Recipes
ByMerissa
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This Old Fashioned Cheese Squares Recipe would be a perfect snack to enjoy over a cup of coffee while you are chatting and catching up with friends and family this holiday season.
Table of Contents
Old Fashioned Cheese Squares
Looking for a unique pastry to make this year for the holidays? We always love a good Cream Cheese Danish, but this is a new recipe that we’ve been trying as well. Of course, I love it because I love anything with Cream Cheese!
I think your family will enjoy this recipe, too. It has a few steps to follow, but it’s worth it in the end!
Ingredients in Cheese Squares
- Dry yeast. Rapid Rise yeast, dry active yeast, and instant yeast will all work fine.
- Sugar. You will need a small amount for the dough and then more for the filling. The dough isn’t overly sweet.
- Butter. You can replace this with shortening if you need to or want to make this dairy-free.
- All-Purpose Flour. You can also use all-purpose gluten-free flour in this recipe if you’d like to make it gluten-free.
- Eggs. You need quite a few eggs for this recipe, so it’s a great way to use up extras if you need to!
- Cream cheese. This is the base for your filling. I have not tried using a vegan cream cheese, but you could if you wanted to make this dairy-free. Another option would be to replace it with a jam (like blueberry or raspberry). They wouldn’t be “cheese squares” but still would be good!
- Vanilla extract. You can use Homemade Vanilla Extract or store-bought.
Step By Step Instructions for Making Cheese Squares
In a small bowl, mix yeast with water and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cut butter into the flour until the mixture is crumbly. An electric mixer or a stand mixer works well for blending the ingredients in this recipe.
Add egg yolks and yeast mixture and beat to blend.
Let rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size.
In another bowl, combine cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth.
Grease or line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper. Patout half of the dough mixture on a cookie sheet with sides or a 9×13 pan. Spread with cream cheese mixture over the top evenly.
Pat out the other half of the dough and cover cream cheese filling. Beat egg whites and spread on the dough.
In a bowl, combine 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup all-purpose flour, and 1 stick butter to make the topping. Sprinkle over dough. Let rise for 1 hour. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
If you want, you can also glaze with a powdered sugar/milk mixture. As an alternative, you could top this with a Caramel Sauce or sprinkle a little cinnamon over the top before baking.
Enjoy these delicious bars warm or cooled for snacks, dessert, or even breakfast! It pairs well with a nice warm cup of coffee.
Want to add this to your Recipe Binder? Print the cream cheese squares recipe below:
Old Fashioned Cheese Squares Recipe
Delicious Old Fashioned Cheese Squares to make your family happy for dessert!
CourseDessert
CuisineAmerican
KeywordOld Fashioned Cheese Squares
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Rising Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Servings 24 pieces
Calories 191 kcal
Creator Merissa
Ingredients
Dough
- 2packagesdry yeast
- 1/3cupwaterwarm
- 1teaspoongranulated sugar
- 1cupbutter
- 2 1/2cupsall-purpose flour
- 4eggsseparated
Filling
- 24ouncescream cheese
- 1cupwhite sugar
- 1teaspoonvanilla extract
Instructions
In small bowl, mix yeast with water and 1 teaspoon sugar, set aside.
In a large bowl, cut butter into flour until mixture is crumbly.
Add egg yolks and yeast mixture and beat to blend.
Let rise in warm place until doubled in size.
In another bowl, combine cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla extract, until smooth.
Patout half of the dough mixture on a cookie sheet with sides or a 9×13 pan. Spread with cream cheese mixture over top evenly.
Pat out the other half of dough and cover cream cheese filling.Beat the egg whites and spread on dough.
In a bowl, combine 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup all-purpose flour, and 1 stick butter to make the topping. Sprinkle over dough. Let rise for 1 hour.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
If you want, you can glaze with a powdered sugar/milk mixture.
Nutrition Facts
Old Fashioned Cheese Squares Recipe
Amount Per Serving
Calories 191Calories from Fat 81
% Daily Value*
Fat 9g14%
Saturated Fat 5g31%
Trans Fat 0.3g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.5g
Monounsaturated Fat 2g
Cholesterol 51mg17%
Sodium 271mg12%
Potassium 111mg3%
Carbohydrates 21g7%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 10g11%
Protein 7g14%
Vitamin A 291IU6%
Vitamin C 0.002mg0%
Calcium 108mg11%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
More Holiday Desserts
- Eggless Pumpkin Pie Recipe
- Canned Apple Pie Filling Desserts
- Simple Pear Tart Recipe With Fresh Pears
- Pumpkin Turtle Cheesecake
- Old Fashioned Chocolate Pie
- Homemade Strawberry Cake Recipe
- Simple Coffee Cake
- Easy Pumpkin Cake Recipe
Check out all the Desserts and Treats on Little House Living!
What are some of your favorite pastries to make over the holidays?
Merissa Alink
Merissa has been blogging about andliving the simple and frugal life on Little House Living since 2009 and has internationally published 2 books on the topic. You can read about Merissa’s journey from penniless to freedom on the About Page. You can send her a message any time from theContact Page.
This Old Fashioned Cheese Squares Recipe was originally published on Little House Living in November 2015. It has been updated as of November 2023.
