Strawberry & Mint Bars
I recently entered a competition on Instagram whereby all entries had to feature strawberries as it main ingredient.
I really had fun playing around with ideas for my recipe & these strawberry & mint bars were the version I was most happy with. The pairing of strawberries & mint in the filling are the quintessential taste of Summer and the buttery shortbread crust makes these the perfect fruity, cake-bars to enjoy.
I just love experimenting with different ingredients and I have made these vegan. It's the first time using agar agar for my filling & it works a treat because you don’t have to wait too long for it to set. I also added a little cornflour to provide the right consistency.
My tip is to only add a small amount of fresh mint to ensure you don’t overpower the flavour of the strawberries. Also if you want to make the crust gluten free, then just substitute the plain flour for gluten free flour.
Mangia, mangia! 👩🏻🍳
Strawberry & Mint Bars recipe:
Shortbread crust
150g plain flour or gluten-free flour
100g vegetable shortening
30g icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla bean extract
1/4 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
Filling
400g strawberries - hulled
150g caster sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsps of cornflour - slacked with a little water
1 sachet of powdered agar agar ( 1 tsp)
1 tsp of chopped fresh mint
Makes 12 bars (depends what size you cut them)
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C fan.
2. Line a 20cm by 20cm baking tin with grease-proof/parchment paper then spray with a little oil. Make sure you have enough overhang of paper on all sides to lift out the bars easily.
3. In a mixing bowl add the flour of choice and shortening, roughly combine then add the remaining crust ingredients and mix thoroughly.
4. Press evenly into the bottom of your lined tin, it may take a little while to do this then prick with a fork.
5. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes.
6. Whilst the base is cooking, make the filling. Purée the strawberries with a hand blender or processor & add to a pan with the sugar & lemon juice. On a medium heat whisk in the cornflour & continue whisking for a couple of minutes. When the mixture is nearly boiling then add in the agar agar, lower the heat & continue whisking for at least 5 minutes.
7. The mixture should have thickened up. When the crust is ready to come out of the oven, take it out & set aside.
8. Add the chopped mint to the filling mixture & stir before pouring the mixture into the tin. Let it cool completely before placing in the fridge for about an hour.
9. Take the tin out of the fridge & you will see that the filling has firmed up & are ready to remove them from the tin onto a chopping board. Cut into bars with a sharp knife, I got 12 bars but it’s up to you if you want to make them smaller. Tip: wipe the knife clean after each cut.
10. Decoration- If you want to pipe some cream over the bars then whisk that up with a little icing sugar & a pinch of cream of tartar (just to make the cream a little thicker). I used “Elmlea plant based cream” for this purpose. You can of course leave them plain or dust with icing sugar & some mint sprigs.
11. They will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.
