I stole this recipe for Strawberry Lemonade Bars from Katie at madetobeamomma.com. These tart dessert bars start with a shortbread crust. Fresh strawberries, lemon juice, lemonade drink mix, sugar and eggs make up the filling. After baking the crust, the strawberry lemonade filling is poured on top. The bars go back in the oven to finish baking. Let the bars cool, cut and sprinkle with powdered sugar. A great tart and sweet way to finish a meal!
“Every meal should end with something sweet. Maybe it’s jelly on toast at breakfast, or a small piece of chocolate at dinner – but it always helps my brain bring a close to the meal.” – Robert Irvine (see more quotes in the Quotes tab)
Mash 8-10 strawberries to yield ½ cup and set aside.
Beat together ¼ cup granulated sugar and ½ cup room temperature butter until light and creamy.
Gradually beat in 1 ½ cups flour and ¼ tsp salt until mixture is crumbly. Press mixture into a 9×13 inch pan and bake 350 F for 17 minutes.
Add ¾ cup granulated sugar and zest & juice of one lemon to mashed strawberries.
Next, add 2 tbsp lemonade drink mix.
Then add 1 ½ cups granulated sugar, 3 eggs, ¼ cup flour, ½ tsp baking powder and ¼ tsp salt to the bowl.
Mix everything together and pour onto hot crust.
Bake an additional 25 minutes or until the middle is set.
Chill in refrigerator until serving, cut and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Strawberry Lemonade Bars
Ingredients
Crust
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup butter room temperature
- 1 ½ cups flour
- ¼ tsp salt
Filling
- ¾ cup sugar
- Zest of one lemon
- 2 tbsp lemonade drink mix optional
- 8-10 strawberries ~ ½ cup
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
Crust
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Beat together sugar and butter until light and creamy.
-
Gradually beat in flour and salt until mixture is crumbly.
-
Press mixture into a 9x13 inch pan and bake 350 F for 17 minutes.
Filling
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Place all filling ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
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Pour onto hot crust when finished baking.
-
Bake an additional 25 minutes or until the middle is set.
-
Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar.
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Serve warm or chill in refrigerator until later use.
Recipe Notes
Spray the baking pan first; the bars will come out easier. For the lemonade drink mix, I was only able to use 1 tbsp. I purchased 2 Kool Aid packets (0.23 oz) lemonade mix (the only small packets I could find at my grocery store). The 2 packets only measured out 1 tbsp. You do not need to use a blender; you can mash the strawberries then use an electric mixer to combine the remaining ingredients. These bars taste better cold and I waited to put the confectioner’s sugar until after the bars cooled. If I would have put the sugar on the hot bars the sugar would have melted.