By Lucas turned one. ONE YEAR OLD. Three hundred and sixty-five days of being a grandmother and I have loved every single one, even the ones at 3 AM when Jenny called because Lucas had a fever and I drove over with caldo de pollo in a thermos because chicken soup is the answer to every fever, every illness, every 3 AM crisis. The soup works. It always works. Lucas fever broke by morning. The soup or the medicine — Jenny gives credit to the medicine. I give credit to the soup. We are both right because love takes many forms and some forms come in a thermos.
His birthday party was at my house because where else would it be? The new kitchen hosted thirty people — thirty, mi amor, and there was room. Room for the adults at the table, room for the children on the floor, room for Lucas in his high chair at the head of the island counter, wearing a crown that Sofia made from construction paper and looking like the tiny king of a delicious kingdom.
I made his birthday cake. Not a fancy cake — a simple vanilla cake with buttercream frosting, American-style, because Lucas is American and his first birthday cake should reflect that, and also because Jenny mother Karen offered to bring a cake and I said absolutely not, the boy first birthday cake comes from his abuela kitchen or it does not come at all. Karen was gracious. I was firm. Firmness won.
Mami held him while we sang feliz cumpleanos in Spanish and happy birthday in English, the bilingual celebration that is the soundtrack of diaspora childhood. She held him and he grabbed her nose — the Delgado nose, his tiny version grabbing her original version — and she laughed. She laughed with the clarity of a woman who is fully present, fully here, holding her great-grandson on his first birthday, and the laugh was young. The laugh was the laugh of a woman in Bayamon in 1965 holding her daughter Carmen for the first time. Same laugh. Same love. Different baby. Different city. Same everything.
I made pernil for the party because a birthday without pernil is just a day with cake, and days with cake are fine but days with cake AND pernil are celebrations. The food was too much. It is always too much. It will always be too much. Because too much is the Delgado standard and the standard does not adjust downward. Ever. Happy birthday, Lucas. Happy birthday, my first grandchild. You ate cake with your hands and pernil from my plate and you are one year old and you are everything. Wepa, mi amor. Wepa forever.
I made the birthday cake — that was never in question — but thirty people eat a lot, and one cake disappears faster than you expect when children are involved and adults pretend they are not eating as much as the children. So I made these cake mix cookie bars the morning of the party, tucked them on the lower counter where the little ones could reach them, and they were gone before the candles finished cooling. If Lucas’s first birthday taught me anything, it is this: when you are feeding a room full of love, you always need one more pan of something sweet.
Cake Mix Cookie Bars
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 24 bars
Ingredients
- 1 box (15.25 oz) yellow cake mix
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles (optional, for celebrations)
Instructions
- Preheat. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and set aside.
- Mix the dough. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs, and vegetable oil. Stir until a thick dough forms — it will be stiff, and that is exactly right.
- Fold in mix-ins. Stir in the chocolate chips and sprinkles if using. The dough will be dense; use a sturdy spoon or your hands.
- Press into pan. Transfer the dough to the prepared pan and press it into an even layer with your fingertips or the back of a greased spatula. Work it all the way into the corners.
- Bake. Bake for 18—22 minutes, until the top is golden and set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
- Cool and cut. Allow bars to cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes before slicing into 24 squares. They firm up as they cool — do not rush this step or they will crumble.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 148 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 21g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 145mg