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
Video
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.
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. Â 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. Â
Nutrition
Thanks for pinning!
More strawberry desserts ~
Strawberry Shortbread Cookies
Easy Strawberry Cake
Strawberry Buttermilk Cake
Can I double the recipe and bake in a 9×13 pan? These sound amazing and I need to make them for a bigger Crowd plus I don’t have a 9×9 pan….
I think that should be fine.
Can you use frozen strawberries ? I just froze 2 of beautiful,sweet strawberries before I saw this recipe.
You can but it’s a little trickier…they need to be chopped, so if you have whole frozen strawberries you’ll need to thaw them, and they can tend to be more watery than fresh berries. Drain them if necessary.
These are more like a cake, or bread. Not dense or sweet.
Have you ever tried to freeze these? Thinking of making for a grad party and would love to make ahead. Thinking it would be best to wait with the glaze until ready to serve?
Yes, you could freeze them, but wait on the glaze.
This looks absolutely amazing! I’m surprised by using the lemon with strawberries. Normally there’s a ton of blueberry & lemon desserts, but this seems a little different. I will definitely have to give this a try! Would it be easy to substitute blueberries for the strawberries though? The blondie base in and of itself seems so easy to make, moist and delicious on its own. So assuming I love the base (and why wouldn’t I?) I would like to try this with blueberries as well. TIA
P.S. – I’m rating 4 stars even though I haven’t tried this yet, simply because of the ease, presentation and flavor combination!
Easy, fast bar cookie. Good way to use up those last few strawberries that no one wants to eat. Soft, buttery and tart. Loved the glaze. I mashed my berries with a mortar and pestle then pressed them thru a strainer. Ate one for breakfast the next day.
I’m planning to make these for a party. Are they best if made that day or can I make them the night before?
They were ok. I wouldn’t rush to make them again, but I didn’t hate it. Strawberry Glaze was unnecessary and was lost as the blondie was good enough on it’s own. Not what I would typically class as a blondie, but that was not an issue. The recipe does say think of it as a soft and moist shortbread which I think is accurate. I used fresh homegrown BC/pnw strawberries. Totally red, juicy, sweet with no white parts at all. My kids enjoyed them, husband feels the same as me. This is maybe a once a year dessert for us. 3.5-4 stars.
Question: I am waiting to put on the glaze, the blondes part has been cooking for about an hour and a half now and still isn’t cool.
It can take a while for the blondies to cool, so you do need patience!
Loved this recipe! I had wayyy too many strawberries to get rid of from our strawberry patch and was looking for a recipe to make and made this! Used up a lot of the strawberries and was delicious.