I’m quite convinced that the neighbor children down the hall don’t actually have parents.
I think they’re being raised by wild dogs.
It’s the only answer I have for why they run down the halls for hours at a time, screeching and slamming doors.
It’s driving me mad.
I was trying real hard this weekend to have a nice, peaceful baking day. A day where I could relax in the kitchen whipping up some sweet treats for my coworkers. A day where I could cream butter and sugar together as a stress reliever. A nice, calm, serene baking day…
…that was constantly disturbed by unruly kids. Mind you, I’m only 27. I’m not the old scary woman down the hall that yells, “Get off my lawn!” No, I’m just an overworked, underpaid twentysomething who finds peace in the kitchen on the weekends. Is that too much to ask for?
Anyway, in my attempt at a cozy day of baking, I made these lemony treats. I should’ve used Meyer lemons (they’re my favorite!), but they still came out pretty well—and easy to boot.
Enjoy!
Lemon Cheesecake Bars
- 1 box Betty Crocker Supermoist lemon cake mix
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 3 eggs, divided
- 1 pkg. (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tsp. grated lemon peel
- 3 TBS. lemon juice
- Whipped cream
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, butter and one egg (just one!) until mixture is crumbly.
- Press cake mix into bottom of 9×13″ baking dish. It should be less than 1/4″ thick on the bottom of the pan.
- Meanwhile, in medium bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar slowly, continue to beat. Stir in lemon peel and lemon juice. Add remaining two eggs to cream cheese mixture, one at a time. Beat until smooth.
- Spread cream cheese mix over cake mix in the bottom of the pan. Bake for 23-25 minutes or until set and a toothpick comes out clean in the middle. Cheesecake mixture shouldn’t jiggle around. Cool completely and then refrigerate overnight or for 3 hours. Top with whipped cream and serve!
The coworkers loved these zesty cheesecake bars! The pan was devoured very quickly after the afternoon meeting. As you can see, it doesn’t take a master baker to make this recipe. It was even easier than making a regular cheesecake! The taste was lemony, creamy, tangy and of course, sweet. It’s the perfect dessert for a springtime evening.
leencuisine.com 
Yummy! Love these! And, I totally sympathize. We too live in multi-family dwellings. While we may have different clientele/distractions, I’ve always found that a preemptive plate of cookies or cupcakes keeps all the wild beasts at bay! Then you become the lady down the hall that bakes the goodies. Mmmmmm. And while you are sending those cookies, be sure to infuse it with vibes of peace and serenity. Mouths full of goodies are VERY quiet mouths!
Best,
Trish
Good idea! It’s better to be the friendly neighbor then the mean lady. I’ll make them some cookies next weekend 🙂
This looks yummy. Good luck with the building kids. Goodies go over well.
Great idea using cake mix for your crust. Sorry about the mousey kids!
Noisy! Mousey would be an improvement!
This is the second time I’ve used a cake mix as a crust and it’s worked swimmingly! And mouses would have been an improvement 🙂
Those look so good! And I love that you’re compiling and cooking family recipes.I’ve been trying to do that with my mom’s recipes too!
Tastes are great memories! I wish I could push everyone to copy down family recipes so they’ll have them forever.