Description
Strawberry bars with a crumble topping and glaze are one of the best ways to eat strawberries, IMO!
Ingredients
Crust
4 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
2/3 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
4 c unbleached flour
1 1/2 t kosher salt
2/3 c chopped toasted walnuts
1 t cinnamon
Strawberry Filling
1/3 c sugar
1 1/2 lbs washed and hulled strawberries, sliced
1 T lemon juice
1/4 t cinnamon
1 T balsamic vinegar
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4–5 T of strawberry or raspberry jam
Glaze
6 T unsalted butter, melted
3 c powdered sugar
about 1/4 c milk or until glaze reaches drizzling consistency
1/2 t vanilla
Dehydrated dried, unsweetened strawberries (optional)
Instructions
Line a 13 x 9 pan with parchment paper so that the paper hangs over the edges of the pan. (This is so dough won’t stick but also allows you to remove the bars from the pan after baking to slice them easier.)
For the crust: Place butter, sugars, and vanilla in a stand mixer. Beat with paddle attachment for about 3-5 minutes or until light colored and fluffy. Stop mixer. Scrape down sides of bowl.
Cover bowl with clean towel to avoid flour flying around. Add flour and salt and mix on low until combined.
Press 2/3 of the dough on to the bottom of the pan and a 1/2″ up the sides. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Reserve 1/3 of the dough for the crumble.
Preheat oven to 375.
Stir chopped nuts and cinnamon into the rest of the dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill.
After crust has chilled, bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.
Prepare the filling by mixing filling ingredients together in a large bowl.
After removing crust from oven, spread the jam lightly over the baked crust. Top with the filling.
Remove remaining dough from refrigerator and form into balls and scatter over the top. Bake 25 minutes or until light golden brown.
While bars are baking prepare the glaze. Melt butter and stir in powdered sugar. Add milk and vanilla and stir with a small whisk until a glaze of drizzling consistency is formed.
After bars have cooled, drizzle with glaze. I also crumbled some dried strawberries over the top and into the glaze to give a little pink hue and a touch of strawberry flavor to the glaze, though this is totally optional!
Notes
Glaze is optional but is so good!