strawberry | Busy Baking Mama

I’m clearly on a blueberry, strawberry, and white chocolate kick. Summertime just does that to me I guess. I used my go-to white chocolate blondie recipe as a base for these bars and added in the strawberries because, well, I’m in the midst of a love affair with strawberries and I might as well celebrate it.

I love the contrast of the slightly tart and tangy strawberries with the sweetness of the white chocolate. Even though I’m not one of those people who shuns white chocolate ’cause it’s too sweet, I definitely appreciate the balance of flavor the strawberries bring to the mix. Incidentally, you could substitute strawberries for another tart fruit, like raspberries, and get similarly delicious results.

White Chocolate Strawberry Blondies

Ingredients:
1 cup AP flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate
1 cup strawberries, chopped

Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease an 8×8 baking pan.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. Using either your stovetop or microwave, combine the butter and white chocolate to melt. If using your stovetop, put butter and white chocolate in either a double boiler or heavy duty saucepan and melt on low heat while stirring frequently. If using the microwave, put butter and white chocolate in a small bowl and melt on 50% power for 30-second increments until butter is melted and white chocolate is mostly melted. Use a fork or whisk to get the chocolate nice and smooth.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together your eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Add in the white chocolate mixture and whisk until smooth and well-combined.
5. Whisk or stir in the flour mixture until incorporated.
6. Stir in strawberries. (Quick note: If you’re washing your berries on the spot, make sure to pat them dry before adding to batter. You’ll want to eliminate as much moisture as possible before baking.)
7. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let the blondies cool completely (at least 90 minutes) in the pan before cutting into bars.

Remember those awesome blueberry crumb bars I made a few days ago? They were so delicious I just had to try a strawberry version. The great thing about this recipe is that it’s fairly easy and pretty adaptable to your favorite fruit. You could try it with raspberries, peaches…the list goes on and on.

Strawberry Crumb Bars
Recipe slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 and ½ cups granulated sugar, divided into 1 cup and ½ cup
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups AP flour
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons orange juice (I used fresh-squeezed from an orange, but any type of OJ will work just fine; you could also use lemon juice if you prefer that flavor profile)
4 cups fresh strawberries, chopped into small pieces
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, optional
4 teaspoons cornstarch

Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9×13 inch pan and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup of the sugar with the flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. (Note: This might take awhile, but keep working at it—you want to make sure the butter gets nice and blended.) Your dough will be crumbly.
4. Pat half of the dough into your prepared pan.
5. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch, and orange juice. Gently mix in the chopped strawberries and chocolate chips, if you’re using them. Sprinkle the strawberry mixture evenly over the crust, and then crumble the remaining dough over the berry layer.
6. Bake for about 45-55 minutes, or until the top gets slightly brown and an inserted toothpick comes out relatively clean.
7. Let the bars cool completely in the pan before cutting in. Two hours should do it.