Strawberry Lemon Almond Bars
These Strawberry Lemon Almond Bars are incredibly delicious and irresistible. Best of all, these bars are made without eggs, butter, or dairy.
Ingredients
For The Filling
- 1 cup Strawberries chopped, around 8 large
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice fresh
- 6 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Cornstarch
- 1.5 tsp Chia seeds optional
For The Crust
- 1/2 cup All purpose flour
- 1/2 cup Almond flour
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Baking powder
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 3 tbsp Oil flavorless, I used canola oil
- 1.5 tsp Lemon zest
- 2 tbsp Almond milk
Toppings
- 2 tbsp Sliced almonds
Instructions
For The Filling
- In a pan, mix together chopped strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice.
- Cook the strawberry mixture for about 5-6 minutes on medium heat until softened.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together cornstarch and 2 tsp water into a slurry.
- Turn the stove on low, transfer the cornflour slurry, and stir it frequently.
- Cook the mixture for about 3-5 minutes or until it looks thick and shiny.
- Turn off the heat, add chia seeds, mix, and set aside.
For The Crust
- In a medium bowl, mix together almond flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Next, add lemon zest and some oil. Rub the mixture with your fingers and the texture should become crumbly.
- Now add some almond milk in the mixture and form a well combined dough.
Baking The Bars
- Preheat the oven to 350℉/180℃
- Line the bottom and sides of a 8 x 4 inch baking pan with parchment paper and set aside. Slightly overhang the paper on the sides - it helps to remove the bars easily from the pan and to cut them into the pieces.
- Transfer the prepared dough to a baking tray, keeping around 3 tbsp of dough aside for later use.
- Press the dough with your hands or spatula to form an even thickness of the crust.
- Next, spread the strawberry lemon filling evenly over the crust. Crumble the remaining dough over the filling and spread a few slices of almonds on the top.
- Transfer the baking tray to the oven and bake for 35-37 minutes or until the top is lightly browned and the strawberry filling looks bubbly.
- Take out the baking tray from the oven and transfer it to a cooling rack to cool completely. You can let the pan sit on a cooling rack for 15-20 minutes, transfer it to the refrigerator, and cover the pan with a kitchen towel to speed up the cooling process.
- Gently lift the parchment paper from the baking pan and transfer the bars on a cutting board. Cut the bars into 8 squares and enjoy!
Notes
- Cook the strawberries until thickened. If the filling is a bit runny then you may need to bake the bars for 40-42 minutes.
- If you are using frozen berries, they have lots of moisture in them and will release more juices while making the filling. You can increase the quantity of cornstarch to 2 tsp for 1 cup chopped strawberries.
- Optionally, you can add chia seeds to help the strawberry lemon filling thicken.
- Zest the yellow skin of the lemon and leave the bitter part to make the bars taste the best.
- Zest the lemon before juicing it.
- Use fresh lemon juice in this recipe, it tastes more amazing than a store bought juice.
- You can completely skip adding milk in the crust if you wish but you will need to add 1-2 tbsp extra oil for the recipe.