If there is one dessert worth making this week, it is Paula Deen’s gooey butter cake. This is the original recipe and it’s so easy with only a yellow cake mix, butter, cream cheese and eggs and it has that classic ooey, gooey middle!

Now don’t be confused, this is NOT the traditional St. Louis bakery version. This is Paula Deen’s original gooey butter cake recipe—the easy cake-mix version that made this rich, gooey dessert famous with home bakers.

Don’t worry, I’ll take you through all the trouble shooting below, but first, here’s one I don’t want you to miss:

How do I get the perfect gooey center?

This is so important!! 🚨 Don’t Wait for the Center to Look Fully Set!

You must do the jiggle test on an ooey-gooey dessert. It’s going to look undone, but give the pan a jiggle and then take the cake out of the oven when the edges are golden brown but the center still moves slightly.

What Does Gooey Butter Cake Taste Like?

Imagine a buttery, melt in your mouth yellow-cake crust topped with a rich cream-cheese custard that’s sweet, soft and just a little gooey in the center. It’s somewhere between a cake, cheesecake bar and blondie—but much more wonderful.

This is a pure Southern comfort recipe. Our Ooey Gooey Butter Cake with a dusting of powdered sugar on top makes it look as good as it tastes.

The Surprising Twist on How We Eat Our Gooey Butter Cake

Fair warning: Claire and I did extensive testing on the best way to eat this cake, and the unanimous winner was straight from the fridge the next day. Chilled, dense, and impossibly rich with that cold sprinkle of powdered sugar on top. Do not skip that step.

Jalapeno Corn Pudding is a sweet and savory cornbread with a spicy kick. With a golden brown crust and a soft, custard-like center, it’s American comfort food at its best.

I’ve loved corn pudding for as long as I can remember. Adding jalapenos gives the casserole a little bit of heat that I find irresistible.

Jalapeno Corn Pudding

Growing up, my mom made corn pudding for almost every holiday meal or special occasion. It’s a tradition I’ve carried on with my own kids, although I make my corn pudding from scratch instead of from a boxed mix.

Jalapeno Corn Pudding has all the nostalgic creamed corn flavor of the original but with a spicy twist. The heat from the jalapenos gives a satisfying balance to the sweet corn without lighting your mouth totally on fire. I love this so much that I’ve even been known to sneak bites of the leftovers cold, straight from the fridge! I hope it brings the same level of joy to your table.

Ingredients and Substitutions

Corn – You’ll need both whole kernel canned corn and creamed corn.

Dry Ingredients – I use cornmeal, along with all purpose flour, bakin

These Reese’s Krispies are crunchy, gooey peanut butter cereal clusters loaded with chocolate chips and chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups! Made with no marshmallows and no baking, these irresistible little treats come together in just 10 minutes, plus cooling time!

This was one of the very first recipes to go viral on Pinterest for Oh Sweet Basil, bringing in millions of views! And all these years later, I still can’t get over how ridiculously good they are. That sweet, sticky peanut butter coating mixed with crispy cereal and chunks of Reese’s?! OH MY GOODNESS.

We originally made these to use up leftover Halloween candy, but trust me, you’re going to want them all year long!

This crockpot stuffing recipe takes a simple boxed stuffing mix and turns it into something that tastes completely homemade. Savory sausage, buttery sautéed onion and celery, rich broth, milk and egg make it moist, flavorful and worthy of the Thanksgiving table—all without taking up precious oven space.

This is basically the ultimate doctored-up boxed stuffing: all the ease of a shortcut with the rich, savory flavor of homemade. Browning the sausage and sautéing the vegetables in butter before they hit the slow cooker makes all the difference. Then everything cooks low and slow while you focus on the turkey, rolls and everything else fighting for oven space.

Ingredients You’ll Need

This stuffing comes together with simple, familiar ingredients that work together to create something special.

• Ground sausage: Adds savory flavor, richness and plenty of seasoning. We love it for making boxed stuffing taste homemade.
• Celery: Adds a little texture and that classic savory stuffing flavor.
• Onion: Sautéed in butter until tender to create a sweet, flavorful base.
• Butter: Adds richness and gives the vegetables and stuffing that essential buttery flavor.
• Better Than Bouillon + hot water: Creates a deeply flavored chicken broth without opening a carton. Regular chicken broth works too.
• Milk: Adds moisture and richness for a softer, more luxurious stuffing.
• Egg: Binds everything together and gives the stuffing structure as it cooks.
• Stuffing mix: The shortcut that makes this recipe so easy. We love Kinder’s stuffing mix for its seasoning and texture, but another similar dry stuffing mix will work.

Simple ingredients, big results. Measurements can be found in the recipe card below.

How to Make Crockp

Tender cabbage, savory ground beef, and a spicy, garlicky sauce make this Cabbage Stir Fry an instant favorite. Made with fresh vegetables and loaded with flavor, this 30-minute meal is an easy alternative to Chinese takeout.

Stir fries are a frequent fixture of my weekly dinner menus and stir fry noodles with chicken and vegetables is another one I make often. This week, since I had ground beef in the freezer, I switched things up and made a beefy cabbage version.

Cabbage Stir Fry

Similar to my egg roll skillet and sausage egg roll in a bowl, this has the ground meat, shredded cabbage, onion, and garlic you’d find inside a typical egg roll, and I’ve kicked up the flavor here with the punch of chili paste.

I expected the beef to be my favorite part of this stir fry. And as much as I enjoyed the savory meat, it’s the cabbage that kept me coming back for more. Cabbage is inexpensive and versatile, and when it’s sliced into noodle-like ribbons here, it’s perfect for lapping up all that incredible sauce.

I’m always amazed by how easy it is to turn an ordinary vegetable into a crave-worthy dish with just a few simple steps. I can’t wait for you to try this one.

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