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. 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
How many servings does this make, please?
Depending on how you cut them, 9-12.
How many servings per your nutritional chart?
12 servings
My kids and I made these blondies. We doubled the recipe for a 9×13 pan. They were outstanding! The recipe was easy and delicious. I’m thinking of trying the same recipe with blackberries.
Thanks Amanda, let us know how it goes with the blackberries, I plan to do the same one of these days 🙂
These look amazing! But how many servings? I can’t find that info anywhere, and without it, the nutrition information is worthless. Thanks!
Just type the whole recipe into your own nutrition calculator and then YOU decide how many servings it makes for your family.
I did the calculating. For all of those ingredients (including the glaze) to equal 211 calories each as the recipe states, that is for 18 servings. 12 servings is 317 calories each, 16g fat, 23g sugar.
This will make 9-12 servings.
Made these to take along to a graduation party potluck today. They were sooooo good! I did make the recipe exactly as directed, but added 1/2 C more chopped strawberries and baked it in a 9×13 in pan and cooked them for 30 minutes. They came out perfectly moist, tender, and delicious! This is a recipe I will keep and make again and again! Thank you so much for sharing it!
Can I double it for a 9 x 13 pan?
That should work!
Has anyone tried this with Splenda instead of suger
If you use a granulated version that works as a 1 to 1 substitute, then it should work fine.
Can the strawberry blondies be frozen before putting icing on them? Would like to use for a wedding reception and would like to make ahead of time
Because you want to make these for such an important event, I would do a trial batch and test freeze them to see how you like the result. They should do well, but best to be sure.
Speaking of making this my own, I love lime so I subbed in lime juice for lemon and it was perfect!
Nice idea!
These were absolutely FABULOUS!
Yay 🙂 So glad you liked them.
These were a huge hit at my book club last night, served with Haagen Dazs strawberry ice cream and lemon raspberry ice cream. I know that sounds like a lot going on, but it was a delicious combination [as enthusiastically confirmed by the group:)]. Mine came out looking exactly like the photos; but given the two sticks of butter in the recipe, I was a bit surprised by the texture. As one reader mentioned, they’re a cross between shortbread and cake so these strawberry lemon blondies are even lovelier when accompanied by coffee, tea — or ice cream — to add some moistness to the mix. Thanks for a great recipe!
Thanks so much for this Michelle ) I’m drooling just thinking about the ice cream melting over these blondies!
I’m wondering if I could use butter flavored shortening to make them dairy free? I’m not an experienced baker, would it be a disaster?
I wish I could say for sure, Lori, but I haven’t tried that. It seems to me that it should work.