These chewy Mini Egg Cookie Bars are the ultimate Easter dessert with mini Cadbury Eggs baked right inside! Use simple pantry ingredients and rich browned butter to make this foolproof blondie recipe that everyone will love!
Why you'll love these Easter Blondies
You know Easter is just around the corner when Cadbury Mini Eggs hit the store shelves! YUM! They are absolutely irresistible and make a fabulous addition to baked goods this time of year.
I've come up with a simple Mini Egg Cookie Bar recipe that brings tons of rich buttery flavor, to-die-for chewy texture, and is packed with -- you guessed it -- loads of pastel mini eggs!
Before making the recipe, here are a few more things to love about this easy Easter dessert:
- Simple ingredients: This recipe is made from just 10 ingredients and they are things you likely already have in the pantry like flour, sugar, salt, vanilla, etc.
- Great for kids: Grown-ups aren't the only ones who love mini eggs! Kids will go crazy for these bars. Plus, you can cut them into small portions for younger guests.
- Easy to customize: The buttery, brown sugar base of blondie bars is the perfect backdrop for seasonal mix-ins like mini eggs. I also added coconut to the recipe, but you can add or swap the mix-ins any way you like! See variation ideas below.
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Ingredients for mini egg blondies
Are you as excited as I am to get started on these easy Easter dessert bars? You'll likely have most of what you need on hand. Here's what you should know about the ingredients before getting started. See recipe card for quantities.
- Unsalted butter and salt: I like to use softened unsalted butter in this recipe so that I can control the amount of added salt more precisely. If you only have salted butter, make sure to omit the additional salt when mixing the dry ingredients.
- Flour: All-purpose flour will be used as the base of the blondie bars. You can also use your favorite 1:1 all-purpose gluten-free flour.
- Baking powder: Helps the bars to rise and contributes to their perfectly chewy texture.
- Sugars: I used both light brown sugar and granulated sugar for these cookie bars. Both help to sweeten the bars, but the brown sugar adds extra moisture and rich caramelized flavor.
- Eggs: It's best to use large room temperature eggs for baking so that the batter blends properly. Using medium eggs could make the dough dry and extra large eggs could make it too wet.
- Vanilla extract: For flavor!
- Toasted coconut: Use sweetened shredded coconut to make your own toasted coconut. It only takes a few minutes to toast it in the oven (see the recipe card for directions.)
- Cadbury Mini Eggs: The star of the show! I like to coarsely chop the candy eggs before mixing them into the batter or sprinkling them on top of the bars to make them easier to bite into. Plus, it will give the bars some added texture.
Step-by-step instructions
This blondie recipe is pretty straightforward. Check out this helpful photo tutorial to familiarize yourself with each step and avoid common mistakes.
- Prepare candy and coconut: Chop 1½ cups candy eggs (plus more for topping) in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin into coarse pieces. Then, toast ¾ cup coconut so that it has time to cool before mixing it into the dough.
- Grease and line pan: Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with non-stick spray and line it with parchment paper, leaving a little excess overhanging the sides. If desired, secure excess paper with metal clips. Set aside.
- Brown butter: In a saucepan over medium heat, melt 1¼ cups (2½ sticks) butter, stirring occasionally, until milk solids turn deep golden brown.
- Cool browned butter: Transfer the browned butter to a mixing bowl, scraping all the delicious browned bits from the pan. Let cool.
- Mix dry ingredients, heat oven: In another bowl, whisk together 2¼ cups flour, 1½ teaspoons baking powder, and 1½ teaspoons salt. Set aside. Heat oven to 350ºF.
- Mix butter and sugars: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together cooled browned butter, 2 cups light brown sugar (packed), and ½ cup granulated sugar. The mixture will look a little chunky.
- Begin creaming wet ingredients: Add 3 eggs and 2½ teaspoons vanilla and begin creaming on medium-high speed.
- Continue creaming: As you mix, you'll notice the mixture becoming smoother as the chunks are incorporated.
- Finish creaming: Continue mixing until fully creamed, about 3 minutes. The mixture should look smooth, fluffy, and be noticeably lighter in color.
- Add dry mixture: Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture.
- Blend: Mix until only a few streaks of flour remain.
- Fold in mix-ins: Add the toasted coconut and chopped Cadbury Mini Eggs. Use a spatula to carefully fold the mix-ins into the dough until evenly distributed.
- Fill pan: Pour the dough into the prepared pan and use a spatula to smooth it evenly.
- Top with candy: If desired, sprinkle the top with chopped candy eggs.
- Bake: Place pan in hot oven, and bake 35 to 40 minutes until the edges look golden with a slightly underdone center. The bars will finish cooking as they cool. Do not overbake.
- Cool, cut, serve: Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before removing from pan. Then, cut into squares and serve.
- Chop candy, toast coconut: Place candy eggs in a plastic bag and break into pieces. Then toast the coconut.
- Prepare baking pan: Spray a 9-by-13-inch pan with non-stick cooking spray and line with parchment. Secure the edges with metal clips.
- Brown the butter: Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally until the milk solids turn golden brown.
- Cool the butter: Pour the browned butter into a mixing bowl, scraping the pan with a spatula to get all the browned bits. Cool.
- Mix dry ingredients: In another mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside and set oven to 350ºF.
- Mix wet ingredients: In a mixing bowl, mix together the browned butter and both sugars.
- Add eggs and vanilla: Once the butter and sugar is blended, add the eggs and vanilla.
- Cream the mixture: Beat on high-speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Finish creaming: Continue mixing until fully creamed. The mixture should look smooth, lighter in color, and have a fluffy texture.
- Add dry mixture: Pour the flour mixture into the mixing bowl and begin blending.
- Just incorporate: Mix the flour into the dough until just incorporated.
- Add mix-ins: Dump in the crushed candy and coconut.
- Fold in mix-ins: Use a spatula to gently fold in the candy eggs and coconut until evenly distributed.
- Fill baking pan: Pour the dough into the prepared pan and smooth into an even layer.
- Finish the bars: Top the bars with a sprinkle of crushed candy eggs, if desired.
- Bake and cool: Place pan in the hot oven, and bake until the edges are golden and the center looks just done. Cool before cutting.
Tara's blondie bar baking tips
To make the absolute BEST blondies, follow these baking tips:
- Use room temperature ingredients: To avoid lumpy or overmixed dough, use softened butter and room temperature eggs. Allow these ingredients to sit on the counter for about 30 minutes before getting started to warm them up just a little. They'll mix with the other ingredients easier this way.
- Fold in the mix-ins: You could be tempted to use your mixer when incorporating the Cadbury Mini Eggs and toasted coconut. It might seem faster, but it could lead to overmixing the dough which will make the bars tough. You'll have the best results when folding them gently into the dough with a spatula.
- Don't overbake: I'm a sucker for chewy moist cookie bars! To get that ideal texture, it's essential not to overbake the bars. When done, the edges will look golden brown, and the center will look slightly underdone but not raw or shiny.
Variations and mix-in ideas
Make this Easter blondie recipe all your own! Here are a few ideas to get your creativity flowing:
- Other candy: If you don't want to use Cadbury Mini Eggs, you can swap them for colorful M&Ms, malted eggs, or other candy-coated spring chocolates.
- Nuts: Love nuts? Add ½ cup of chopped nuts like peanuts, walnuts, macadamia nuts, or pecans. For the best taste, toast the nuts to bring out their flavor.
- Leave out the coconut: Don't love coconut? Just leave it out.
- Mix it up: You really can't go wrong with mix-ins! Experiment by adding a ½ cup of things like chopped pretzels, toffee or caramel bits, mini chocolate chips, or flavored baking chips like butterscotch, peanut butter, or white chocolate.
Equipment
To make the most delicious mini egg bars, it helps to have the right equipment. Here's the tools I recommend:
Storage
Refrigerate: Leftover Easter bars can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days. For the best taste, bring to room temperature before serving.
Freeze: The bars can also be wrapped in a double layer of plastic wrap or placed in a freezer-safe container and frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge and then bring to room temperature before serving.
FAQ
There are a lot of factors that can make your blondie bars hard or dense.
One major culprit is adding too much flour to the dough. If possible, use a food scale to weigh the flour, or use the scoop and level method.
You can also end up with dense bars from overmixing the dough. To avoid overmixing, use room temperature butter and eggs, mix in the flour just until incorporated, and fold in the mix-ins.
And finally, overbaking the bars will make them hard. Make sure to pull them from the oven while the center is still slightly underdone.
There are lots of things you can do to make sure your blondies have the perfect chewy texture.
First, you'll want to measure your ingredients properly -- especially the flour. Adding too much flour will make the bars dense.
It's also important to use room temperature butter and eggs. They'll blend more easily and quickly into the dough, preventing overmixing.
Most importantly, don't overbake the bars! Pulling them from the oven when the center is still slightly underdone is your secret weapon. The bars will continue to bake and firm up as they cool, leaving you with delicious gooey bars.
Ever wonder how bakers make perfectly square, clean-cut bars? Here's the inside details!
Don't try to cut the bars until they are completely cool. Use the excess parchment to lift the blondies from the pan and place them on a cutting board.
Use a very sharp kitchen knife (has a straight edge) and run it under hot water for a few seconds. Dry the heated knife, and make your first cut. Wipe the blade to remove crumbs and cut again. Reheat the blade as needed and continue wiping clean between cuts. Viola!
More spring dessert recipes
The fresh flavors of spring are perfect for Easter celebrations and family gatherings. Here are more of my favorite seasonal treats:
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📖 Recipe
Mini Egg Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups (2½ sticks) unsalted butter
- 2¼ cups (288 g) all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1½ teaspoons fine salt
- 2 cups light brown sugar (packed)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup toasted sweetened coconut*
- 1½ cups Cadbury Mini Eggs (coarsely chopped)
Instructions
- Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with cooking spray and line pan with parchment paper, leaving a little excess overhanging the sides. If desired, secure excess paper with metal clips. Set aside.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter, stirring occasionally, until milk solids turn deep golden brown. Remove from heat and transfer to a mixing bowl, scraping all the delicious browned bits from the pan. Let cool.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Heat oven to 350ºF. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together cooled browned butter, and both sugars into a coarse mixture.
- Add eggs and vanilla and beat on medium-high speed until light in color, smooth, and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add flour mixture and blend until only a few streaks of flour remain. Use a spatula to fold in the toasted coconut and chopped Cadbury Mini Eggs. Mix until just thoroughly combined.
- Pour dough into prepared pan and smooth into an even layer. If desired, top with additional crushed mini eggs.
- Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out almost clean, 35 to 40 minutes. The edges should look golden and the center should look slightly underdone. The bars will finish cooking as they cool. Do not overbake.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before removing from pan. When ready to serve, use the excess parchment as handles to lift the bars onto a cutting board. Use a sharp knife to cut the bars into squares and serve.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Notes
Nutrition
Tara Teaspoon
I’ve been in food publishing for over 25 years, creating recipes & food-styling for magazines, books, television, food brands, & advertising. With two cookbooks under my belt and thousands of my recipes at your fingertips, I hope you'll be inspired to spend more time in the kitchen!
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