Strawberry Crumb Bars with Meyer Lemon Glaze
These crumbly bars are loaded with strawberry jam and then topped with a tangy, refreshing Meyer lemon glaze!
Ever since I made these blueberry crumb bars, I’ve been a bit obsessed with making bars. They’re such easy desserts to whip up, and perfectly portable for any occasion. Just throw them in a pretty box with some wrinkled up parchment paper and you’re set!
Now I made these bars to use up some lingering Meyer lemons with my most trusted Microplane Premium Classic Zester/Grater, and it’s amazing what a little bit of lemon zest can do in these bars. They bring about such an enhanced depth of flavor without being overly tangy or overbearing. And this zester makes it so incredibly easy to scrape the zest from the lemon. After using this zester, I’ve been utilizing it constantly, throwing in freshly grated Parm to all of my savory dishes and lemon/lime zest in everything else!
But back to these bars. They’re oh-so-crumbly with just enough sweetness from the jam, and a Meyer lemon glaze that will rock your world. They may look like ordinary bars, but believe me, you will be addicted right after the first bite.
Strawberry Crumb Bars with Meyer Lemon Glaze
Ingredients
- 1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Zest of 1 Meyer lemon
- ½ cup strawberry jam
For the Meyer lemon glaze
- ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon Meyer lemon zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat an 8×8 baking dish with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugars on medium-high until well combined, about 1-2 minutes. Beat in egg yolk, vanilla and Meyer lemon zest until well combined. Gradually add flour mixture to sugar mixture at low speed, beating just until it resembles coarse crumbs.
- Spread 2/3 of the batter into the prepared baking dish. Spread strawberry jam evenly over the bottom layer. Sprinkle with remaining 1/3 of the batter.
- Place into oven and bake until lightly golden, about 20-25 minutes.
- To make the glaze, combine confectioners’ sugar, Meyer lemon juice and zest. Whisk until smooth. If the glaze is too thin, add more confectioners’ sugar as needed.
- When the bars are done, cool for 10 minutes and drizzle the glaze. Allow glaze to set before cutting into bars.
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Disclosure: Microplane provided me with a Premium Classic Zester/Grater for review. All opinions expressed are my own.
First I want to say how much I love this website. I’ve always enjoyed cooking and baking, but this past year has really been filled with new and fun experiences in the kitchen. I cook for my family on weekends when I don’t work, and over the last three months or so I have used recipes exclusively from this website. They’ve all been such big hits and Mother’s Day was a blast. So thank you! You’ve fueled my love even more. 🙂
This was one of the recipes that I chose for Mother’s Day and though everyone loved them, I had a couple of questions. The first being, how do you spread the jam without lifting the bottom layer of crumb off the dish? It wasn’t a huge mess but I was wondering if I had done something wrong. Secondly, I made the blueberry crumb bars last night and fell in love. I’m not a huge jam fan because it’s a little sweet for my taste. And I love using fresh fruit any day. Could I possibly use fresh strawberries instead of jam?
That’s all, but thanks so much again for the delicious dishes! I’m already planning my menus for this coming weekend.
These are delicious, but I don’t know what I am doing wrong with the glaze … it always soaks in to the bars. How do I get it to remain a glaze on top?? Thanks!
You can try creating a thicker glaze by adding less liquid.
I want to make these, I think they would be great with blueberry jam instead of strawberry jam. I love both, bu do you think its a good idea to change them or better to keep them like they are? Pleas answer as soon as you can 🙂
Blueberry jam would be a great substitute!
I was gifted a lovely jar of sarabeth’s jam in a holiday basket, and I’m not much of a toast and jam gal….so I made these. Deliciously addictive.
I must have over measured the flour, because the crumb wasn’t right, so I added the rest of the stick of butter and added a little almond extract. Topped it with toasted almonds. Insanely good. Took them to a casual dinner with friends. Everyone was wowed. Simple and delicious. Thank you.