Strawberry Crumble Bars

Can’t get through the new season strawberries quick enough? If your family is the same as mine, as soon as they turn a bit ‘squishy’ they no longer eat them. Don’t throw them away. Use them in baking like these easy Strawberry Crumble Bars.

 

This is one of those melt and mix recipes I love so well. No having to worry about creaming butter and sugar together. The base is also the crumble topping so not a lot to this recipe.

Make a start on the crumble topping and base by mixing all the dry ingredients together then mix in the melted butter.

Using half the mixture, press into a slice tin and bake for approximately 20 minutes or just starting to go golden brown on top. You don’t want to overcook it at this stage as it will need more baking once the fruit and topping has been added.

Set aside and prepare the strawberries.

Cut your strawberries in half or quarters and place in a saucepan with sugar. For 1 cup of strawberries I added 1/2 cup sugar. Slowly cook the strawberries until softened. You don’t want the strawberries to dissolve completely but still have some shape to them.

Spread across the prepared base.

Lightly cover the fruit with the remaining mixture, ‘crumbling’ it on top. Press lightly with the top of your hand and bake for a further 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Allow to cool and slice into squares or bars. Eat as is or drizzle with a simple icing glaze. These bars freeze really well and are perfect for lunch boxes or afternoon tea treats.

I’m not sure I had many leftover to freeze when I made this batch. The best part about this recipe is that you can use any fruit, fresh or tinned. No need to go and buy strawberries especially for it. Use what’s in season or what might lurking in the fridge. Apples, pears, pineapple, kiwifruit, mangoes, cherries, plums, nectarines, the choice is endless. Suitable to serve warm as a dessert too.

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Strawberry Crumble Bars

An easy cookie bar that is a melt and mix recipe and the biscuit mixture acts as the base and the crumble topping. You can substitute the strawberries with any fruit.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 12

Author Anne Murphy

Ingredients

• 185 gm 6.1/2 oz butter, melted
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1.1/2 cups plain all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
• 1.1/2 cups rolled oats oatmeal
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut

Fruit

• 1 cup strawberries or other fruit
• 1/2 cup sugar

Instructions

1. For the biscuit base, melt butter and add brown sugar, stir.
2. Add other ingredients and combine.
3. Place half of the mixture into a slice pan, 16x26cm (6″x10″), press down into pan and bake in a 180 deg C (360 deg F) oven for approx 20 minutes or until just golden.
4. For the fruit, over moderate heat, allow strawberries to soften and sugar to dissolve.
5. Remove from heat to cool.
6. Spread cooked strawberries over base.
7. Crumble remaining biscuit base mixture over the top of the fruit.
8. Return to oven for approx 10 minutes or until golden on top.
9. Serve warm with ice cream or cream for dessert or allow to cool and cut into bars.

Recipe Notes

Use any fruit you have, fresh or canned.
Eg apples, pears, pineapple, cherries, plums, nectarines, etc.
For extra flavour, add chopped nuts to the biscuit mixture to match the fruit eg walnuts with cherries or macadamia nuts with pineapple.

 

No Bake Strawberry Jelly (Jello) Slice

A no bake Strawberry Jelly (Jello) Slice the whole family will love.

It’s springtime in Australia and strawberries are in abundance. They are so cheap at the moment and so sweet and juicy. The kids can’t keep up with me buying them so there’s heaps of baking being done with the strawberries that are starting to turn including this good old fashioned Aussie classic, Jelly Slice.

I’ve made the Jelly Slice many times before including in these Individual Lemon Jelly Slice when you use cupcake papers to make individual cakes, perfect for little fingers.

I had a house full this particular weekend so I decided to make this Jelly Slice in a larger pan so there was more to go around.

To start, finely crumb some biscuits. I like to have a pack of good old Arrowroot biscuits in the cupboard as a last resort if there’s nothing in the bikkie barrel. The kids love them on their own or with butter. They are perfect for a cheesecake base or a slice like this. Add a tablespoon of cinnamon and mix well with melted butter then press into your slice pan.

I also had a tin of this little baby in the pantry. (Please ignore the health star rating.)

For some strange reason I thought I had a packet of strawberry jelly crystals in the pantry but it turned out to be Creaming Soda flavour. I guess it was pink so it still worked. You know me, I only use what I’ve got in the pantry and some how it all seems to work out okay.

The strawberries were just starting to turn but still fresh enough to use in this recipe. When they have gone past their freshness, I blitz them into a puree and freeze in either ziplock bags to be used in cakes and muffins or I freeze in ice cube trays for smoothies.

While I’m at it, another tip I have is when lining a baking pan with paper, trim the corners so the paper sits better in the pan without scrunching in the corners.

Once you have the biscuit base chilled, pour over the condensed milk topping and return to the fridge for about 30 minutes to set. In the mean time, prepare your jelly topping.

Top the set condensed milk layer with the strawberries and jelly mixture and return to the fridge again until set.

This went down a real treat with both the grown ups and kids and didn’t last too long. You can try it with any fruit and any complimenting flavoured jelly. A really quick and easy no bake slice made from fruit in season and ingredients from your pantry.

No Bake Strawberry Jelly (Jello) Slice


Biscuit base:

• 250gm packet of biscuits (I used Milk Arrowroot)
• 250gm butter, melted
• 1 tbs cinnamon

Condensed milk layer:

• 250gm can condensed milk
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 3 tsp powdered gelatine (dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water)

Jelly layer:

• sliced strawberries
• packet of jelly (jello) crystals
• 1 dessert spoon of powdered gelatine

1. Make fine crumbs from the biscuits, add ground cinnamon and melted butter.
2. Press into a slice pan. (I used a larger 25x30cm pan so there was more to go around.)
3. Put in the fridge to set.
4. Combine condensed milk, lemon juice and powdered gelatine which has been dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water.
5. Carefully pour over firm biscuit base and return to the fridge for approximately 30 minutes.
6. Dissolve jelly crystals and powdered gelatine in 1 cup of boiling water.
7. Add another cup of 1/2 cup cold water and allow to cool.
8. Place sliced strawberries on top of condensed milk layer and carefully pour over jelly liquid. (Strawberries will float but you can position them back in place once the jelly has started to set.)
9. Return to fridge until jelly layer has set then slice and serve.

Celebrating Spring with strawberries & pansies

It had been absolute ages since I’d seen my aunt. Not since my Mum’s funeral back in March. I just get caught up in the day to day busy-ness of life but always thought about my aunt. She was Mum’s younger sister and my godmother. Mum and I would often catch up with her like the time we visited the strawberry and orchid farm last year.

We collected my aunt and  headed to the Rolin Strawberry Farm at Elimbah, just north of Brisbane. You can purchase the freshly grown strawberries or pick your own, which is what we decided to do.

The strawberries were in abundance and there were heaps of delicious, in season, fresh strawberries to be picked. At $10 per kilo, they were pretty good value. At least we know they are fresh!

The kids had an absolute ball, checking out how the strawberries grew and eating them at the end. It was a beautiful day for the first day of spring. Not too hot and a gentle breeze blowing. When we dropped my aunt home, she said she had a surprise for me. It was a birthday present she hadn’t got around to giving me (my birthday was back in February). She made a pansy quilt for me with her fancy, schmancy embroidery sewing machine. I was in tears. Its absolutely gorgeous.

I’m so tired, I just threw it on my bed to take a quick picture and didn’t use a flash so the picture isn’t the best. Each one of those large flowers took an hour to make on her machine. There’s so much detail in it.  The colours are so vivid. I just love, love, love pansies. (She embroidered Mum a couple of pansy cushions a few years ago and they are still on Mum’s bed and I might just have to go over to my sister’s house and pinch them.) I feel so lucky to have such a clever aunt. Once I get my ‘creative space’ organised, I can’t wait to start quilting projects and spend time with her, just crafting and quilting.

A wonderful day out, spent with family, enjoying the Spring sunshine and strawberries. (I can’t believe my daughter was wearing this exact same top last April when we went. One good thing about her being a fussy eater is that she doesn’t put on much weight quickly!)

Rolin Farms
Strawberries &
Orchids
Rob
and Linda Trost
124-190 Rutters Road
Elimbah QLD
4516
AustraliaEmail: trosty40@tpg.com.au
Web:
http://www.rolinfarms.com.au/