No Holiday is Complete without Cream Cheese Squares!

Did someone say cream cheese?  Yes please!!  I am pretty sure that cream cheese is one of favorite dessert ingredients of all time.  It has been a fact since I was a child.  This particular dessert stands at the forefront of my memories of childhood Christmas baking.  Probably, mainly, because I would never eat it.   The original recipe calls for the pecans in the crust.  And, well, as my husband always laments, I don’t like nuts in my mouth.  Honestly, this isn’t entirely the truth.  I don’t like nuts mixed in with other foods in my mouth.  I am perfectly fine with nuts by themselves in my mouth!!  I love pecans.  And peanuts too!!  Tehe.  It’s a texture thing for me.  I also don’t like coconut.  That particular texture issue stems from a birthday where my mother made a lamb cake covered in shredded coconut.  I puked.  Everywhere.  And I haven’t been able to eat coconut since.  Even the taste of coconut water makes me want to vomit.  Anyway.  I probably shouldn’t talk about food and vomiting huh?  Okay.  I’ll stop now.

So every time my mother would make these yummy cream cheese squares, she would put pecans in the crust.  She refused to not do it.  So I would scrap out just the cream cheese part and not eat the crust.  Fortunately, my sister would take pity on me, and she would make me my very own cream cheese squares without the pecans!  She’s so sweet isn’t she?   Well, guess what?  Now I am the one making the cream cheese squares and NO ONE gets nuts.  Bahahahahaha!!  Karma is a bitch!!  Remember that Donald Trump!  Now, on to the recipe.  This is another super easy one that the kiddos will love to help with.  Zoe loves to help me break the eggs and then mix up the ingredients.
Crust:

1 Super Moist Yellow Cake Mix (This means is has EXTRA propelyne glycol in it.  But hey, it is only once a year. . .)

1 stick of butter, melted

1 egg

1/2 cup of chopped pecans (If you are so inclined.  If you love the little girl in me though, you will just say no.)

Mix together and press into a 9×13 pan, pressing the corners up to form an edge.

Filling:

8oz cream cheese, softened

1 box of powdered sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Blend and pour into crust.  Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. 

Alright now, get to baking.  And for the love of all little girls out there, leave out the nuts.  Til next time, have a drink for me!