I don’t know about you but I could eat strawberries pretty much anytime of the year. I love strawberry desserts. Strawberry pie has always been one of my favorites but for some reason, I rarely make strawberry desserts myself.
This year, Valentine’s Day fell on a Monday, which means we would normally celebrate the Sunday before…well, that happened to be Super Bowl Sunday. Instead of choosing one or the other, my husband and I decided to incorporate Blend the two. That’s how I came up with these ooey gooey strawberry bars.
When I think of Valentine’s Day desserts, my first thought is always chocolate but almost hand in hand comes strawberries. I LOVE chocolate covered strawberries or in this case, white chocolate covered strawberries.
These shortbread bars are made with a quick and easy homemade strawberry preserves recipe and topped with white chocolate. I have always loved shortbread cookies but I’ve found at times, the bars haven’t always been as sweet as I like. If you’re like me an have a major sweet tooth, these ooey gooey strawberry bars are perfect for you.
Not only does the crust incorporate brown sugar but it also have white chocolate melted in, which gives it such a smooth, sweet taste that pairs so well with the homemade preserves. The preserves are about as easy as it can get. Normally with perseveres, you would hve more sugar and do a lot more simmering until the perseveres have a thicker, more gelled texture, but for these bars, it’s not necessary. That’s why it’s so quick. Since we’re not simmering, there will be extra liquid that will need to be drained.
When layering the preserves, I started with the chunks of strawberry first, covering the crust completely and then adding the juice as I went long. The crust will soak up some of the juice, which gives it great flavor, but you don’t want to overdo it with the liquid, so it’s important to make sure it’s not visibly seeping more than a couple cm into the crust. Once your strawberry layer is complete, you.ll top it with the white chocolate crumble and pop it in the oven.
Whether you’re making these for the holidays, or just because, these delicious strawberry bars are sure to hit the sweet spot.
Ooey Gooey Strawberry Bars
Prep Time: 20 minutes Bake Time: 30 minutes
Total: 50 minutes
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbs brown sugar
1 1/2 cup self-rising flour
2/3 cup white chocolate – chopped
3/4 cup melted unsalted butter
Melted white chocolate for topping (optional but highly recommend)
Strawberry Preserves
1 lb strawberries finely chopped
1 1/4 sugar
1 tbs lemon juice
- Add strawberries,sugar and lemon juice to a saucepan, heating on medium heat.
- While the strawberries are heating, Cream together sugar, brown sugar and butter until well blended.
- Add in 1/3 cup of white chocolate and flour.
- Spread crust mixture into a 9×13 greased pan, reserving 1/4 cup for the topping.
- Once strawberry mixture has come to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and drain all but a 1/3 cup of liquid.
- Spread strawberry mixture onto the crust
- Mix together remaining dough mixture and remaining white chocolate and then sprinkle on top
- Bake for 30 minutes at 350
- Remove from oven and top with melted white chocolate