If you're in the mood for Easter baking, you've landed in the right place. This simple recipe shows you how to make perfect Easter cookie bars that are brown and crisp on the outside, soft in the middle and packed with Cadbury Mini Eggs and soft caramel pieces. With just 35 minutes of prepping and baking time, these scrumptious bars of soft, sweet Easter deliciousness really are a no-brainer. The only hard part is limiting yourself to just one bar as they are a little addictive.
The post contains additional information and helpful tips to ensure the recipe turns out great the first time. Please use the link above to jump to the recipe card at the end if you are in a hurry!
✅ 5 reasons why you'll love this recipe:
- Delicious and addictive - crisp and brown on the top and soft and chewy in the middle, packed with Mini Eggs and optional (but highly recommended) caramel pieces.
- Easy to make - whisk together the wet and dry ingredients, fold in the mini eggs and caramel pieces and bake.
- Quick - just 15 minutes of simple prep and 20 in the oven and then this tasty tray bake will be yours to enjoy.
- Small batch recipe that can easily be doubled to feed a crowd - this recipe yields 6-8 bars and is ideal for smaller households. Just hit the scaling buttons on the recipe card to double the recipe.
- A great make-ahead treat - store the prepped dough in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and bring to room temperature and bake when you are ready.
🛒 Ingredients and variations:
This delicious Mini Egg tray bake just requires a few simple ingredients that you will be able to pick up at your local store.
- Butter - make sure you use unsalted to avoid overly salted cookie bars. For best results get the butter to room temperature before you begin
- Sugar - this recipe uses Golden granulated sugar. It provides an additional depth of sweetness without being too rich. You could use brown sugar instead, it will provide a deeper and more caramelly sweetness, but the cookies will be darker in appearance and maybe a little too rich. I don't recommend using white sugar as this is likely to yield bland-tasting cookies.
- Mini eggs - these are the star ingredient, but you could swap them for another sweet of your choice like M&Ms.
- Cream caramels, fudge pieces or butterscotch pieces - these are optional, but are sure to take the cookie bars to the next level by adding wonderfully gooey sweetness. However, the cookie bars will still taste great without them.
🧑🍳 Cadbury Mini Egg Cookie Bars in 4 easy steps
1. Mix the wet ingredients
Beat the butter and sugar with an electric whisk or stand mixer. Then add the egg and vanilla essence.
2. Mix the dry ingredients
Mix the flour and baking powder in a small jug or bowl and mix them into the wet ingredients.
3. Fold in mini eggs and optional caramel / fudge pieces
Fold in the mini eggs and optional caramel or fudge pieces by hand.
4. Bake
Place the cookie dough into a baking dish and bake for 18-20 minutes at 200C or 390F until the top is brown and set. Leave to cool for 5-10 minutes in the baking dish and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
👍 Top tips for perfect Cadbury Mini Egg Cookie Bars
- Get the butter and egg to room temperature before you begin - this enables you to get more air into the mixture and generates an evenly textured cookie dough. Cold egg and butter can create dense cookies, so ensure your butter and egg reach room temperature before you begin.
- Fold in the Mini Eggs by hand - the shells are likely to break apart if an electric mixer is applied on a fast setting.
- X2 this recipe to feed a crowd - this small batch recipe yields 6-8 cookie bars. Use the scaling buttons in the recipe card to x2 the quantities to make a larger batch.
🙋 FAQs
Cadbury Mini Eggs start appearing in stores in January and are available until Easter. It's likely you'll be able to get hold of them up to a month after Easter, but then they'll disappear. A little disappointing, but I find their seasonal availability and relative scarcity makes them even yummier.
You can buy mini eggs in the US but they are made by Hershey. They are produced by Cadbury Adams in Canada.
Cookie bars are essentially a cookie tray bake made from cookie dough that is poured into a baking dish instead of being formed into round balls. Cookie bar dough is baked until golden and cut into squares or rectangles when done.
📦 Storage
The baked Mini Egg cookie bars will keep in an airtight tin for up to a week.
You can make the cookie dough ahead and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days wrapped in cling film or in an airtight container. You can also freeze the uncooked dough for up to 3 months. Just defrost it in the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature before baking.
You can also freeze baked Mini Egg cookie dough bars for up to 3 months. Make sure you freeze them separately or put greaseproof or parchment paper in between them so they do not stick together. Defrost them in the fridge and bring them to room temperature before you eat them.
😋 Check out my other easy sweet treats
If you enjoyed these Mini Egg cookie bars you should check out my other sweet treats. If you're looking for another Easter bake, try my decadent triple-layer Cadbury Cream and Mini Egg Brownies with a crunchy shredded wheat nest topping.
Did you try this recipe? It would be really great if you could leave a comment and a star rating ⭐️. I would love to receive your feedback and know that other readers find it helpful too.
Don't forget to tag #knifeandsoulrecipes on Instagram or @knifeandsoul on Pinterest!
📖 Recipe
Print
Mini Egg Cookie Bars
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Perfect Mini Egg cookie bars that are crispy on top, soft and chewy inside, with Cadbury Mini Eggs and caramel pieces. A must-make 35-minute Easter tray bake.
Serves 6. Use the scaling buttons below to double or triple the quantity.
Ingredients
- 60g (or ¼ cup) unsalted butter (room temperature).
- 120g (½ cup +1.5 tbsp) golden granulated sugar
- 1 egg (room temperature)
- ½ tsp vanilla essence
- 150g (or 1 + ¼ cups) plain or all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 160g (or ¾ cup) mini eggs
- 6 pieces soft caramels or fudge (80g or 3oz) - cut into small squares max 5mm or ¼ inch - optional
- Pinch of sea salt to sprinkle (optional)
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 390F or 200C. Grease a baking dish and line it with parchment/greaseproof paper. (Note 1)
- Beat the butter and sugar with an electric whisk or stand mixer. Then add the egg and vanilla essence.
- Mix the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Then pour them into the wet mixture and gently mix on a low setting.
- Add the Mini Eggs and optional caramel or fudge pieces and fold them in by hand.
- Spoon the mixture into the greased baking dish. Flatten with the back of a large spoon to ensure it is evenly distributed and sprinkle with a few flakes of sea salt (optional).
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until they are golden brown.
- Let the baked cookie dough cool for 5-10 minutes on the tray and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cut into squares and enjoy.
Notes
- The recipe has been tested with a 21cm/8in x 15cm/6in x 4.5cm/2in baking dish.
- Category: Sweet
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Western
What size baking pan?
Hi Christl, I've tested this with a 21cm/8in x 15cm/6in x 4.5cm/2in baking dish. I will also add this info to the recipe.