Make Easter baking fun with these easy Mini Egg cookie bars! Soft cookie bars with chewy edges filled with pastel Mini Eggs are a sure sign that Easter is on the way.
All the delicious taste of mini egg cookies but in a cookie bar form! These Easter cookie bars are perfect to get the Easter bakes underway.
Whenever I see the Easter eggs arrive in the shop it gives me the urge to bake. As well as buy a bag of Mini Eggs to scoff!
This is a fun recipe that children will enjoy baking with you. I’m sure they will also be thrilled to eat them!
Cookie bars
While baking cookies is fun, it is even easier when you bake your cookies in a tray as one slab.
No more worrying about whether the cookies will spread too much and run into each other.
You can cut the cookie bars into whatever size you like, I slice mine into 9 large pieces but you can make smaller pieces if you prefer.
Recipe inspiration
I based this recipe on my Creme Egg cookie bars and made a few swaps which made the cookie base even more tasty!
During the last few months at home we made a LOT of cookies. Cookies are fun for the kids and easy for them to join in with – lots of weighing and stirring.
Through all this cookie baking I have learned a few tips to make cookies even better – one tip is to add a tablespoon of cornflour to your cookie dough. Cornflour makes your cookies softer and tender with a more crumbly texture.
The other is to use a teaspoon of cream of tartar instead of baking powder in your cookie dough. This prevents sugar from crystallising so leads to softer cookies rather than hard crunchy cookies!
Cream of tartar is a raising agent which is one of the components of baking powder. Baking powder is normally made up of cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda (baking soda). You can usually buy both of these ingredients separately in large shops.
Ingredients
Here is a quick look at the ingredients in the recipe – ideal as a list for taking to the shops or as a summary of what you will need. Go to the recipe for the quantities.
- light brown sugar – in some cookie recipes I use a mixture of caster and dark brown sugar, for this recipe I stuck to light brown sugar only. This makes the cookie bars lighter in colour, with slightly less caramel flavour, and less chewy.
- unsalted butter – I tend to always have unsalted butter for baking in the fridge. You can use salted butter too, but don’t add the pinch of salt if using salted.
- egg – a medium egg.
- vanilla bean paste – this can be replaced with vanilla extract. Avoid vanilla essence if possible, as it is synthetic and doesn’t taste anywhere near as good.
- plain flour (all-purpose flour) – mostly for cookies you will use plain flour. If you use self-raising it will change the texture of the cookie bars.
- cornflour (corn starch) – this gives the cookie bars a lovely soft crumbly texture.
- cream of tartar – this is used as the raising agent in these cookie bars. I much prefer the texture when you use cream of tartar to the texture you get with baking powder.
- pinch of salt – omit if using salted butter.
- Mini Eggs – I use Cadbury Mini Eggs, the type with a hard shell around the solid chocolate centre, but you can use you favourite kind of Easter mini eggs with a shell whether those are Smarties mini eggs or chocolate orange mini eggs, or whatever. I would avoid using the types with a soft centre like Mini Creme Eggs, Ferrerro mini eggs, Lindt mini eggs etc as they would melt.
Step by step
- Preheat your oven to 180°C / 350°F. Line a square 9×9 inch (23×23 cm) cookie pan with baking parchment.
- In a large bowl, cream the softened butter together with the light brown sugar using a wooden spoon, until it is light and fluffy.
- Add the egg (at room temperature) and vanilla bean paste/extract then mix well.
- Make sure to use an egg which is at room temperature to avoid the mixture curdling, you are aiming for a nice even and well mixed texture as shown.
- Add the flour, cornflour, cream of tartar and a pinch of salt, then mix together with a wooden spoon until the dough starts to come together.
- You might need to finish mixing with your hands, once all combined the dough should be coming away from the side of the bowl but still light and fluffy.
- Add the Mini Eggs, holding a few back to add on top, and mix them into the dough.
- Press the dough into the lined cookie pan, note that it will be quite thin but don’t worry as it will rise a little as it cooks, and add the remaining Mini Eggs on top.
- Bake for 18 minutes until starting to go golden on top and around the edges, with a dry top. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool.
- Cut into 9 pieces and enjoy!
Recipe variations
- Use your preferred mini eggs (Smarties mini eggs, Golden or Enchanted Eggs, etc) or replace the chocolate eggs with Smarties or M&Ms for a version that will work all year round.
- Add in chocolate chips or chunks of fudge.
- Drizzle melted milk chocolate over the finished cookie bars.
FAQs
These cookie bars will still be soft when they are done and ready to take out of the oven. They will harden up as they cool, while remaining soft in the centre. Look for the top of the cookie bars being dry. They should not still look wet and glossy as they did before baking.
Keep these cookie bars in a covered container for 2-3 days.
If you don’t want to make the recipe right away, freeze the cookie dough in a freezer bag or plastic tub for up to three months. To make the cookie bars, defrost the dough in the fridge, then press the dough into the cookie pan and bake following the recipe.
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Recipe
Mini Egg Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 120 g unsalted butter softened
- 125 g light brown sugar
- 1 medium egg
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 200 g plain flour (all-purpose flour)
- 1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- pinch of salt
- 200 g Mini Eggs
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C / 350°F. Line a square 9×9 inch (23×23 cm) cookie pan with baking parchment.
- In a large bowl, cream the softened butter together with the light brown sugar using a wooden spoon, until it is light and fluffy.
- Add the egg (at room temperature) and vanilla bean paste/extract then mix well.Make sure to use an egg which is at room temperature to avoid the mixture curdling, you are aiming for a nice even and well mixed texture.
- Add the flour, cornflour, cream of tartar and a pinch of salt, then mix together with a wooden spoon until the dough starts to come together.
- You might need to finish mixing with your hands, once all combined the dough should be coming away from the side of the bowl but still light and fluffy.
- Add the Mini Eggs, holding a few back to add on top, and mix them into the dough.
- Press the dough into the lined cookie pan, note that it will be quite thin but don’t worry as it will rise a little as it cooks, and add the remaining Mini Eggs on top.
- Bake for 18 minutes at 180°C (350°F), until starting to go golden on top and around the edges, with a dry top. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool.
- Cut into 9 pieces and enjoy!
Notes
- Use your preferred mini eggs (Smarties mini eggs, Golden or Enchanted Eggs, etc) or replace the chocolate eggs with Smarties or M&Ms for a version that will work all year round.
- Add in chocolate chips or chunks of fudge.
- Drizzle melted milk chocolate over the finished cookie bars
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