My husband came across this recipe from 12tomatoes.com, who adapted it from The View From Great Island, and, since he does love him a citrus-y treat, asked me to make a batch to try and mebbe share with friends (not to worry, social distancing all the way, I dropped a container of goodies on their doorstep and was off down the street).
I am not gonna lie – the half pound of butter called for gave me pause, but in the end, we got a pretty stellar treat, and I can see making these again and again.
INGREDIENTS
Blondies:
•1 cup unsalted butter, softened
•3/4 cup sugar
•1 egg
•1/4 cup lemon juice
•2-1/4 cups flour
•1/2 tsp baking powder
•1/2 tsp salt
•1 cup diced fresh strawberries
Glaze:
•1 cup confectioners’ sugar
•1 tbsp strawberry purée
•1 tbsp lemon juice (enough to thin the glaze to spreadable consistency)
Note: I ended up using two tablespoons each of strawberry puree and lemon juice to make my glaze spreadable.
Heat your oven to 350º and line an eight or nine inch square baking pan with parchment paper – leaving a couple of inches hanging over each end.
Whisk the flour together with the baking powder and the salt in a bowl and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter together with the sugar until fluffy, then beat in the egg and lemon juice.
Stir in the flour mixture until you have a thick dough, then fold in the diced strawberries.
Spread the batter evenly over the parchment paper lined baking pan, then pop into the hot oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Transfer to a rack to cool.
To make the strawberry purée, toss a couple of strawberries into the beaker of an immersion blender and give ’em a good whizzz. No immersion blender? A regular blender or mini food processor will work as well.
Pour the purée through a fine meshed strainer. If you like, go ahead and freeze any pulp from the strainer in an ice cube tray t add to lemonade.
To make the glaze, whisk the strawberry purée and the lemon juice into the confectioners’ sugar until smooth. As I noted above, it took my two tablespoons each of purée and lemon juice to make my glaze.
Spread the glaze evenly over the cooled blondies, then set aside to rest.
When ready to serve, use the overhanging parchment paper to lift the glazed blondies out of the baking pan and cut into bars.
I ended up with 16, two inch square bars – more than big enough because they really are wicked rich (that half pound of Irish butter and all).
Next time, for festivities’ sake, I might dust the fresh glaze with sprinkles.
Just a thought.