Strawberry Lemon Bars

While trying to come up with a yummy strawberry dessert, I happened across one for Strawberry Lemon Bars. It looked tasty, simple, & I had everything on hand to make it, so why not?! Of course, I never follow directions completely, so I put my own twist on things.

It turned out great, but when I make it again, I will change just a few things. The original recipe called for lining an 8 x 8 pan with aluminum foil. The 8 x 8 pan made the bars too "bready" in the middle, so I will probably switch to a shallow pan. I probably won't line it with foil next time either. Aluminum foil & fillings do not mix well.

So without further ado......

Strawberry Lemon Bars with Lemon Glaze

Ingredients for the bars:
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1 tsp of lemon juice
1 tsp of almond extract
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 egg 
1/2 cup - 1 cup of diced fresh strawberries (I just kept adding until it looked full) 

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. 
Mix sugar and butter with electric mixer.  
Add egg, lemon juice, vanilla, & almond. 
Mix in flour mixture.
Fold in diced strawberries by hand.
Coat pan with Crisco & lightly dust with flour.
Pour batter into pan.
Bake for about 35-45 minutes until done.
Let the bars cool before cutting and glazing.

For the Glaze1 cup of confectioners sugar 
lemon juice (enough to make it slightly runny)

Whisk together and pour over cooled bars.

Strawberry Flag Poke Cake

Since I have gotten a few comments on Our 4th of July Festivities, I thought I would include the recipe for my strawberry poke cake.

Bake a regular strawberry cake mix as directed. I added sliced strawberries to the mix as well. Allow to cool.

While the cake is cooling, prepare jello as directed.

Poke small holes into the cake. You can use a fork, a wooden skewer, a chop stick, or whatever you have handy.

Then pour slightly cooled Strawberry jello over the cake, allowing in to seep into the holes.

Since this was for July 4, I wanted to be extra festive.

I poked another set of holes in different places and poured Blue jello into those holes.

*if you are out of a particular kind of jello, plain works just as well with a pack of Kool-aid for color & flavor*

I bake the cake for another 10 minutes on 350. Then I put the cake into the fridge to cool.

After the cake cooled, I added cream cheese icing and topped with sliced strawberries and grapes, because my family doesn't like blueberries.

It sure was a hit. There wasn't a single piece left.