Category: Bars

Easy Strawberry Blondies with Cream Cheese Icing

Bars, Dessert, Recipes

Serves 16 Small Bars (or 9 Large Bars)

Total Time One Hour

Ingredients

  • Blondies
    • 1 / 2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
    • 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
    • 1 egg
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 1 cup all-purpose flour
    • 1 / 2 teaspoon salt
    • 1 / 2 cup strawberries, diced
    • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • Cream Cheese Icing
    • 2 ounces cream cheese
    • 2 cups powdered sugar
    • 2 tablespoons milk
    • 1 / 4 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • pinch of salt

Preparation

Blondies

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and line an 8 x 8 square baking pan with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Set aside.

In a small sauce pan, melt your butter over medium heat. Once melted, remove from heat and transfer to a medium sized mixing bowl. Add in the brown sugar. Stir to combine. Add in the vanilla extract and egg and combine again.

Add the wet ingredient mixture to your large mixing bowl of dry ingredients. Stir to combine completely.

Using a sharp knife, dice a half of a cup of strawberries. Remove excess moisture with a clean towel by gently blotting the strawberries on a work surface. Place into a small bowl then add your corn starch. Gently stir to distribute and completely cover the strawberries with the cornstarch. Pour the strawberries into your large mixing bowl and fold into the batter.

To your lined baking pan, pour in your batter.. Make sure the batter spreads out across the entire pan, reaching into the corners as well.

Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the edges are golden and the middle is set. Let cool completely in the pan.

Cream Cheese Icing

While the blondies are cooling, prepare your cream cheese icing. To a saucepan, add the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, milk and pinch of salt. Place over low heat on the stovetop, using a whisk to stir constantly. Stir until the cream cheese melts and no clumps of powdered sugar remain. Remove from heat and use either a spoon or a piping bag to ice the blondies. I choose to use a small amount of icing to create a pattern when making these, however, there is plenty of icing to completely cover the entire pan of blondies.

Enjoy!

Salted Caramel Filled Fudge Brownies

Bars, Dessert, Recipes

Serves 9 Large or 16 Small Brownies

Total Time Less Than One Hour

Ingredients

  • Brownies
    • 1 / 2 cup all-purpose flour
    • 1 / 4 cup cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-processed)
    • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
    • 1 / 2 teaspoon salt
    • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
    • 3 / 4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
    • 3 / 4 cup granulated sugar
    • 2 eggs, room temperature
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Caramel Filling
    • 20 unwrapped square caramels (155 grams or approximately 3 / 4 cup)
    • 1 / 4 cup heavy cream
    • pinch of salt

Preparation

Caramel Filling

In a small saucepan over medium heat, begin to melt the unwrapped caramel candies. Heat for approximately 2 minutes, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom and sides of the pan as needed. The candies will likely clump together.

After 2 minutes, pour the heavy cream into your saucepan. Continue stirring until the caramels melt completely and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat. Add in a large pinch of salt and set aside. You should have approximately 1 cup of caramel filling.

Brownies

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line an 8 x 8 square baking pan with parchment paper.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and salt. Set aside.

In a small sauce pan, melt your butter and chocolate chips over medium heat. Once melted, immediately remove from heat and pour in your granulated sugar. Stir to combine.

Transfer your mixture to a medium sized mixing bowl. Add in the eggs one at a time, stirring to combine after each addition. Add in the vanilla extract and stir.

Add your dry ingredient mixture to your batter. Stir to combine.

To your lined baking pan, pour in half of your brownie batter. Make sure the batter spreads out across the entire pan, reaching into the corners as well. On top of the brownie batter, pour a layer of the caramel filling. Spread it out to the corners of the pan, being careful to avoid mixing the caramel into the brownie layer. Add the remaining half of your brownie batter on top of the caramel filling. Spread to the corners of the pan so that no caramel is showing.

Place in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes. Let cool completely before slicing and serving.

Optional: Before serving, top the brownies with flakey sea salt.