Strawberry Shortcake Bars

These strawberry shortcake bars are light and refreshing, deliciously buttery, chewy, crisp and filled with fresh juicy strawberries, making them perfect for summer.

They are also incredibly easy to make, with only a few simple ingredients, most of which you probably already have in your kitchen.

For an alternative in the winter try making this bar recipe with any type of jam (strawberry, raspberry, peach, blackberry, apricot or plum).

Check out some these fruity bar recipes for more inspiration: cherry almond cookie bars, blueberry cheesecake bars or raspberry zserbó.

If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and the other readers. And don’t forget to take a picture and tag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram. I love seeing what you come up with! 🙂

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INGREDIENTS

For this strawberry shortcake bar recipe all you need are these ingredients:

• Plain (all-purpose) flour – builds structure.

• Caster sugar – adds structure, sweetness to the cookie base.

• Baking powder – is a chemical leavening which increases the volume of the ingredients, creating a nice light texture.

• Pure vanilla extract or paste – adds flavour and enhances the other ingredient flavours in the recipe.

– Vanilla recommendations: pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste or vanilla pods.

• Butter – adds structure and flavour. I use salted butter for most of my baking as it intensifies the flavours, but feel free to use unsalted if you prefer. Make sure it’s at room temperature before using.

• Egg – helps to bind the ingredients together in both the pastry and the strawberry filling.

• Ground almonds – add flavour to the filling and lightness instead of flour.

• Cornflour (cornstarch)- ensures the filling binds together as it cooks and keeps it light in texture.

• Fresh strawberries – are the hero in this recipe.

• Icing sugar (powdered sugar) – is used for decorating the top of the bars.

TIP:

I highly recommend adding a good pinch of salt to your desserts. Salt helps balance out the sweetness and richness. It also elevates the other ingredients, bring out the best characteristics of any recipe. In a seemingly absurd or contradictory way, salt intensifies the mouths ability to taste sweetness. It is the sodium that sends signals to move glucose into the sweet taste receptor cells in our tongue. The result is that salt not only alerts our ‘salt sensitivity’, but also our ‘sweet sensitive’ taste buds. I recommend Maldon Sea salt flakes or Cornish sea salt.

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SUBSTITUTIONS

While I am making recommendations for alternative ingredients, I haven’t necessarily tried them. If you try making any adaptions, I would love to know how you get on and share it with the other readers.

GLUTEN-FREE OPTION

• Flour: replace the gluten flour with a 1:1 alternative gluten free flour, such as Doves Farm Free plain gluten free flour. If possible, choose a flour which contains xanthan gum or alternatively, add 1 tsp to your batter for stability. You can also try Doves Farm gluten free self-raising flour.

SUGAR-FREE AND LOW-CALORIE OPTIONS

• Sugar-free or calorie reduced options: try alternatives such as coconut sugar, honey, natural erythritol, xylitol, stevia or fructooligosaccharide powder instead. There are also sweetener mixes available, that are 70% calorie reduced and low in carb.

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WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?

This is where the fun begins.

• Fruits: try peaches, raspberries, blackberries, apricots or plums to name a few.

• Nuts: Try ground hazelnuts instead of almonds. Tastes amazing!

• Spices – try adding spices that compliment the fruit such as cinnamon, cloves or nutmeg.

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NUTRITION

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STORAGE AND FREEZING

These strawberry shortcake bars will stay fresh for up to 4-5 days in an airtight container.

Freezing: They also freeze well for up to 2 months. To defrost simply leave on the kitchen worktop for half an hour. Serve at room temperature.

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TOOLS YOU’LL NEED

Here is some kitchen equipment that I use and recommend for this recipe.

• Earthenware Mixing Bowl Mason Cash, Cream 29 cm Chip Resistant.

I like the sturdiness of this bowl and its 4 litre capacity means I can use it for mixing just about everything in the kitchen. It is also microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe.

• Mixing Bowls Set of 5, Stainless Steel Nesting Bowls with Airtight Lids, 3 Grater Attachments, Size 5, 3, 2, 1.5, 0.63 QT

These different size mixing bowls are really useful depending on the amount of food you are preparing. They also have airtight lids that fit snugly to seal and keep food fresh, so this set can be used as dry storage bowls with lids on. The plastic lid of the largest bowl has a removable centre. Where one of 3 graters can be used.

• 3 Plastic Mixing Bowls, Non-Slip Base, Soft Grip Handle, Microwave and Dishwasher Safe, Compact, Stackable, Ideal for baking and cooking, off-white, 1.5 Litre, 2 Litre, 2.5 Litre.

I do own a plastic mixing bowl but I am personally not a big fan of them. These 3 bowls are on the smaller size but good for the odd cake making.

• Breville Classic Combo Stand and Hand Mixer | 3.7 Litre Stainless Steel Bowl | Swivel Control, Whisk, Dough Hooks and Beaters

I like this model of electric hand mixer because it comes with a large stand, meaning you don’t have to always hold it.

• Loose Base Square Cake Tin, Professional Gauge Carbon Steel with Eclipse Non-Stick Coating, 20 cm x 20 cm / 8″ x 8″ Cake Pan; Cake Pan, Ideal for bakes and celebration cakes

A great size and good quality non-stick pan for all your traybakes, bars etc…

The Gourmet Larder is an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

TIP: I highly recommend using metric measurements and a digital kitchen scale, rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes on this blog are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.

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RECIPE TIPS

Use room temperature ingredients – both the butter and egg should be at room temperature. Cold butter will not cream together properly with the sugars and when combined with the egg will not emulsify correctly, causing the finished baked product to be dense and heavy.

Lining your pan – I highly recommend lining your pan with baking parchment paper. Just greasing the pan just seems to leave complications in removing it from the pan and cutting it. If you line it so that it overhangs by 2-3 cm on each side it will allow you to remove very easily.

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