Strawberry Lemonade Bars

We are days away from the official start of Summer (and the last day of school! YAY!) I can’t believe this year has gone so quickly. My dear friend Monica from Sweet Heat Chefs, is our guest blogger this week. She created a strawberry swirled lemon bar to share with you.

Looks like a perfect summer treat to me!

Before we get to those goodies, Monica, tell us about you and your blog…

“Sweet Heat Chefs was created after my daughter Jasmine and I won the Rachael vs. Guy amateur cook-off challenge. We are still 2 aspiring chefs who cook and love our time in the kitchen.

I was a young child when my grandmother and my mom introduced me to the art of cooking. I was a little less than enthused. When I was young I looked forward to visiting my grandma for all her homemade goodies, but lacked the drive or will to take the time necessary to put in the effort to make such yummy homemade food. My mom was the main person in our home that cooked. She always made good food, but again I still was not interested in making much. I was 17 and I remember my mom taught me to make an Italian dish, shell pasta filled with manicotti stuffing. It was fun, but I didn’t see the need for going to such lengths just to make a dinner. By the time I was 25 and had my first kid…I had done a 180 degree turnaround and became a mad woman (in a good way) in the kitchen. From then on I was a “foodie”.

I am loving nothing more and feeling so honored to be able to share this recipe for the first time with My Imperfect Kitchen readers! Sara is an amazing blogger, friend and person. I hope everyone loves this recipe as much as my family and my Relay For Life Committee Members did. I even snuck 3 of them into my belly!

I have been feeling in a rut with the foods I had been eating since I have been eating primarily so much healthy stuff. This particular afternoon I was getting ready to head to a Relay meeting, and I felt that “thing”..you know…that baking itch? I decided to make lemon bars since they are fairly easy and quick to make. However, since strawberries are in season I always have 1-2 quarts of them in my fridge on hand. I got to thinking of strawberry lemonade, then figured why not in my lemon bars? I took a quick Facebook poll (sad I know!) to determine if I should or not, the response was just as I had hoped…STRAWBERRIES!

And so…this recipe was born and summer has officially begun in my house here in California!

STRAWBERRY LEMONADE BARS

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup coconut flour, sifted
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
4 eggs, beaten
1.5 cups white sugar
1/4 cup coconut flour
½ tsp baking soda
2 lemons, juiced and seeded (zest 1 lemon first and reserve)
4 strawberries pureed with a little coconut water to thin out
Powdered sugar for dusting top (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
In a bowl, combine butter, flours and 1/2 c of sugar. Mix well.
In a greased 9×13″ pan, press crust into the bottom until even.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and set aside.
In another bowl whisk together the remaining sugar and flour, then whisk in the remaining ingredients, except strawberries (don’t forget the lemon zest).
Pour the filling over the warm crust.
In a blender or food processor puree the strawberries. Dollop 1 teaspoon at a time over the filling until it is all used up. Using a toothpick or wooden skewer, drag the strawberry mixture through the lemon mixture. Be sure not to press all the way to the crust.
Put back in oven and bake for another 25 minutes or until center is firm. They do firm more when cooled. Dust with powdered sugar (optional) Cut into squares once completely cool and enjoy!