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
When it comes to small bakes like brownies and blondies, I like to bake in ceramic or stoneware. I think it bakes evenly without over cooking the edges. They come in so many pretty colors, but I’m partial to my white pan. Every kitchen needs one.
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
These look great! I’d like to make them but fresh strawberries aren’t available in January where I live. Could I use frozen?
I’m sure readers have made these with frozen strawberries, but they aren’t ideal because they release a lot of moisture into your blondies.
We have made this about 3 times in a row and I look forward to making them again for Valentine’s Day! Yum!!!
This recipe caught my eye because of the beautiful pics. While it was a good blondie, I found it to be incredibly rich with a thick almost peanut-butter-like texture that stuck to the roof of my mouth, which was unexpected. I think if I make them again, I would add 1/4 cup more flour. I also wanted them a bit sweeter since the lemon was very very strong. I liked the taste, but would have preferred a bit more sweetness to balance it out. Overall a great recipe.
Hello!
I plan to make a double batch of these for a coworker this week. I’m very much an amateur baker. Is there anything I should be mindful of aside from doubling my ingredients? I was planning to use a 9×13″ pan: is that sufficiently large enough? Any info is appreciated. I’ll report back and let you know how they come out 🙂
-James
The pan should work fine, your baking time may be a little longer.
HIGHLY recommend this recipe, I’ve made it twice so far and it’s one of my favorites now. One tip I’ve discovered is that if you let it sit in the fridge for a day or two, it taste even better than when it’s freshly baked.
I just made a trial batch of these to see if they would be a good dessert option for a ladies salad luncheon. I subbed raspberries for the strawberries as that is what I had on hand. THIS RECIPE IS A KEEPER! I’ve now found my go to dessert for taking to any and all events! Thank you for this delicious recipe!
This was a great recipe. I used frozen strawberries so that they retained their shape and didn’t become mushy. I also used less lemon and instead added vanilla and almond extract to equal 1/4 cup of lemon juice.
Sounds yummy! I love the combination of vanilla and almond.
Can these be frozen, and if so how far ahead do you suggest thawing them before serving?
Did you ever find out if these could be frozen?
Yes, you can freeze these.
These are really good! And I didn’t even bother making the glaze. 🙂 The “shortbread” comment the author makes is spot on—very tender shortbread texture, but not dry at all. The lemon flavor is lovely—tangy but not overpowering.
The only negative I found was the extreme thickness of the batter. You’d better have some serious upper body strength. I tried everything I had to “fold” in the strawberries, including mixing with my fingers, then finally gave up and used my KitchenAid mixer to blend the strawberries (they still weren’t well distributed). These were firm strawberries, so even though the mixer broke them up some, there were still some discrete chunks, and the batter had a nice pink color, so unless your strawberries are very ripe and soft, this works pretty well.
I didn’t get it smoothed flat in the pan, but assumed because it has so much butter, it would melt in the oven and smooth itself out. No. However you put it in the pan is how it’s going to come out of the oven.
It’s very delicious, though. Just alerting people with weak shoulders like mine. 🙂
Has anyone tried making these with frozen strawberries ?
It’s not the best choice for this recipe, but I believe others have done it successfully.