Strawberry Lemon Blondies ~ these easy strawberry blondies are moist and dense, (think soft shortbread) with plenty of little jammy pockets thanks to a cup of diced fresh strawberries in the batter. A hint of lemon gives these strawberry bars a bright, tangy vibe.
We’re baking strawberry lemon blondies on repeat right now!
If you could only have one strawberry dessert this season, these fruity little strawberry bars would have to be the one, they’re ridiculously easy to throw together and completely irresistible…take it from me, I had my fork in one before I could finish my photo shoot. That’s always a sign of a good recipe 🙂
TIP: baking softens, sweetens, and brings out the best in pre-season berries, so even before the really good strawberries start showing up at market, you can make fabulous strawberry desserts.
If you like your desserts soft and moist, I know these strawberry lemon blondies will appeal to you.
There’s nothing dry or crumbly about them, they melt in the mouth like a great blondie should. Only instead of nuts and chocolate you’ve got juicy strawberries and tart lemon. Yum.
Blondies are an art form here at tvfgi, and there’s a special place in my heart for unique recipes like my Banana Blondies with their amazing caramel frosting, or my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Blondies. But sometimes you just need a little chocolate, am I right? In that case head straight for my Outrageous Chocolate Hazelnut Blondies or decadent Almond Butter Skillet Blondies.
The plush batter for these strawberry lemon blondies is thick but easy to work with. Take a minute to spread it out evenly in your pan so it bakes up nice and flat.
The pretty pink glaze is naturally colored
Blondies are pretty unassuming when they come out of the oven, but just wait. Let them cool down a bit, then drizzle on the tart glaze (I use a tablespoon of strained strawberry puree to create that pretty color naturally)…things are about to get interesting…
This is one strawberry dessert that is more than meets the eye. It’s all about that party in your mouth!
tvfgi recommends: a 9″ square ceramic baking dish
I recommend the 9″ size, and look for something with weight to it, like the one above. The side handles help when you’re trying to get it in and out of a hot oven.
Reader Rave ~
“You have gained a few fans! Made this for our Sunday night family gathering and everyone kept going back for more. I cut them into smaller pieces so everyone felt less guilty splurging 🙂 Thank you for a very yummy recipe.” ~ Jen
Strawberry Lemon Blondies
Equipment
- 9x9 square baking pan
- parchment paper for easy removal optional
Ingredients
blondies
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup diced fresh strawberries
glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted, measure out your sugar before sifting.
- 1 Tbsp strawberry puree, you'll need about 2 large strawberries, instructions below.
- lemon juice, about 1 Tbsp, or just enough to thin the glaze to a spreadable consistency
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Line a 9 inch square baking pan with parchment paper with long edges. This is optional but will help you lift out the blondies for easy glazing and slicing later.
- Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg.
- When the egg is fully incorporated, beat in the lemon juice. The lemon juice will probably not completely incorporate at this point, that's ok.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt, and add to the wet ingredients, mixing until no more dry flour is present.
- Gently fold in the diced strawberries. Spread the mixture into your pan and spread out as evenly as possible. The dough is thick, so take your time. I like to use a large offset spatula for this job.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, just until starting to turn golden around the edges and the center is set. A toothpick inserted in the center will be moist but not wet. Don't over-bake these, or they will dry out. Let cool on a rack.
- Trim the strawberries for the glaze and puree in a small food processor. Strain the puree through a small strainer to get 1 Tbsp of puree. Whisk together the sugar, puree, and lemon juice until no lumps remain. If your glaze is too thin, add a touch more sugar. If it's too thick, add more lemon juice.
- Spread the glaze over the cooled blondies. Let the glaze set before slicing.
Video
Notes
- When you measure out the flour, first fluff the flour, then scoop it with your cup, and then level it without compacting it. This method helps insure an accurate amount.
- If you don't want to bother with the strawberry puree for the icing, just use lemon juice. I don't recommend using strawberry jam because it would be too sweet combined with the sugar.
- Do a little test before glazing your blondies. Spoon a bit of glaze on the blondies and see how it does...if it soaks right in it is too thin you can add more sugar. If it's too thick you can thin it down with more puree or lemon juice.
- For a variation, try this with diced rhubarb, blueberries, or raspberries. You could also use a combination of strawberries and rhubarb.
Nutrition
Thanks for pinning!
More strawberry desserts ~
Strawberry Shortbread Cookies
Easy Strawberry Cake
Strawberry Buttermilk Cake
First, let me just say WOW so so good and visually mouth-watering! I did add some lemon zest to the bars and a little in the frosting. A major crowd pleaser! Thank you so much for sharing.
These were SO delicious and didn’t even need the glaze which I skipped! Made them for our 3 adult grandkids here for the weekend and there wasn’t a crumb left. They’re NOT brownies and I love the texture, the fresh strawberries and the buttery moistness. I’ll be making these again for friends and family!!!
Julie Pelletier. Massachusetts
I’m in the process of trying to make this and I have a question about the flour measurement.
So is it (2) 1/4 cups of flour or is it 2 & 1/4 cups?
It’s 2 and 1/4 cups.
When I think of a blondie, I think of a brownie that is light in color (at least that is what I thought a blondie was). I expect a brownie to be sweet and this is definitely not sweet. It came out just as pictured and I had no problem with the recipe but I thought it had a very bad aftertaste. I will not be making this again.
Sorry you didn’t have a good experience Melissa.
Hello if we don’t have APF can we use pancake mix instead and how much?
Gosh, I haven’t tried that so I can’t say, sorry!
Yes, i think you could. Replace 1:1 & omit baking powder and salt as it is in the pancake mix already. Reduce sugar by half. If your mix is complete (just add water) don’t add the egg either. Should come out just fine!
I neglected to realize the pan should have been a 9” square and used a 9’13” pan. Whoops. They still turned out wonderful, just a little more crumbly since I baked according to the time for a 9” pan. Very tasty recipe. Will pay closer attention next time, haha!
These are delicious! My son (5) and I made these up today. He did most of the work as I supervised.
These bars are amazing. Yes, cook it the entire 35 minutes. I even turned the oven off and let them sit in there for an extra couple minutes. And I just did powdered sugar and lemon juice for the glaze. Everyone loved them!
I just made these and wow! They are phenomenal! These were super moist and delicious. They absolutely taste like a fudgy short bread somehow! I will definitely be making these again, thank you so much! These are definitely party worthy!
I prepared them today, but I am not really sure if the texture is the right one. I think they look like the ones on the picture, soft but not that moist. I still believe the texture is similar to a lemon pie crust my mom used to prepare. The flavor is good though. Thanks for sharing!
It sounds like they might have baked too long?
I took them out right at 32 mins. Great decision. They hadn’t really browned at the edges, but they were perfect-not dry at all. I was afraid of drying them out. I will cut back a bit on the lemon next time-just by a tablespoon. Just a drizzle of the glaze is all that is needed to add a tiny bit of oomph and prettiness. Thank you-will make often for guests.
My 10 yr old son and I made this wonderful dessert for my wife. Wow!!! Fairly easy to whip up and tasted absolutely wonderful. Needed to stay in oven several minutes longer than the suggested time. I normally don’t write feedbacks but felt inclined to do so here. Very pleasantly surprised. What a treat. Thanks
Love that you’re starting your son out on the right foot, everybody needs to know how to bake 🙂