Strawberry Squares

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Simple, sweet, and super summery, this recipe for strawberry squares is the perfect warm weather treat. With crunchiness, sweetness, and intense flavor in every single bite, it is the perfect snack to bring to the first summertime BBQ.

For a different kind of crust for these strawberry squares, why not try making a Graham Cracker Crust? Or why not make some Strawberry Bread instead?

Strawberry Squares

Strawberry season is fast approaching, and with it comes huge buckets filled with fresh, delicious strawberries that need to be used up before they turn bad.

Instead of trying to preserve them into jam, why not utilize a whole lot of strawberries and make this nutty, crusty, and sweet recipe for strawberry squares?

While the crust should be rich, buttery, and crispy, the filling should remain juicy and a little bit crystalline, making every bite a bunch of different textures and flavors all at once. 

Strawberry Squares Ingredients

Make sure you look at the recipe card at the very bottom for the exact amounts so that you know exactly what to buy for this recipe.

Crust

• All-purpose flour

• Brown sugar

• Pecans

• Butter

Filling

• Sliced strawberries

• White sugar

• Egg whites

• Lemon juice

• Whipping cream

How To Make Strawberry Squares

Crust

• Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish & line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil

• In a medium bowl, stir the flour, brown sugar, pecans, and melted butter

• Toast in the oven until the nuts are fragrant, about 10 minutes or so, and then let cool

• Spread the pecan mixture evenly over the bottom of the baking dish and pat it down into the pan using your hands

Filling

• Combine the sliced strawberries in a medium bowl with ½ cup of sugar and mash with a fork or potato masher until the sugar is totally dissolved

• In a large, deep bowl, whip the egg whites with the lemon juice until they start to form soft peaks

• Gradually add in ¼ cup of white sugar while continuing to whip until the mixture reaches firm peaks, usually about 7 minutes

• Fold in the strawberries

• In a separate bowl, whip the cream using an electric mixer until soft peaks begin to form

• Fold the whipped cream into the strawberry mixture

• Spoon the mixture over the prepared pecan crust in the dish and spread it evenly

• Cover and freeze for 6 hours, or up to overnight

• Cut the whole thing into squares to serve, and add a dollop of whipped cream and an entire, whole strawberry for the garnish

How To Easily Whip Your Ingredients To the Right Firmness

Lots of sweet recipes involve steps requiring you to whip such and such ingredient to a specific firmness, like soft or stiff peaks, but they don’t often contain any useful advice on the best way to easily get the texture you are looking for.

With the egg whites, when you are looking for stiff peaks, you are looking for an egg white mix that, when you pull the whisk out of the egg whites, the foam you have created remains standing on its own and doesn’t curl downwards or start to collapse.

Soft peaks are similar to stiff peaks, except the whole thing is noticeably softer. Plus, when you lift the whisk out, the mixture should sort of cling to the whisk, wanting to be taken with, and when the whisk is finally pulled out, the tip of the foam that clings to the whisk will sort of droop down and collapse over itself, looking a bit like one of those whippy ice creams you might get from an ice cream truck.

For the cream, you also need to be careful not to let the cream get too over whipped. Cream manages to go from almost liquid to way too over whipped in seconds, so keep an eye on it and probably stop whipping just a little bit before you think it is done.

Do You Need To Use Only Fresh Strawberries For This Recipe?

This recipe is a great way to use up some leftover strawberries, especially when it comes to summertime and strawberries seem to be turning up everywhere.

However, not everyone always has fresh strawberries on hand to use in recipes like it, either because they aren’t available based on where you live or just because they are out of your price range; they can get pretty pricey!

If you want to avoid using fresh strawberries, you could absolutely use frozen strawberries as a good replacement.

Despite their bad reputation, frozen fruit is actually a great way to enjoy fruit a little bit cheaper, and because it is usually frozen very shortly after picking, it can actually be a little bit fresher than regular fresh produce!

Just make sure to defrost it thoroughly before using it in this recipe, as otherwise, you might struggle to break the little fruits up into the sugar mixture!

Also, don’t try and use jam as a replacement – though it will be of similar sweetness to the strawberry filling in this recipe, the extra pectin and gelatin-like consistency of the jam just won’t work right with the pecan-rich crust.

Looking for more Dessert recipes? Why not try these recipes:

• Rainbow Cookies

• Lemon Strawberry Shortcake

• Sweet Potato Pie

Happy Baking

Love,

Karlynn

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