These Lightly Lemon Cheese Bars are the very tasty result of a cookbook mistake. A collection of recipes had what I think was suppose to be a traditional bar recipe using a crumbly cake on the bottom, a smooth soft-baked mixture in the middle, and another layer of the cake mixture crumbled on top. I mean the instructions even called the cake mixture a crumble in more than one place. Of course, I did not notice that until just after I poured an entire cup of oil into the cake mix-filled bowl. In my defense, I must say I read the ingredient list several times prior to making the recipe because I thought a cup of oil was WAY too much.
As I am not one to waste food if it can be avoided, I went ahead and baked the cake mixture to see what would happen. To my surprise, it actually worked! It was not too dense, rich, or oily (like I feared it might be).
I did make some changes to the original recipe to increase the lemon flavor and off-set some of the sweetness. The result was a yummy bar that was super easy to make.
Easy Lightly Lemon Cheese Bars
Ingredients
- 1 yellow or butter cake mix
- 1 c. canola or similar oil
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 8 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)
- 1/2 granulated sugar
- 1 lemon (zest and juice)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Stir cake mix, 1 egg, and oil together until uniformly combined.
- Take out one cup of the batter and reserve it for later.
- Put the remaining batter in a greased 9 X 13-inch baking pan. (I recommend a cooking spray with flour)
- Bake for 15 to 18 minutes.
- Meanwhile, beat cream cheese, sugar, remaining egg, lemon juice and lemon zest until smooth.
- Spread cream cheese mixture over the top of the cake upon removing it from the oven.
- Drizzle or drop the reaming cake batter on the cream cheese layer.
- Return the baking pan to the oven and bake for 15 minutes longer or until the cake is lightly brown and cream cheese layer is set.
- Cool some prior to cutting.
Notes
To make these bars more lemony, use a lemon cake mix.
