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 350 F. 
  2. Cover 13x9” pan with aluminum foil with foil extending from edges for easy removal after cooking bars. 
  3. In a large bowl, combine cookie mix, pudding mix, brown sugar, melted butter, 1 tsp. of the vanilla and 1 whole egg – mix until soft dough forms.  Press all but 1 Cup dough in bottom and 1/2 “ up the sides of the pan.  (You can bake cookies out of the 1 Cup of leftover dough!).
  4. In a medium bowl, beat both packages of cream cheese and sugar with mixer on medium speed until smooth.  Add remaining whole egg, 3 egg yolks and remaining 2 tsp vanilla; beat until smooth.  Spread over crust in pan.
  5. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until set in center.  Immediately sprinkle top with crushed toffee bits. 
  6. Turn oven to broil and slip the pan under the broiler for 1 ½ to 2 minutes until toffee is lightly melted.  Remove from broiler and let cool for 30-45 minutes. 
  7. Refrigerate about 3 hours or until chilled.  For bars, cut into 8 rows by 4 rows.  Store covered in refrigerator.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

I scored the bars before putting under the broiler, because the toffee gets crackly and is hard to cut later without destroying the topping.

You can use the entire batch of cookie dough for the crust, but I found it to be too thick if all of it was used.

Mine was done in 30 minutes.

You could use lite sour cream in this also and it would be just as good.

I did find that after being refrigerated overnight, the toffee topping became soft, but was still great!

If you want that great crackling brulee topping, serve it the same day after cooling in the refrigerator three hours or so.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 32 Serving Size: 1 bar
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 123Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 48mgSodium: 69mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 0gSugar: 10gProtein: 1g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© sblades
Category: Bars
crushed toffee two

Filed Under: All Recipes, Bars Tagged With: cheesecake bars, Cream Cheese Bars, Creme Brulee Cheesecake Bars

Primary Sidebar

Follow Me!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon

Welcome!  I’m Susan and I love finding wonderful new recipes.  I hope you’ll find a few new ones here that you and your family will love. Browse around and stay a while!Save

Save

Can’t Find What You’re Looking for?

Most Popular Posts

  • Soft Cinnamon Roll Cookies
  • Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Tea Cake Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Tea Cake (The Cake Slice Bakers)
  • Creamy Great Northern Beans with Ham
  • Light Chicken Parmesan Crock-Pot Chicken Parmesan (A Lighter Version of the Classic)
  • Hamburger Cauliflower Soup Hearty Hamburger Cauliflower Soup
Get new recipes by email:
Powered by follow.it
my foodgawker gallery
Copyright © 2022 · Design by Deluxe Designs