Gooey Butter Bars

I'm taking a Public Relations class and I love it.  The people in it are awesome and so is my teacher.  Everyone gets along really well and it's the class that I wake up on Tuesdays and Thursdays looking forward to.

We have to come up with a fundraiser for an organization, so last class we spent the period coming up with ideas. We were to see what people think of our ideas.  So far, this is what we have:

Movie Night

Adult Spelling Bee

Potty Protection Insurance

3 on 3 tourney
Bake Sale

Canned Food Drive

Improv Show

Tupperware Fundraiser

Talent Show

Cheesecake Calendar

Dance Off

School Carnival

Walk a thon

Wii Dance off

Clean Yards

Recycle Printer Cartridges/Cell Phones

Big Brothers/Big Sisters

Slow Pitch Softball

Orange Juice Pong

Pie Eating Contest

50/50 Raffle

Bachelor/Bachelorette

BBQ Contest

Board Game/ Card Game

Butler Auction

Karaoke Night

Trivia Night

Fun Night

Haunted House in April

Dodgeball Tournament 

I'm personally favoring the eating contest and bake sale.  I would really like to hear your guys' input!  What do you think people would like?

If we're going to have a bake sale, I figure that I need to be baking more... ya know, for practice.  So my goal is to bake more often.  (If that's even possible.) Starting now, with these Gooey Butter Bars...


Have you guys ever had Gooey Butter Cake before?  I hadn't, but I had always heard that it was really good.  I saw the recipe for these bars on Jessica's blog and thought they looked really good, but I wasn't really planning on making them.  But then I was brainstorming at work with my friends about what to bake to pass out at the store and my friend Roxie was explaining something she had tried at a restaurant before and it sounded just like this recipe.  I got really excited and made it and oh wow... they're creamy on the inside and they've got sort of a caramelized top layer and a soft and chewy bottom crust.  I had 3, Kellen (who doesn't like sweets, remember) had 2 and then I brought them to work and Roxie had 3, too.   Then, one of my other friends asked if he could take the rest home with him. Yeah, they're pretty good.


I know I always tell you guys to make stuff, but... make these!!


P.S. I saw this healthy vegan fudge over at Chocolate Covered Katie and really wanted to try it, but I don't have any coconut butter.. but then I saw that she's giving coconut butter away.  Isn't that crazy?? So I entered to win... send me good luck!! :)


P.P.S. I didn't get a finished product picture. :(  They were eaten too quickly.

 Mix dry ingredients for crust.

 Add the wet ingredients.

 Have your helper press the crust into a pan. :)

 Mix the filling...

 ...until creamy.

 Okay, so it's really ugly... but the taste completely picks up what the looks lack.

Gooey Butter Bars (from scratch version)
Jessica- How Sweet Eats 

• FOR THE CRUST:
• 2 cups sugar
• 2-½ cups All-purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 1 stick Unsalted Butter, melted
• 1 whole Egg
• 1/4 cup milk

• FOR THE FILLING:
• 8 ounces, weight Cream Cheese, At Room Temperature
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1 stick Unsalted Butter, melted
• 3-¾ cups Confectioner's Sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Prepare crust first. In a large mixing bowl, combine the crust ingredients with a wooden spoon until moist. Transfer to a 13″x9″ ungreased baking pan and spread evenly over the bottom of the pan. Set aside.
3.  Next, prepare the filling. In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla, and melted butter, and continue to mix. Next, add the confectioner’s sugar one cup at a time until all sugar is mixed in. Pour filling over the crust, and spread evenly with a spatula.
4.  Bake gooey butter cake for 40-45 minutes until it is browned, but the center is still jiggles when the pan is shaken. Cool for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with additional confectioner’s sugar and serve.