Chocolate Chip Cheese Bar

After my kitchen catastrophe last weekend, it was nice to redeem myself with this deliciousness.

I've been going through the pantry, freezer, and fridge cooking my way through the odds and ends that appear to be left-overs and left behinds. To be thrifty, you know, plus to use stuff up. Noodles appear in soup. Brown rice is in soup. Jello is used in, well, jello, AND cookies as a subtle flavoring. Salad dressings are used up. Casseroles are created from ALLL sorts of things. Experiments have to be successful, since I have no choice but to eat them.

But what do with the 8 oz block of cream cheese when I don't have the energy or mad-skills to attempt a cheesecake? I turned to the handy cookbook my s-i-l Kelli gave me, oh so many years ago, to search for the answer.

5 Ingredients or Less: most in under twenty minutes! compiled by the Professional Home Economics Teachers of California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah, c. 2002 California Cookbook Company.*

Chocolate Chip Cheese Bar
by Gale Hooper of Casa Roble High School in Orangevale, CA

1 tube of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg

Cut cookie dough in half. For crust, press half of the dough onto the bottom of a greased 8 inch square pan. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and egg until smooth. Spread over crust. Crumble remaining dough over top. Bake at 350 degree for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick near center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.
(Supposed to serve 9-12)

To be thrifty, I didn't purchase the refrigerated cookie dough. I used up the last of the chocolate chips from my freezer and used the other ingredients I still had in the pantry. The dough was fresher -- and I think there was a bit more than what would come in the tube. I did chill it down while I made up the cream cheese layer. As you can see, it cooked up over the sides of the pan, so I had to use a knife to check the center. I could have baked it a bit more than the 45-50+ minutes I baked it (my stove runs slower than normal), as the center did settle in as it cooled and when I transferred it out of the pan. But is is soooooooo yummy. I had to test it, you know.

My officemates will be saving me from myself with this creation. I already scarfed down a whole edge. They need to eat the rest or I'll never forgive myself.


*recipes do reflect ingredients and brands not available in other parts of the country, but you can find some substitutions.