Strawberry Lemon Bars

My husband and I have too many weekends that are interrupted by work or something like that, and it turned out that we had a weekend with no activities planned. We decided that we would try and do as much as we could that wasn’t work related. One of the things we came up with is going to a local farmers market. We decided to go to the farmer’s market in a nearby town, as they had changed locations a while ago and we hadn’t gone since they had moved.

Farmer’s markets can be challenging. There is so much good produce and berries, but my house is usually too warm. I’ve found that I have to know what I am going to make and get the needed ingredients, otherwise I just wander aimlessly. As we were wrapping up, I knew I had this recipe that needed strawberries, so I checked the quantity and got what I needed. I ended up getting strawberries that were quite ripe, so I made the bars right away.

The dough/batter for these bars is quite cake-like, and it looks really strange after you have added the lemon juice. The dough did come together, which was a relief! My strawberries were very ripe, so when I added them to the dough and the glaze, strawberry juice mixed in giving a slight pink tinge. It wasn’t too noticeable after baking and cutting, so it was fine. These are quite cakey, thick, but have a lovely combination of sweet strawberries and tart lemon.

Strawberry Lemon Bars
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
¼ cup lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
2-1/3 cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups diced strawberries

1-1/4 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
¼ cup diced strawberries
Additional lemon juice/milk

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium until light. Add the egg and mix again on medium to combine. Stir in the lemon juice and zest. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold in the diced strawberries with a spatula.

Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden. Test the bars with a thin knife inserted into the center of the bars, which will come out clean if the bars are baked. Allow the bars to cool before glazing.

Make the glaze: in a medium bowl, whisk the powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons lemon juice until smooth. If the glaze is too thick, add additional lemon juice or milk. Carefully stir in the diced strawberries. Spread the glaze on the bars and allow the glaze to set before cutting into bars.  

Recipe from Kitchen Fun with my Three Sons