This coming week marks the one year anniversary of staying home because of the pandemic. I’ve baked my heart out. I made layer cake, cheesecake, brownies, ice cream pie, icebox cake, chocolate cake, snack cake, and many more desserts that didn’t make it to the blog. We stopped traveling. Instead we just stayed in and did almost everything virtually. We worked out at home, called family and friends on video, ordered so much takeout (I was featured in this Boston Magazine article on how to take actually stunning photos of take-out food). We’ve mastered the art of looking Zoom-ready every day while staying comfortable. Outside our cozy little apartment, the world has changed.

But one thing has also remained the same: my love for all things ube.
Ube brings me so much comfort, and comfort is what we all need after the year we had (and the pandemic is still not over).

For those new here: ube is purple yam. It?s vivid in color, mild in taste, almost nutty. It?s one of the most popular dessert ingredients in the Philippines, and certainly one of the most recognizable and craveable flavors.

I wanted to make something simple and unfussy, like sugar cookies, but in bar form (no need to roll the dough into balls). Then I wanted to frost it in cream cheese frosting, but not just any cream cheese frosting, I wanted ube frosting. And then I wanted to finish it with a sprinkle of nanpareils. So here we have one of the best treats I’ve ever made ...