Buttery shortbread is layered with sweetened cream and fresh strawberries to create a flavour explosion in every bite of these Strawberries and Cream Bars!
I officially have a wedding dress! Well, it’s been ordered and will be here in 6 months!
I honestly thought I was going to be someone who found it super difficult to find a dress and ended up going round every bridal shop I could find.
However, after a 2 hour appointment, 10+ dresses, the expertise of the lovely staff and the opinions of my mum and two bridesmaids, we had a winner!
It turned out to be the second dress I tried on!
Want to know something else weird? I found this particular dress months ago on a bridal designer’s site and screen grabbed it thinking I loved it, but I wasn’t sure it would suit me.
I didn’t realise I’d actually ended up with that dress though… Until I got home and looked at the code on my invoice and the code on the picture of it I screen grabbed!
EEEEEE I’m so excited, haha!!
So, I just had to celebrate by making these Strawberries and Cream Bars because you all know by now that strawberries are hands down my favourite berry in the world.
They might even be my favourite fruit full stop.
These bars are to die for; a buttery shortbread base, a smooth and creamy sweetened whipped cream topping and fresh strawberries to finish them off.
Oh my word. These are TOO good. I could easily have sat and eaten 3 of these bars… But I now have a dress to fit in, so I only had one bar…! 😀
Strawberries and Cream Bars
Buttery shortbread is layered with sweetened cream and fresh strawberries to create a flavour explosion in every bite of these Strawberries and Cream Bars!
Ingredients
- For the shortbread base:
- 1 1/2 sticks (170g) unsalted butter, left at room temperature for 20 minutes
- 1 3/4 cups (245g) plain flour
- 1 tbsp cornflour/cornstarch
- 3 tbsp icing/powdered sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 2-3 tbsp milk, may not be required
- For the topping:
- 1 1/2 cups (360ml) double/heavy cream
- 1/3 cup (66g) caster/white sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 6-7 strawberries, with the tops cut off and cut into quarters
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and spray an 8x8 inch square pan with cooking spray. Lay a 4 inch wide strip of greaseproof paper along the centre of the pan, with overhang at each end to make getting the bars out easier.
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Place butter, flour, cornflour, sugar and salt into a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer and beat until crumbly, but there are some big lumps of mixture that have come together. You may need up to 3tbsp of milk; add it 1tbsp at a time until you get to the stage where there are lumps of dough.
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You don't want an entire dough ball to form, this will not result in crumbly shortbread; the mixture will look like big lumps of butter, but when you grab some in your hand and press it together it will hold.
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Tip the mixture into your prepared pan and press into an even layer. I use my fingers and then the base of a measuring cup to make sure the shortbread is flat and even.
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Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until very lightly golden around the edges and puffy and firm to the touch.
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Leave to cool completely in the pan.
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Once cool, place the double cream, sugar, vanilla and salt into a medium sized bowl and whisk until stiff peak. I used my hand mixer as it literally took 30 seconds! You can do it by hand if you wish!
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You want the cream to hold its shape when you pull the whisk.beater out and for the tip to only bend over slightly. If the tip of your peak bends in half, you need to whip the cream slightly more.
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Spoon the cream onto the cooled shortbread and smooth over with a small angled spatula until you have an even layer and all of the shortbread is covered.
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Place quarters of fresh strawberries in rows until the cream is covered in evenly spaced strawberries. I needed 6 medium sized strawberries and I placed them in 4 rows of 6 with a 1/2 inch gap between each piece of strawberry.
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Place into the fridge for 30-45 minutes, until chilled and firm to the touch.
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Using the ends of the grease proof paper, gently wiggle them until the entire thing comes out of the pan; transfer to a cutting board and slice into 9-12 bars.
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Strawberries and Cream Bars will keep in an airtight container, in the fridge, for 2 days.
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Annie is a self-taught baker, recipe developer and food photographer. When not in the kitchen, she can be found with her head in a book or jotting down recipe ideas! 
