Strawberry-Filled Lemon Cream Cheese Bars

By mrshermes2002

Ingredients

• 1 box Betty Crocker™ SuperMoist™ lemon or yellow cake mix
• 1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened
• 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
• 1 cup strawberry preserves or jelly
• 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup frozen concentrated margarita mix, thawed

Preparation

Step 1

1
Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease 13x9-inch pan. Place cake mix in large bowl. With pastry blender or fork, cut in butter until crumbly. Add almonds; mix well. Reserve 1 cup mixture for topping. Press remaining mixture in bottom of pan. Stir preserves until smooth; carefully spread over base.

2
In same bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, flour, salt and egg with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add margarita mix; beat at low speed until blended. Carefully pour filling over base. Sprinkle reserved base mixture over filling.

3
Bake 34 to 41 minutes or until edges begin to brown and center is set. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Cut into bars. Store covered in refrigerator.