Strawberry Shortcake Bars

 My poor work colleagues. They don't know how much I use them. Now, I'm just kidding about this, kind of... I often want to make something delicious, but am afraid of the ramifications of having an entire cake, batch of cookies etc. sitting around the house. My fear of sweets is further heightened by a recent visit to the doctor, where I was told that I've gained too much weight so far in my pregnancy. So disheartening! Anyways, work is the perfect antidote. People are always happy to see a sweet treat sitting in the common area. It is even better now that my new office is far away from said common area!

Anyways, I made these strawberry shortcake bars for a work party last week and they were quite the hit. Super easy and quite cute to look at. Face it, you need to go to a work party soon and these bars should be your date! Plus, strawberries are in season and they taste best now!

Original recipe found here: http://divascancook.com/2012/06/strawberry-shortcake-recipe-bars-easy-homemade.html

Ingredients

Butter-vanilla cake

½ cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1½ cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 pint strawberries

Cream layer:

8 oz cream cheese, softened (I was impatient and didn't wait long enough. The results were good, but not as smooth as I would have liked.)

¼ – ½ cup powdered sugar

8 oz frozen whipped topping (Cool Whip)

Instructions

  Preheat oven to 350.

1. In a large bowl, beat together sugar and butter until creamy. Mix in eggs, baking powder and salt. Alternate between adding in the flour and milk, beating after each addition. Beat until all ingredients are combined. Stir in vanilla extract.
2. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Pour batter evenly into the dish. Bake for 18-20 minutes until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Do not over bake. Cake will be flat and light in color. Let cool completely. Set aside.
3. Dice strawberries. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, cream together cream cheese, powdered sugar and frozen whipped topping. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly on top of cooled cake.
5. Top with fresh, diced strawberries.
6. Refrigerate for 3 hours. Store in the refrigerator.