Hello friends. I’m back! I know it has been a long time since my last post, but I have been super busy with my family in Peru. I traveled to help my mom move from her house (where she lived for almost 40 years) to her new apartment. It was a very exhausting process emotionally and physically. As you know, my mom has dementia, which is getting worse little by little, she does not have the capacity to remember anything anymore and living in such a big house for just her and her caregivers was too much for her to handle. Now, she has a smaller place where she feels happy and secure.

Also, you might ask, what happened to my dad? To make this story short, my dad’s health has been declining fast during the last year to a point that I could not even sleep thinking that he might fall or that he was going to hurt himself or someone in the house. Having one full time caregiver was not enough anymore, the house was not safe for him, so I had to make the hard decision to place my dad into a geriatric clinic, I don’t like it to call it a “home” or “assisted living”. I found the perfect place for him and like I called it “clinic” because it is really a clinic. They just accept patients that needs help for everything (like my dad), they have nurses, doctors, and everything you could think of. How is he doing? He is ok, he has deteriorated for sure, not because of the care he gets, but because he does not want to walk anymore.

So yes, I’ve been very busy, and I just want to rest and catch up with my sleep. I want to start baking which you know is my therapy and makes me feel happy. I’m happy to be back home with my hubby and dogs.

Ok, so now let’s talk about this recipe. I know Easter is this week and since I moved to USA, Easter changed for me. In Peru, the whole week of Easter is more “special” and more religious. We do not eat ham or red meat; we eat fish and Easter eggs were not really a thing growing up. BUT, I find it really interesting and cute that here you can find a lot of easter eggs, decoration, chocolate rabbits, etc. etc.

Because this is my first bake after a couple of months, I decided to make something simple but cute for Easter. These bars have vanilla, eggs, butter, chocolate chips just like cookies and they are topped with festive mini eggs.

Let’s start with the recipe, and if you would like to see how I made them, do not forget to visit me on Instagram @pastry_tales

Yield one 8×8 inch square pan.

Ingredients

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter at room temperature

6 tablespoons white granulated sugar

6 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 large egg at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips (I used 1/2 cup regular size chips and 1/2 cup mini chips)

small easter eggs. I used Cadbury rainbow mini eggs. Here is the link so you can get the same ones.

Directions

1.- Preheat oven to 350 F. Line your pan with parchment paper (bottom and sides). Set aside.

2.- In a bowl mix all your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3.- In another bowl and using an electric mixer, beat butter for 1 minute. Then, add granulated sugar and light brown sugar and cream all the ingredients until light and fluffy in medium-high speed for about 2 minutes.

4.- Add in egg and keep beating for another minute. Add in vanilla extract, mix for another minute.

5.- Turn off the mixer and add the chocolate chips. Turn it on and mix in low speed for 30 seconds.

6.- Spread this cookie dough on top of your prepared pan and use the palm of your hand to distribute the dough evenly.

7.- Add the mini chocolate eggs on top and press them down lightly against the cookie dough. You can also sprinkle some extra chocolate chips.

8.- Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the edges look golden brown and the center is set. Remember these bars will get harder when they cool off so do not overbake.

9.- Take the pan out of the oven and place it on top of a cooling rack. Let it cool completely and then cut them into squares. You can get 9 or 12 squares; it all depends how big you want them to be.

Enjoy and Happy Easter!