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'So This is What Heaven Tastes Like!' Cream Cheese Bars

"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."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 10 ingredients
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'So This is What Heaven Tastes Like!' Cream Cheese Bars

Why it works: Vanilla and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

'So This is What Heaven Tastes Like!' Cream Cheese Bars

1 - 9x13 inch pan
Prep15 min
Cook25 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1063Calories
25 gProtein
39 gFat
150 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Cream Cheese1 oz (28g)99
Cherry1 cup (138g)87
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Vanilla + walnuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,730 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Chocolate + walnuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  5. Cream cheese + walnuttop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together439 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the walnut

The recipe marks walnut as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream cheese, sugar, egg, vanilla, flour, chocolate):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Hazelnutfits better
  3. Macadamia nutfits about as well
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream cheese, sugar, egg, vanilla, flour, chocolate. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.