Lemon-Strawberry Bars

If you follow me on Twitter, you were confronted with this Tweet on Tuesday:

All right, peeps. I got 4 pounds of strawberries at Costco ($4.99!) and I need some RECIPES....

I also made an appeal on my personal Facebook page, and between my Tweeps and my Facebook friends, I got a lot of great ideas!

But one idea was just an adjustment of something I'd already planned to make: Lemon Bars became Lemon-Strawberry Bars.

Yum.

I've had the ingredients for lemon bars for a few weeks. I'd seen Tricia Stevens' recipe for "Luscious Lemon Bars" in the March 2010 issue of Southern Living, and, knowing The Engineer likes lemon bars, I decided I'd better make them. I'd never made lemon bars before.

Tuesday night I knew I needed to use the lemons before they went bad, but I also wanted to use the strawberries, and I figured you can't lose by combining the tartness of citrus with the sweetness of berries, right? So I made these lemon bars.

The recipe below is pretty much the same as the one in Southern Living except the addition of strawberries. I will tell you, while these are very yummy, they are also very rich and very sweet. So I think they'd be perfect as tiny, bite-sized squares--a dainty little dessert that would go very nicely with a strong cup of coffee.



Lemon-Strawberry Bars
Modified from Southern Living

Ingredients:
Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
Filling:
4 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. lemon zest
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups diced strawberries (about 10 medium berries)
Topping:
Powdered sugar

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Stir together 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and cut in butter using pastry blender or fork, until crumbly. Or, complete this step using a food processor--"On" to mix the flour and sugar, and "Pulse" to cut in the butter.
3. Press mixture into bottom of 13- x 9-inch ungreased pan.
4. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned.
5. While crust is baking, whisk eggs (using hand whisk or whisk attachment on mixer) until smooth.
6. Whisk in granulated sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
7. Evenly sprinkle with baking powder and mix it in well, and then mix in 1/4 cup flour.
8. Gently fold in strawberries.
9. Poor filling over hot crust.
10. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until filling is set.
11. Let cool in pan on a wire rack until completely cool.
12. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, and cut into "normal"-sized bars or bite-sized bits.