Wonderful Strawberry Shortbread Bars

Sometime in June, I was watching The Chew and Carla Hall made these amazing Strawberry Shortbread Bars. They looked so good. I printed the recipe and planned on making them soon BUT never ended up doing it.

A week or so ago, I bought some strawberries at Costco and decided to make the bars. These came out so great. They are really easy to make and quite delicious.

Carla Hall’s Strawberry Shortbread Bars

1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar (I used organic)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

1-3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 cup almond meal (I used ground sunflower seeds)

3/4 cup strawberry jam (I used half local jam and half sugar-free jam)

1 cup strawberries, sliced

Zest and juice of 2 lemons (I used meyer lemon juice and zest from the freezer)

Confectioners’ sugar to dust (I omitted this step)

Combine butter and sugars in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, set at medium-low speed, beat until creamy. Add vanilla and salt and beat until combined.

Beat the flours into the butter mixture on LOW until a soft dough forms.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F with a rack positioned in the center.

Press half of the dough into a greased 9x13 baking pan and wrap the remaining dough in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine jam, fresh strawberries and lemon zest and juice.

Bake the crust until set and golden around the edges, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow tool. Spread the strawberry mixture over the crust and crumble the reserved shortbread dough over top. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the topping is firm and golden brown, 45-50 minutes. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and allow to cool before slicing and serving.

Yield: many servings (a 9x13 pan full)

Source: The Chew online

Posted by RisaG 10/12/12