Butter Bars From Scratch: Gooey Goodness Awaits! - Southern Plate (2024)

Dessert

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If you like your dessert rich, creamy, and ooey-gooey, you’re going to love this butter bars recipe!

Butter Bars From Scratch: Gooey Goodness Awaits! - Southern Plate (1)

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This ooey gooey butter bars recipe is the stuff of legends. While the shortcut recipe (using boxed yellow cake mix) has been making rounds for years, it’s nothing compared to this homemade from-scratch butter bars. I promise it takes just a few extra steps (and a couple of minutes more) and you have an old-fashioned over-the-top dessert bar that tastes like it came straight from Grandma’s table. I’m excited to share this recipe treasure.

If you’ve never tried a gooey butter bar before, let me tell you about these rich and creamy layers. The bottom is soft and moist like a cake and it’s topped with a sweet custard-like cream cheese layer. Fun fact: because they’re so rich in flavor, they’re often called Neiman Marcus bars.

Keep reading for serving ideas, but these butter bars taste delicious no matter how you serve them. Let’s get baking!

Recipe Ingredients

  • All-purpose flour
  • Sugar
  • Baking powder
  • Salt
  • Eggs
  • Butter
  • Cream cheese (check out our easy-peasy homemade cream cheese recipe)
  • Eggs
  • Powdered sugar
  • Wee bit of vanilla extract

I know that seems like a lot of ingredients but it’s just a scant amount for most of them and they come together as quick as a wink. As usual, the full recipe and ingredients are down in the printable recipe card.

How To Make Butter Bars

Butter Bars From Scratch: Gooey Goodness Awaits! - Southern Plate (2)

Place the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, butter, and eggs in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low just until a dough is formed.

Line a 9×13 baking dish with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray or just spray your pan directly with a good coating of cooking spray and leave out the foil part.

The foil makes it easier to remove the bars all at once and get nice clean cuts but it isn’t necessary.

Pat dough into the bottom of the prepared pan and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, place cream cheese and beat until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, vanilla, and powdered sugar and beat until well combined and smooth with no lumps. Pour over the crust in the pan.

Butter Bars From Scratch: Gooey Goodness Awaits! - Southern Plate (3)

Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Gooey In The Middle

You’ll have to rely on them looking nice and golden rather than the traditional toothpick test as these are supposed to stay a little gooey in the middle.

Allow your butter bars to cool completely before cutting so the top layer can set a bit.

Hint: These are delicious warm but just not as pretty when you cut them that way. I suggest eating one warm and then letting the rest cool – but you didn’t hear that from me!

Butter Bars From Scratch: Gooey Goodness Awaits! - Southern Plate (4)

Once cooled, sprinkle the tops with a little more confectioner’s sugar, cut, and enjoy!

They also taste great with a serving of whipped cream.

Storage

  • Store in an airtight container either at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
  • Butter bars also freeze really well for up to 3 months. Wrap them individually so you can enjoy a butter bar whenever the craving hits!

Recipe Notes

  • For a festive touch, turn your butter bars into cranberry butter bars. Simply add 2 cups of fresh or frozen (and thawed) cranberries to the cream cheese filling.
  • Speaking of cranberries, you can also decorate your butter bars with sugared cranberries and fresh mint leaves.
  • Other topping ideas include fresh strawberries, caramel sauce, or a simple glaze using powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk.
  • Enjoy your butter bars at room temperature or cold.

You may also enjoy these other bar recipes:

Recipe for Chocolate Chip Bars

Ooey Gooey Cherry Bars

No-Bake Peanut Butter Bars

Lemon Bars Recipe and Video Tutorial

Lela’s Fried Peach Pie Bars

Butter Bars From Scratch: Gooey Goodness Awaits! - Southern Plate (5)

Butter Bars

If you like your dessert rich, creamy, and ooey-gooey, you're going to love this homemade and from-scratch butter bars recipe!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: butter

Servings: 4

Calories: 209kcal

Author: Christy Jordan

Ingredients

Crust

  • 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
  • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup butter at room temp

Filling:

  • 8 oz cream cheese at room temp
  • 3 large eggs
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

  • Place the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, butter, and eggs in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low just until a dough is formed. Line a 9x13 baking dish with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray or just spray your pan directly with a good coating of cooking spray and leave out the foil part. (The foil makes it easier to remove the bars all at once and get nice clean cuts but it isn't necessary).

  • Pat dough into bottom of prepared pan and set aside.

  • In a large mixing bowl, place cream cheese and beat until smooth and creamy. Add 3 eggs, vanilla, and powdered sugar and beat until well combined and smooth with no lumps. Pour over crust in pan.

  • Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes or until the top is golden brown. You'll have to rely on them looking nice and golden rather than the traditional toothpick test as these are supposed to stay a little gooey in the middle. Allow to cool completely before cutting so the top layer can set a bit.

Notes

Hint: These are delicious warm but just not as pretty when you cut them that way. I suggest eating one warm and then letting the rest cool - but you didn't hear that from me!

Nutrition

Calories: 209kcal

Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!

“The hope of the world lies in what one demands, not of others, but of oneself.”

~James Baldwin

Butter Bars From Scratch: Gooey Goodness Awaits! - Southern Plate (2024)

FAQs

When was Rum and butter bars discontinued? ›

Cadbury's Rum & Butter bar, was a favorite for many in the 1980s but was discontinued in the 1990s.

What are butter bars in the military? ›

Butter bar or butterbar may refer to: Second lieutenant, a junior commissioned officer rank in the US Army, Air Force and Marines. Ensign (rank), a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the US Navy and Coast Guard. Dessert bar, a type of confection.

In what midwestern city was gooey butter cake invented? ›

The original St. Louis, MO Bakers' gooey butter is believed to have originated in the 1930s. It was made with a yeast-raised sweet dough on the bottom. A slice of Gooey butter cake, garnished with powdered sugar and raspberries.

Can you freeze butter bars? ›

Storage. Store in an airtight container either at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 5 days. Butter bars also freeze really well for up to 3 months.

Do they still make Rum and Butter chocolate bars? ›

So in 2021, Canadian Candy Nostalgia launched Rum & Butter, a non-alcoholic, rum-flavoured Caramilk-like confection. Previously a Cadbury chocolate bar that was popular in the '80s, it had been out of production since 1996.

What's the oldest candy bar still around? ›

Launched in 1866—nineteen years after Fry's created the first moulded, solid chocolate eating bar (in 1847)— Fry's Chocolate Cream is the first mass-produced chocolate bar and is the world's oldest chocolate bar brand.

What is the military slang for snacks? ›

Geedunk: In the Navy, snack foods, or the store where snacks are sold. Get smoked: A tough, but fast work-out used as a punishment, in the Army.

Why do military recruits get the peanut butter shot? ›

Fear the peanut butter shot. Yes, fear it. Since bicillin kills off a variety of bacteria strands in one shot, it's given to nearly every recruit.

What does chest candy mean in the military? ›

Noun. chest candy (uncountable) (military, slang) Medals and ribbons worn on the chest.

Why is gooey butter cake so good? ›

Gooey butter cake is comprised of two distinctly delicious layers—one chewy base layer made from a boxed yellow cake mix and one gooey, velvety, oh-so luscious cream cheese layer. When you combine the two together into one bite, it's the perfect pairing.

What dessert is St. Louis known for? ›

Nothing compares to gooey butter cake. Rich, moist and tender, it's arguably the best dessert in St. Louis.

Is funnel cake a Midwest thing? ›

In the U.S., funnel cakes were originally associated with Pennsylvania Dutch Country. It is one of the first North American fried foods, which is associated with the Pennsylvania Dutch, German immigrants who came to Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Can you eat butter that has melted and solidified again? ›

That butter can still be used for other things though! Extra-softened or even melted and re-solidified butter will still work perfectly to spread on toast or pancakes, to be made into brown butter, or to remelt and use in recipes calling for melted butter like a Graham Cracker Crust.

Why do people put butter in the freezer? ›

Yes, butter freezes very well, so feel free to fill your freezer! It's not unusual behavior to stock up on butter, as running out of butter can be a hassle. Freezing butter is a very good way to avoid this inconvenience.

Can frozen butter go bad? ›

Butter can stay safe for consumption inside the freezer for up to 6 to 12 months. The product must be properly sealed in an airtight container to exclude external factors. While butter's shelf-life can be extended by freezing, its quality may degrade the longer it stays in the freezer.

When were Butterfingers discontinued? ›

They debuted in 1992 and became a household name due in part to the ad campaign featuring characters from the Simpsons. But the beloved treat was discontinued in 2006, Tasting Table reported. Some fans of the defunct candy are still clamoring for it to be brought back to store shelves 17 years later.

Why were Secret bars discontinued? ›

The product was discontinued a couple of years later, due to high production costs and low volume of sales. In more recent years there have been a number of petitions, on websites such as Facebook, asking Nestlé to relaunch the Secret bar.

When did they stop making Texan bars? ›

It was withdrawn from sale in 1984 but was briefly re-launched as a limited "nostalgia" edition by Nestlé in 2005. A 2004 survey of sweet shops' customers rated the Texan bar their favourite sweet of all time, by a large margin.

When did they stop making Aztec bars? ›

Aztec was a chocolate bar produced by Cadbury's from 1967. It was made of nougat and caramel covered with milk chocolate and was sold in a deep purple wrapper. The Aztec was created by Cadbury's to compete with the Mars Bar, but it was discontinued in 1978.

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