Cream Cheese Lemon Bars

Cream Cheese Lemon Bars 1 box Lemon Cake Mix 1/3 cup butter melted 3 large eggs divided use 1 ,8 oz block cream cheese softened, 1 cup powdered sugar 2 tbsp . lemon juice 1/2 tbsp . grated lemon peel 1 tsp . vanilla extract Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. In a mixing bowl, combine dry cake mix, melted butter and 1 egg. It will look crumbly. Press this mixture into baking pan. It'll take a little time to do this but hang in there and keep on pressing. In the same mixing bowl beat the cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add in the powdered sugar. Add in lemon juice and grated lemon peel and stir until smooth. Add the remaining two eggs and vanilla extract to the cream cheese mixture. Beat this mixture until well blended (making sure to scrape down the sides of your mixing bowl as you stir). Reserve 1/2 cup of this mixture (it will be your topping after bars are done cooking). Put it in the fridge until you need it. Pour remaining cream cheese mixture over cake mix base. Spread out until evenly coated. Bake for about 25-30 minutes. Be careful not to overbake. You want the top to still be slightly soft-set. Allow it to cool completely. Then take the 1/2 cup of reserved cream cheese mixture and pour over top of bars. Spread out evenly. Refrigerate until firm. Then cut into bars. Notes These bars have to be kept refrigerated so you shouldn't have any weird egg issues. However, if you're still nervous about the eggs in this final topping mixture that is being set aside for later use, you can set aside 1/2 cup of the mixture before you add the eggs in. Keep refrigerated.