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This recipe was my absolute favorite sweet treat growing up, and still is! This was my great-grandma’s recipe and is NOT for those watching their figure! The result is a very rich, very tasty bar cookie. The nuts and cherries are both optional, but give great variations to this recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups margarine, softened
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 ½ cups white sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (Optional)
- ½ cup well-drained chopped maraschino cherries (Optional)
Directions
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan.
Step 2
Beat the margarine, cream cheese, and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to blend into the margarine mixture before adding the next. Beat in the vanilla with the last egg. Mix in the flour, salt, chocolate chips, and walnuts until just incorporated. Fold in the maraschino cherries; mixing just enough to evenly combine. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
Step 3
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out nearly clean, about 25 minutes. Watch closely – the finished bars will be very pale in color. Remove from oven immediately if the sides begin to pull away from the pan. Cool pan on a wire rack before cutting into bars.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings Per Recipe 36 | |
| Calories 237 | |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Total Fat15g | 19% |
| Saturated Fat5g | 24% |
| Cholesterol22mg | 7% |
| Sodium210mg | 9% |
| Total Carbohydrate24g | 9% |
| Dietary Fiber1g | 4% |
| Total Sugars14g | |
| Protein3g | |
| Vitamin C0mg | 1% |
| Calcium19mg | 1% |
| Iron1mg | 6% |
| Potassium82mg | 2% |
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
**Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available nutrient data.
(-) Information is not currently available for this nutrient.If you are following a medically restrictive diet, please consult your doctor or registered dietitian before preparing this recipe for personal consumption.
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source by allrecipe
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My son, Carlos Jr. helped me make these and of course he got the first one out of oven and said ” They were Very Very AWESOME!!!! They were just the right sweetness, very moist. I followed this recipe to the letter except for the bar part. I also used muffin pans. Next time I would like to add extra cherries.MPO:) Thank You Cooking Bug for an excellent recipe!!
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MMM, these are delicious and Melt in your mouth. But I made these leaving out the optional ingredients because of personal preference. Now, I know these were to be made into bars. But once I know I can make a dessert into individual sizes, I usually do that. I made these in a regular muffin pan, generously greased as the recipe stated (no liners needed) and as soon as they were cooled they literally popped out of the pan, perfectly! These baked up so nicely as muffins too and I baked for 25 mins. just as the recipe stated. As I bit into one, I did feel like I was enjoying a piece of heaven! I will be making these often and want to try these as mini muffins too. Thanks for sharing your recipe CookinBug!
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I followed the recipe exactly leaving out the optional ingredients. They were very tasty and all of them are gone. I baked in muffin pans as well. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because I was expecting a little more cream cheese flavor. Next time I will add a little more cream cheese. This is a keeper! Update—I added about 2oz more cream cheese and they were perfect! 5 stars second time around. Thanks.
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Excellent, excellent. These are very buttery-tasting, soft shortbread-y bars – totally addictive. I’m not a maraschino fan, but liked the idea of cherries with the chocolate and nuts, so I used chopped dried cherries in mine – fantastic substitution if you like them. I followed the rest of the recipe exactly. Heavenly! Thanks, Grasshopper! 🙂
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These are by far the best bars I have ever tasted! I did have to keep them in the oven for 40 minutes altogether. I used 1 cup choc. chips and 1 cup white choc. chips. Put in walnuts excluded cherries.
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I made these last night with the cherries and they turned out delicious! They are very moist and decadent, my husband loved them!
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I followed the recipe exactly. And sent it to work with my husband. They liked it, but said things like, “there are cherries in this but you can not taste them.” The same was said about the chocolate chips and nuts. Next time I will add more cherries, nuts, and chocolate chips. This also took longer than 25 mintues to bake and my oven is very accurate. I would make it again with some changes. I will add a chocolate drizzle on the top.
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These are very tasty bars! The texture is very good, but I felt that there might have been to many chocolate chips. I used dried cherries instead of maraschino, because my family doesn’t care for those. I loved the crunch that the nuts gave the bars. Thanks for sharing your recipe, CookingBug!
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Very good! I agree that there is too many chocolate chips. I would probably scale it down to 1 cup. I will make these again.
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LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! I made this recipe EXACTLY as written (but didn’t add the optional walnuts & cherries due to picky eaters) and it was AWESOME!!! Everyone at the bbq I went to this weekend devoured the bars; no one ate just one. If I could describe them I would say they are what you would have if blonde brownies & a cheesecake had babies – VERY GOOD & many people asked for the recipe. THANK YOU for sharing Cookinbug!!!
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These bake up so nice! Really yummy! I left the nuts out altogether and made an 8×8 pan with just chocolate chips (for the kids) and another 8×8 pan with chocolate chips and dried cherries. Both were good but the dried cherries really took these bars to the next level. I went a little light on the dried cherries because I wasn’t sure how it would taste.. next time I will definitely add more..YUM! Brought these to two different houses of people and everyone loved them!
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These were great! I made mine without the optional cherries. These will be a regular at my house. Thanks for the great recipe.
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I was very disappointed in this recipe, the bars when warm are greasy and didn’t have a cream cheese flavor. I was thought is was going to be more like a cheesecake. Won’t make again…
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These were not “bars” at all. The 3 eggs made this very dense and cakey. I was expecting more of a cheesecake flavor, but the cream cheese is hardly noticeable. The texture was heavy and thick. They also took 45 minutes to cook and was still a little raw in the middle when I removed it from the oven. I was disappointed and ended up throwing most of it away.
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Yum! Everyone in my family loved these! I used dried cherries because we like those better. I will make it again. Thanks for a great recipe!
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Wonderful recipe. Everyone at work loved it. I did cook it 40 minutes instead of 25. It passed the toothpick test at 25 minutes but the top still seemed wet.
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Rated a 4 only because the cook time is off – it does take about 40 minutes in an accurate 350 oven. Very good but the choc. chips overpowered everything else. Will be making them again and try pecans and cherries.
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I made these for my son and his wife to take to the coast as they were going to meet her family for a vacation. She called back this am and said everyone wanted the recipe so they could make more today, so I would say they are a hit. Now I am going to make some for us. Thank you CookinBug for making me look like a “good cook” to my daugher in laws family.
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EXCELLENT! I can’t *officially* eat any of these until tomorrow, but I did sneak a few bites and they are truely delicious. They reminded me of a shortbread cookie and a blondie combined…only better! I added all the optional ingredients because I love all of them, and will actually use more cherries than called for next time. I didn’t feel the chocolate chips overpowered these at all. They also only took 25 mins. in my oven (as stated in the recipe), but my oven is known to be extra hot, so that could be why I didn’t have any problems with the cooking time as other reviewers did. I am definately making these for my cousins wedding in Oct., and can’t wait to make them for Christmas and use a combo of red/green maraschino cherries. Thanks for the AWESOME recipe, Bug! 🙂
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Yum!.. I’ve been wanting to make these for some time and finally did! I only made some minor changes due to what I had: marschino cherries, pecans, 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips and baked for 40 minutes as others suggested. I know I’ll be making these over and over again! Thanks CB.
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I used neufchatel cheese because that is what I had on hand. They came out like a cake-like cheesecake. They were very rich and moist with very nice flavor and mouth-feel. I cut them into bite-sized pieces for portion control!! Everyone at work loved them. I used a shiny 9×13 pan and 25 mins in the oven was perfect because these do continue to bake a little more than expected when removed from the oven. I think any more than that and they would have been overdone and dry. I will definitely make these again and again.
UPDATE: These made 48 mini-muffins, plus a little left over batter. They needed 16 mins in the oven. I greased the pans and they easily popped right out.
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Just made these last night finally and they were yummy. Although I did take another user’s suggestion and add an extra 2 oz of cream cheese and it took nearly 40 minutes for mine to cook. They were yummy though. I’ll def make again soon! I didn’t add the cherries and nuts due to allergies in the family.
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These were very yummy!! I think next time I will add more cherries and nuts because I loved them!!!!! I didn’t find these at all dry but a nice little slice of heaven and ohhh so rich!!
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I liked the maraschino cherries in this bar. I also melted leftover chocolate chips on the top of the bars a few minutes before pulling them out of the oven. I think this improved them. The cream cheese is a dominant flavor, and the cookie is more crumbly than moist. This isn’t a very sweet cookie, and all though I found them good, the majority unfortunately was wasted on my picky family who likes traditional foods.
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Will definitely make this one regularly. There goes the diet, again!
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I used Dried Cranraisins,nuts and reeses chips. Okay I guess. Cooked for about 35 minutes with 2 additional oz of cream cheese.
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So after a comparision, I’ve come to the decision that some recipes just weren’t meant to ne “healthified.” I made an 8×8 following the recipe ingredients and another 8×8 subbing in other ingredients. My so-called healthier version just didn’t come close. Definitely stick to the recipe next time, just don’t eat to many if I don’t want to be bigger than a size 2. LOL
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This was better than I expected. I followed the recipe except I didn’t add the chocolate chips and cherries. I added walnuts and dried cranberries because that’s what I had on hand. I think the baking time of 25 minutes is good. I baked it for 30 minutes and it was very slightly overdone. The next time I make this, I’ll keep it for just 25 minutes.
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I’m torn about this recipe. I followed everything pretty closely- just added a pinch of almond extract too and left out the nuts. I felt it was pretty plain, but the kids all liked it. I think it has great possiblilities, and I’ll probably make it again, but I wouldn’t make it as the “only” dessert if company was coming.
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Never had something like these before. I gave my son a little sample while I was cutting them, and he said, no, just half that. So I gave him a 1″ cube and 10 seconds later he was back in the kitchen for more! Everyone loved them, I put the nuts through my nut grinder, but next time would rough chop with a knife for bigger pieces. Put some mini chips in it too, bigger ones are better. Didn’t think I would like the cherries in it, but they were good. Great recipe!
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Never had something like these before. I gave my son a little sample while I was cutting them, and he said, no, just half that. So I gave him a 1″ cube and 10 seconds later he was back in the kitchen for more! Everyone loved them, I put the nuts through my nut grinder, but next time would rough chop with a knife for bigger pieces. Put some mini chips in it too, bigger ones are better. Didn’t think I would like the cherries in it, but they were good. Great recipe!
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These were pretty good. I think the cherries are a must have. I bet these would be good with added maraschino cherry juice.
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These didn’t taste the way I expected but were still very good. It is very much like a shortbread cookie. Very dense and not too sweet. Overall thought they were pretty good…used fat free cream cheese and 1/2 cup less margarine than called for.
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My husband loves these ! thank you for the recipe 🙂
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I have no idea what went wrong with this recipe. It tasted like raw, uncooked, full of flour cake batter that weighed 10 pounds. That’s the best way to describe it. I cooked for the time suggested in the recipe, but I don’t know. I won’t be attempting this again – sorry!
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My family loved this dessert. I used 3/4 cup cherries and it seemed to be the perfect amount. I baked it for the 25 minutes called for in the recipe and it was the correct amount of time. This is definately a keeper. Thanks.
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YUM! I had to cook for an additional 10 minutes and did 1/2 semi-sweet, 1/2 white chocolate morsels. Very addicting.
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These shouldn’t even have “cream cheese” in their name. Very dense, WAY too much butter.
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My family loved these! However it took 45 minutes for them to bake. I used real butter and opted to not add cherries. I also decided to keep these bars in the frige after cooling, which made them much better. They were moist, rich, and not too sweet. I will definitely make these again.
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These were great!! But not outstanding (couldn’t give it 5 stars). I followed the recipe exactly the first time I made them and we thoroughly enjoyed them. For out annual chrismas party I gave them a little twist – I left out the nuts, used white chips with red and green cherries. Very festive looking. Thanks for sharing the recipe, I will use it again and again.
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Heaven? Maybe more like the stairway to heaven. The problem is it’s neither here nor there – not a cake, but not a cheesecake either. Maybe by adding that extra 2 oz of cream cheese as others suggested it would get a better consistency and flavor. I ended up using 1 cup semi-sweet chips and 1 cup white chips and using frozen (thawed) dark cherries. Baked in a 9×13 as directed, I started checking it early. The sides browned and started pulling away from the edge but the center was still raw. It ended up baking for 33 minutes to get the center baked and the edges turned out dry. It wasn’t a total flop but there are too many other desserts out there to make this one again. ~UPDATE~ So maybe I was a little harsh… it gets better after sitting in the fridge for a day or two. But it still needs some extra cream cheese… or SOMETHING…
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Heaven? Maybe more like the stairway to heaven. The problem is it’s neither here nor there – not a cake, but not a cheesecake either. Maybe by adding that extra 2 oz of cream cheese as others suggested it would get a better consistency and flavor. I ended up using 1 cup semi-sweet chips and 1 cup white chips and using frozen (thawed) dark cherries. Baked in a 9×13 as directed, I started checking it early. The sides browned and started pulling away from the edge but the center was still raw. It ended up baking for 33 minutes to get the center baked and the edges turned out dry. It wasn’t a total flop but there are too many other desserts out there to make this one again. ~UPDATE~ So maybe I was a little harsh… it gets better after sitting in the fridge for a day or two. But it still needs some extra cream cheese… or SOMETHING…
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First thing my husband said was, “Oh wow!” I did add the extra 2oz. of cream cheese and left out the optionals. I think they are wonderful! My kids love them too :O)
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UPDATE: WELL…. ALTHOUGH I AM STILL NOT A FAN, I MUST SAY THAT THESE TASTE A BIT BETTER THE NEXT DAY. THEY MAY EVEN FARE WELL IN THE FRIDGE (I SUGGEST TRYING THIS). OK. I hate sooooo much to be the downer here, but these just didn’t float my boat – AT ALL!!! There’s nothing wrong with this recipe, I just didn’t like it (much like for anyone, there are some things they like and some things they don’t). For me, these weren’t nearly sweet enough (and I am not a sweet toooth!). I could barely taste the cherries (kinda a waste, IMHO), I could ONLY taste cream cheese (not a good thing here…) and the texture was kinda wierd, even after completely cooled. I had planned on bringing a plate of treats to the office tomorrow (my boss and a new team member are coming to town for some training). I don’t think I will now…. I’m not even impressed enough to share these with others (anything that leaves my kitchen MUST have my seal of approval lol). Too bad. These would be a nice Valentine’s treat (which is one of the reasons I was drawn to the recipe to begin with… amongst the RAVING reviews). Looking forward to other recipes CookingBug. I know you must have plenty even if this one was a thumbs down for me! 🙂
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These were absolutely delicious! I did have to bake theme longer than what is suggested in the recipe; but then again i used an 8×11 pan instead of the 9×13, so they were taller squares and made the removal from the pan a little difficult (they’re very tender). I will try the mini muffin pan next time. I used a mixture of semi sweet and milk chocolate chunks. Thanks for the great recipe!
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A new favorite treat for the holidays!
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These were good, but not great. I agree with some other reviews about them being a little dense and cakey, but still tasty.
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Um…wow. This was amazing. My whole family loved it and even our guests raved. Cream cheese is my friend, so of course I loved it too. 😀 The only thing I changed was to use 1 cup of butter and 1/2 cup of coconut oil in replace of the margarine (I NEVER use that stuff). And oh, no nuts or cherries. Not a fan. The reason why I’m giving it just 4 stars is that I think the cream cheese flavor is a bit lacking. Yes, it’ll still rock your socks off but I think it could use a few extra ounces (2-3 or so) of cream cheese. The first piece I tried was a little corner piece (I snuck it outta there before dinner….shhh! Don’t tell) when the bars were still warm. I was NOT impressed. It was cakey and bland tasting. So I tried a middle piece. Much better. But it was kinda gooey and still bland tasting (like warm cheesecake). So I refrigerated it and let me tell you, they are WAY better cold! Dense, rich and creamy. So do yourself a favor and refrigerate these before serving. 😉 And just one more thing: make this like you would cheese cake. Eggs, cream cheese and butter/coconut oil all at room temp and mix just until incorporated.
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Um…wow. This was amazing. My whole family loved it and even our guests raved. Cream cheese is my friend, so of course I loved it too. 😀 The only thing I changed was to use 1 cup of butter and 1/2 cup of coconut oil in replace of the margarine (I NEVER use that stuff). And oh, no nuts or cherries. Not a fan. The reason why I’m giving it just 4 stars is that I think the cream cheese flavor is a bit lacking. Yes, it’ll still rock your socks off but I think it could use a few extra ounces (2-3 or so) of cream cheese. The first piece I tried was a little corner piece (I snuck it outta there before dinner….shhh! Don’t tell) when the bars were still warm. I was NOT impressed. It was cakey and bland tasting. So I tried a middle piece. Much better. But it was kinda gooey and still bland tasting (like warm cheesecake). So I refrigerated it and let me tell you, they are WAY better cold! Dense, rich and creamy. So do yourself a favor and refrigerate these before serving. 😉 And just one more thing: make this like you would cheese cake. Eggs, cream cheese and butter/coconut oil all at room temp and mix just until incorporated.
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Skip this recipe! I followed directions exactly. The first thing I noticed was that the bars had way too many mix-ins – 2 cups chips, 1 cup nuts, etc. These bars were too chunky and had no cream cheese flavor. They tasted like a bland shortcake, and they were too doughy (almost like they weren’t cooked, but they were). They did taste better chilled as previous reviewers stated, but even then they weren’t great, and no one in my family liked them – and that’s saying a lot, since we all have a sweet tooth. Overall, I won’t be making them again.
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i will admit that i tried hard to lighten up these bars, and unfortunately you could tell. however, they were still good with my changes, so i will give a 5star assuming that if i hadn’t gone and messed around with it, it would have been decadent. i used 2 sticks of margarine and the remaining half cup a vegetable oil based spread, splenda instead of sugar, fat free cream cheese, and half whole wheat flour. these were still good, but the texture was definitely affected by my meddling. i will say though, it still satisfied a sweet tooth without giving myself a massive guilt trip. thanks for the recipe!
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These are very good in texture, but lacking in flavour infortunately, which is weird since there are 2 T of vanilla!! I am so glad I cut down on the salt to only 1/2 a tsp as 1 1/2 sounded wayyy too much. I was right, It still came out a bit salty! I did not add the nuts or cherries; only the chocolate. . It was also very light in sweetness. I was really expecting these to be amazing but unfortunately, not so heavenly. Some loved them and some said they were OK. All in all, good recipe, just not great. Thanks for sharing!
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These were fabulous!!! I did make one change though, I used chocolate chunks instead of chips… cut it down to 1 1/2 cups so they wouldn’t overpower the cream cheese and vanilla. The kids liked them so much they even snuck some for breakfast this morning!
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I originally rev’d this as 4 star BUT I’m now changing it to 5. I have made them several times and with a few changes, they are BEYOND DELICIOUS. 1. use BUTTER and NOT MARGARINE! 2. use 2c of four and NOT three 3. make sure your ingredients (eggs, butter, cr cheese) are room temp 4. make sure you don’t over-cook them. 25-30 min is plenty of time and they should only be a tad brown around the edges. If you cook longer, they will be dry and NOT fabulous. Trust me. My girlfriends devoured them the other night. 🙂
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I made these for a luncheon, and frankly even after baking an extra 15 minutes, they were under baked. Will not attempt again.
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I used dried cherries instead of maraschino cherries and these turned out really good! I’ll definitely be making these again.
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Absolute. favorite. ever. I use half the chocolate chips so it didnt overpower everything else, because, it could have. Also left out nuts, used the cherries. This is soo decedent and delicious!
but be warned, I broke one of my mixers mixing this by ! soo think when mixing, i needed to use a turbo mixer! -
I really didn’t like these. they didn’t seem to have much cream cheese taste like I was expecting.
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No taste when warm…not any more flavor when cool. Sorry but I won’t be making these again.
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I enjoyed these made in a muffin tin like muffins. However I didn’t find the cream cheese taste to be very prominent.. Going to have experiment with this. Great recipe though!
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Finally made this last night. I did not add the chocolate chips or the optional ingredients. I tasted the batter and was scared because it was real buttery in flavor so I added about 2 tbs. of powdered sugar. Made these in sprayed cupcake pan and they turned out wonderful!! My picky 3 year old loves them as does my 1 1/2 year old. They are so addicting!! I like to warm them up a little in the microwave before eating. They are delish!! Thank you so much for sharing.
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Very tasty, I would add more cream cheese. Thanks
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I made these and we like them ! They took a little longer for my oven to bake and I tried one warm, which I didn’t really like. I put them in the frig and cut them very small-they are rich!! I made exact recipe using cherries, walnuts, etc. I only used butter in place of margarine. Thanks for sharing!!
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We love this recipe! Usually do as mini muffins, baking about 10-12 minutes.
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I added dried cranberries as well
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