CREAM CHEESE BARS
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup butter, softened
- ⅓ cup brown sugar plus two tablespoons, divided
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup walnuts, chopped and divided
- 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
- 1 egg beaten
- 2 tablespoons whole milk or light cream
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line an 8×8-inch pan with foil pressing tightly up sides. This will help remove the finished bars once baked.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and the ⅓ cup of brown sugar until fluffy.
- Add flour until just combined.
- Remove from mixer and blend ½ of the chopped nuts in by hand and stir mixture until a small crumb forms. Reserve one cup of this mixture. Take remaining mixture and press into the prepared 8X8 pan and bake for 12 minutes. Place on rack to cool.
- To the reserved cup of crumb mixture, add the remaining 2 tablespoons brown sugar, remaining ½ cup chopped nuts and the one tablespoon of oil. Mix thoroughly and set aside.
- Place stand mixer bowl back on with paddle and cream sugar and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Scrape bowl and mix again.
- Add egg, milk, lemon juice and vanilla and beat until very light and creamy.
- Pour this mixture into cooled pan over the cooked crust and top with reserved topping pressing just slightly into mixture.
- Bake for 25 minutes and cool on a rack in the pan. Once cool, lift the foil edges up and place the bar on a cutting board. Fold the foil down flat and slip the foil out.
- With a sharp serrated knife, cut the whole pan into 3 rows x 3 rows for total of nine squares. Then, if you’d like, cut each square in half corner to corner yielding 18 triangle pieces like we show in our photos.
source:allrecipes
