Dessert

March 23, 2021

Mini Egg Cookie Bars: Under Ten Ingredients!

mini egg cookie bars

Curious about making some cookie bars? Well then, I've got a foolproof and easy recipe for you! Cookie bars are essentially cookies baked in a square pan and cut into squares. They have all the flavour of a cookie, with a soft and chewy centre and that perfect golden brown crust. And these mini egg cookie bars are little squares of heaven. They also happen to be gluten-free too!

mini egg cookie bars

Allowing ALL Foods

True story: I haven't had mini eggs in years! For so long, I struggled with truly finding balance with food and health. When I was consumed by health and healthy eating, I studied every single ingredient in my food. If I didn't like the ingredient, I wouldn't allow myself to have it. Food was all I thought about, and not in a happy and healthy way of being excited to cook. And because of this, I struggled with control around food which was a direct reflection of my restriction.

Now, I'm in a happy and healthy place with food and I love indulging when I want, without any feeling of guilt. So when I thought of some Easter recipes, my mind went right to mini eggs. I picked up a large bag and made these delicious, and easy mini egg cookie bars. And I know I'll be making these again and again. I hope you love them too!

mini egg cookie bars

Why You'll Love these Cookie Bars

  • Extra soft and chewy (even days later!)
  • Super easy to prepare: no scooping or cooling of the dough required.
  • Studded with mini eggs (one of the best chocolate candies IMO)
  • Minimal ingredients here (only nine to be exact).
  • Tastes just like a cookie, but these are simpler to make.
  • Gluten-free for all those that need them to be (without anybody being able to tell).

Ingredients

ingredients laid out

All Purpose Flour: Gluten-Free

Feel free to use regular all purpose flour, or another gluten-free blend that you love. I've used Bob's Red Mill, One-To-One All Purpose flour with great results. It's my personal go-to gluten-free blend that I use all the time.  

Buy Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour here!

Baking Soda

Baking soda helps these cookie bars rise.

Butter

Cookies just taste better with butter (as do most things, amirightttt). You'll need about 1/2 cup butter for this batch of cookie bars. See tips and substitutions for other alternatives.

Light Brown Sugar

I prefer to use a mix of light brown sugar and white sugar. Because of the mini eggs, these are already on the sweet side, so you don't need to add much additional sugar. See tips and substitutions for other alternatives.

Egg

You'll need one egg for these easter cookie bars. See tips and substitutions for other alternatives.

Vanilla Extract

To add more depth of flavour and make these bars taste even more cookie like, a splash of vanilla extract is added.

Mini Eggs

You can't have mini egg cookie bars without some mini eggs. You'll need about 1 cup, plus a little more for crushing and putting on top before they bake.

mini eggs in a bowl

How to Make These Easy Cookie Bars

I use my stand mixer to make these cookie bars as it's the easiest way to mix everything. But you can use a handheld mixer too. Let's bake some cookie bars!

Prepare your pan and preheat your oven

Grease an 8x8 pan with oil and then line with parchment paper. This helps the parchment paper to stick. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Mix your dry ingredients

In a medium sized bowl, add the flour, baking soda and salt and whisk to combine.

dry ingredients in a bowl

Cream the butter and sugar

In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the butter and sugars until well combined. This will take a few minutes to make sure the sugars are incorporated.

Now go ahead and the egg and vanilla and mix well.

Add in the flour mix

Add in the dry ingredients you mixed up into the batter slowly, making sure it is well incorporated and combined. The dough should be thicker now, like a cookie dough.

cookie dough mix in mixer

Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and fold in the mini eggs and give it a final stir, ensuring everything is combined.

cookie dough mixture with mini eggs

Bake in the oven

Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan and smooth it out with your hands. Add a few more crushed mini eggs on top if you wish.

crushed mini eggs on top of cookie dough bars

Place in the oven to bake for 20 to 24 minutes, until cooked through and slightly golden brown around the edges. Insert a toothpick in the centre to ensure it's cooked through.

Let the cookie bars cool completely before removing, at least 30 minutes.

mini egg cookie bars

Tips and Substitutions

How to make these the best ever cookie bars:

  • For best results, you can measure your ingredients with a kitchen scale. I find this to be the most accurate way to bake. I do provide both measurements in cups and also by weight.
  • Allow the cookie bars to rest. Once you remove them from the oven, let them cool for at least 30 minutes before removing and placing on a wire rack to finish cooling. This will allow them to finish baking and the centre to firm up. Cookies are always better when you remove them while they're still slightly under baked.
  • To cut your cookie bars into squares, let them cool completely first. Once they've cooled on a cooling rack, use a sharp knife to cut into 16 even squares. It's best to wet your knife by running it under water and then shaking off excess water before cutting.
mini egg cookie bars

Substitutions:

No mini eggs: swap them out for M&M's, chocolate chips or another type of candy that you love.

All purpose flour: swap out the gluten-free flour blend for regular all purpose flour instead.

Less sweet: reduce the amount of sugar if you want them less sweet, or use less mini eggs. Personally, I don't have a big sweet tooth, so next time, I'd reduce the amount of sugar slightly.

No dairy: use a vegan butter substitute instead, I do not know if coconut oil will work, as it may be too greasy.

No egg: Use a flax egg as a replacement. To do, combine 1 tbsp ground flax seed to 3 tbsp water, mix and let it gel while you prepare everything else. Then add it into the dough the same as you would an egg.

mini egg cookie bars

How to store

After letting them cool and cutting them into squares, you can let them sit out in a sealed container at room temperature for a day or so. After that, (or even before) move them to the fridge. I personally enjoy them from the fridge, but I'm like that with most desserts!

Freezing them is also an option of course, just be sure to layer them in between sheets of parchment paper and then keep them stored in an airtight container. The parchment will ensure that the tops stay intact. Let them come to room temperature before enjoying.

mini egg cookie bars

If you make these mini egg cookie bars, I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to tag me on Instagram, and/or leave a comment, rating or review below.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only share products and services I have personally used and love. Disclosure here.

LIKE THIS RECIPE? HERE ARE MORE BAKING RECIPES TO TRY:

Mini Egg Cookie Bars: Under Ten Ingredients!

Easier than making cookies, these gluten-free mini egg cookie bars are a delicious treat that don t require any scooping or cooling.

Prep:
10
min
cook:
22
min
total:
32
min
servings:
16
Author:

Jaclyn

Ingredients


Instructions


  1. Grease an 8×8 pan with oil and then line with parchment paper. This helps the parchment paper to stick. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
  2. In a medium sized bowl, add the flour, baking soda and salt and whisk to combine.
  3. In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the butter and sugars until well combined. This will take a few minutes to make sure the sugars are incorporated.
  4. Crack the egg into the mix and add the vanilla and mix well.
  5. Add in the dry ingredients you mixed up into the batter slowly, making sure it is well incorporated and combined. The dough should be thicker now.
  6. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and fold in the mini eggs and give it a final stir, ensuring everything is combined.
  7. Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan and smooth it out with your hands. Add a few more crushed mini eggs on top if you wish.
  8. Place in the oven to bake for 20 to 24 minutes, until cooked through and slightly golden brown around the edges. Let the cookie bars cool completely before removing, at least 30 minutes. Then transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling before slicing into 16 squares.

Notes

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