I have flip-flop tan lines for the first time in six years. (The flip-flops were $6. The tan lines are priceless. This is exciting stuff for a pale gal like me.) The not so exciting thing is that my bathing suit, which looked okay in June, doesn’t look so good on me anymore.
While most people are drinking water and eating excessive amounts of fruit right now, I am showing no restraint toward my favorite cookies, brownies, and of course, pie.
And these Marble Squares.
My mom introduced them to the family when I was in High School. We would be served one and then they would mysteriously end up in the freezer, never to be seen again. The batches I have been making, though, have all ended up in my belly.
So cakey. So creamy. So chocolaty. So rich. Each square just keeps calling my name. And it would just be outright rude to ignore them, right?
Here’s the only reason I can, thankfully, still fit into my shorts:
…and the only reasons I can get through a workout:
LOST: Silly. Totally improbable. And fun. I cannot wait to watch the final season. No spoilers! If you do, I will hunt you down and hurt you!
MAD MEN: Completely pompous. Chauvinistic. And brilliant. Please don’t get canceled.
Looking good in my bathing suit, or being a little more padded around the middle? I think we’ve figured out which one is winning.
Marble Squares
Makes 24 squares
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 25-30 minutes
Ingredients
• 8 ounce package cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions
Preheat oven to 375.
Butter and flour a 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 baking dish.
Combine cream cheese and sugar until well blended. Add egg and mix well. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, combine margarine, water, and 1/2 cup of the chocolate pieces. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the flour and sugar. Add eggs, sour cream, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.
Pour batter into your prepared pan. Spoon cream cheese mixture over batter. Cut through batter with a knife for marble effect. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup chocolate pieces.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool and then cut into squares.
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{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
Can these Marble Squares be frozen?
Yes!
There are no brownies in my immediate future at all, but Mad Men, well we have to wait 2-3 years to get a DVD over here but then we watch it obesessively 3-4-5 times before sending it on to the next greedy lover of Hamm or Joanie or Roger.
Stephanie – Thanks Stephanie! I know you share my sweet tooth. These won’t disappoint, promise.
I LOVE flip flop tan lines! These bars sound absolutely amazing. Anything with chocolate and cream cheese makes me happy. Next time I have an excuse to make an oh-so-bad dessert, this is it!
Dani – Hee hee. Ya, he’s a true gem…I’m still stunned I was able to snatch him up before someone else did.
Okay ~ Paul, I’ve told Amy this before, but you just cinched it ~ you’re a keeper!!! {{sigh}}
Oh, wait…. there’s something else…. oh, yeah, the marble squares. They look super scrumptious, Amy. I’m amazed that you can even think of food when you’re married to a man who not only feels that way about you, but says it publicly. You are one lucky lady. (And he’s just as lucky to have found you.)
I’ll have to wait to make these when I’m at my daughter’s house ’cause I know I wouldn’t be able to resist eating the whole batch in one sitting!
Lynda – Oh yea! I’m glad they were a crowd pleaser…and that you snuck a few into your bag for home. Smart lady!
I made your marble squares for a church meeting tonight. They were quite a hit. Fortunately, there were other desserts so I was able to bring a few home. They will definitely not see the freezer, however, or the morning!
Kim – Ha! And wouldn’t you know it…I just got home from buying ingredients for your Coconut Cake (which I have made SO many times, I should have added it to my list of why my bathing suit doesn’t fit anymore.) I made Lisa’s pizza puffs last week, I think the day after she posted. They were definitely easy, tasty, and a win with the kiddos.
They’re in the oven now. ; ) I’m so excited!! I don’t think mine will be nearly as pretty as yours. But, this crowd won’t care. I’m doing the lake thing with a bunch of kids tomorrow. They will love these! I’m hoping they’ll leave me one or two. Now, on to Lisa’s pizza puffs…surely another kid pleaser.
Amy, Amy, Amy, Amy. Why do you tempt me like this? You know I am not stable. My mouth is watering. I am printing. I am checking out the ingredients to see what I need to go buy. Ooh. I have room in my freezer!! I could hide them from myself. This could be perfect– I’m kinda dumb and my short term memory sucks.
Like your dad, I really hope I win the liquor and the treadmill. This is my favorite giveaway EVER.
A mixologist is a ninja bartender, yes!
Amy, let me know when you’re caught up on Mad Men. Lots of shenanigans in this weeks episode.
Sherry – Lol. Fantastic story! So glad you joined us.
Frozen Marble Squares–superior, I’m sure. Years ago in an early bizarre attempt to lose weight I went to a fasting “resort.” The inmates…er, guests…sat around and talked food during every conscious moment. Some thought it proper to offer suggestions for avoidance of pastry gorging, and one suggested freezing the Sara Lee as a method. Some method. From that day forth I learned to freeze all the richest pastries before planting my face into their centers. Once you’ve tried frozen fudge cake there’s no going back.
Jude – Is mixologist the p.c. way of saying bartender? Or does he do music sampling at night too?
Dad – I have lots of deficiencies at 6am. Why oh why didn’t they offer cooking classes when I was in school? I remember having to take a sewing class (which I would have failed had Mom not come to my rescue.) The cooking certainly would have boosted my GPA.
Paul – And for that, I just might make you that bacon and cheese soup after all. xoxo
I have no idea where you think those marble squares are going. I see you in a bathing suit, and you make my heart stop a little each time I see you.
As for failing statistics three times, the very least I thought I told you is when to quit. I got three “D”s but found out that, in the overall scheme of things, the feat was not statistically significant. Of some statistical interest is that I’m in the top 2% of marble square inhalers. I was thinking of writing the IOC and getting marble square inhaling as an Olympic sport.
I just saw my original post. It seems I have a vowel deficiency at 6 AM. Therefore, from now on, I’ll be late getting into this conversation.
And, btw, everybody on Mad Men is skinny because they substitute smoking for marble squares. I just don’t understand why you can’t have your marble square and eat them, too.
And what Andrea was trying to tell you Amy is that she’s borderline diabetic and, having half a chance, she sneaks drinking the maraschino cherry juice out of the jar, made so much more palatable by two or three Manhattans and a Bronx cheer.
The marble squares remind me of my grandmothers, who always had baked treats like this when we visited. Like Mad Men, the brownies are retro cool.
For the best classic cocktails in the Twin Cities, head to Strip Club in St Paul. Don’t take offense, it’s a restaurant with an award-winning mixologist who makes his own sodas, seltzers and such. He’s got your bitters!
Andrea – I’m not a drinker, so all of this is like speaking Russian to me. It all sounds sexy, though.
Jen – This is what happens when you go m.i.a. for a week. I need you over here. My thighs need you over here.
Mom – I will back you on the fact that these are also excellent out of the freezer. But I’m concerned if I make another batch, they won’t get that far.
Your posts usually get a chuckle out of me, and this was no exception. It’s true that these marble squares taste good no matter what you do to them—- eat them fresh, frozen or defrosted. As long as I have a freezer, something will end up there.
Eh hem…where was I? Why wasn’t I called to share? Hmmmm….
I haven’t had these in decades (yes, plural, decadeS). Yumsers!
Please make more and then come over with the kids. We can have a Marble Square party! :o)
Hey, I use Angostura bitters in Manhattans–which are a near cocktail cousin of the Old Fashioned. The Manhattan, now THERE’S a drink! (I use maraschino cherry juice to get a nice auburn color and a little sweetness.) Anyway, you can get Angostura bitters at a really good liquor store–Surdyks if you’re in the Twin Cities, or maybe even at Zipps. It should be near the real liquor.
Tia – There is a “Print this recipe” tag at the very bottom of the post, with a link to the recipe, which enables you to print it out.
Cathy – 5 am is ridiculous. I’d like to think you were just waiting on pins and needles to see what I made. Ya.
Lisa – All my favorites get canceled, too! Have you ever seen Shark Tank? That’s a big hit in our house. It was on the verge of getting the axe, but they picked it up for 8 more episodes. Win!
Joanne – You might be right about my mom! She is a wise one…probably hoarding them all for herself.
Debbi – Ha! Watching TV, while exercising, and eating….actually sounds productive.
Mike – Interesting. I would have thought you of all people would love Mad Men. Not offensive, I suppose if you’re a man! I think the way the men view the women, the clothing, the way the homes are decorated, and the way they speak to their kids is spot on for that time period.
Dad – So what you’re saying is that I should feel good that I failed Statistics three times, because at least I was good at failing? I certainly was consistent. Thank goodness you were here to take some of these off my hands – like there was any chance you would resist. You’re very reliable, you know.
Finally! A prize worth going for. So when do you give away the treadmill and the liquor to make me forget that I ate 16 marble squares at a sitting, and now believe I know where all good and bad feelings come from. But first some the good.
These are creamy squares from heaven with each chocolate chip a remembrance of something special in ones life like the time I got a perfect score on a match test. Yes, it was “Zero,” but it was perfect.
Lay’s potato chips used to advertise, “Bet you can’t eat just one!” Well, the same is true for these squares from Shangri La (Dee Dah, Dee Dah, Dee Dah).
So rich and creamy, so light and so heavy at the same time that, with the first six, you can maintain a depth of 8 feet when swimming in the Pacific. So don’t forget your periscope. Just remember, after the first six, you take on the shape of the sub rather than the torpedo.
NOTE TO ALL: After the end up in the freezer, they taste just as good frozen as warm. Mom only thought that the freezer was as good as a bank vault. And it was ‘cept I kept making withdrawals.
Those marble squares look fantastic! If I could bake worth a lick, I’d be making them. As is, I think I’ll be forwarding this recipe to my better half.
Lost was pretty entertaining for the most part and finished REALLY strong. Mad Men – Meh. Nice late ’50s/early ’60s look, but I could care less about any of the characters. I don’t find them offensive, I just find them boring. I stopped watching after 3 episodes (my infatuation with the art direction wore off at about that time, I think).
Yes, I can see why this recipe would be completely dangerous in bathing suit weather. They look fantastic!!
I’ve never heard of Mad Men, I’ll have to look it up. I like watch TV while I eat brownies, er, I mean exercise too!! :-)
First of all, I’m pretty certain that you are so tiny that you look AWESOME in a bathing suit.
Second of all. I want flip flop tan lines. But first I want a marble square. I have no intentions of wearing a bathing suit this summer and for that sacrifice. I think I deserve a few marble squares. I also have a feeling that by “disappear into the fridge” it actually means that your mom ate them. Just a hunch. Moms do things like that sometimes.
My brother loves Mad Men and made us go hunting for some angostura bitters a while ago so he could make an Old Fashioned. To no avail. Those things are elusive.
Yum. They look so very good. I’m with you on Mad Men….I’m addicted, and I say the very same thing….please don’t get cancelled! Every show I love seems too.
I wanted to be the first comment. Why else am I up at this ridiculous hour? Well, I guess I could bake…
I would love to try these but I can’t seem to see a recipe for them… is it somewhere on here and I’m just being a ditz? lol :) Thanks
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