Lemon Chess Bars

Lemon Chess Bars - made October 26, 2011 from The Cake Mix Bible from Publications International (book #174)

I'm getting close to the end of my baking challenge.  I think I have only a couple dozen more books to go.  At this point, I confess, I just want to be done with the thing.  Not really just to lift my self-imposed ban of buying new baking books but also because my enthusiasm for it is flagging.  It was a good idea for awhile and good discipline for me to stick with what I have and to understand I don't have to buy every shiny new object, aka baking book, that catches my eye.  Matter of fact, I'm so overwhelmed with what I already have that my enthusiasm for more baking books has waned a bit.  It's hard to keep being acquisitive when you look at what you've already bought yet rarely use.  I'm all for shopping and I support retail therapy when needed but at the end of the day, it's just so much stuff.  And I know something I buy with such enthusiasm today will likely be a Goodwill donation in the future.  It's just a matter of time until I like something better or do a purging declutter because I get overwhelmed by how much I have.  This isn't a complaint as I'm one of the lucky ones to have that problem.  But it is a factual observation of my patterns of behavior.  Fortunately I've managed to tone down that acquisitive behavior in recent years.  I just still need to purge some of the by-products of that behavior, aka "all this stuff" from past years.

This recipe came from one of those books - something I don't understand now why I bought it, considering I don't really believe in cake mix.  I also don't believe in cream cheese so I'm not sure why I picked this recipe to try, likely because it looked easy and because it seemed like something I would like.  I was wrong.  It was easy enough to put together but I don't really like cream cheese unless there's only a little of it and it's paired with chocolate.  That wasn't the case here.  Other people who like cream cheese might like these bars for the very reason I didn't care for it: tasted too much like cream cheese :).  On to the next recipe and the next cookbook in the challenge.

1 (18.25-ounce) package white or yellow pudding-in-the-mix cake mix

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1.    Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.

2.   Combine cake mix, 1 egg and oil in large bowl; stir until crumbly.  Reserve 1 cup crumb mixture.  Press remaining crumb mixture into ungreased 9 x 13-inch cake pan.  Bake 15 minutes or until light golden brown.

3.   Combine remaining egg, cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice in medium bowl; beat until smooth and well blended.  Spread over baked layer.  Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.  Bake 15 minutes.  Cool in pan on wire rack; cut into bars.