Recipe: Strawberry Blondie Bars with Chocolate Chips

• 1/3 cup of melted butter or Earth Balance
• 2/3 cup of granulated sugar (I used Sucanat. You can also use maple or date sugar)
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• 2 eggs or equivalent using a natural egg replacer
• 1 cup of all purpose flour (I used white unbleached whole wheat flour)
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of diced strawberries
• 1/4 cup of regular or vegan chocolate or white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350′F. Using a strip of parchment paper, line the bottom and two sides of an 8 X 8 inch baking pan. Set aside.
2. Combine the melted butter and sugar in a bowl. Add the pure vanilla extract and the egg or egg replacer. Whisk until well combined.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder.
4. Slowly mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Note: the batter will be quite thick. If the mixture appears a little too thick, add another tablespoon of water.
5. Gently fold in the chopped strawberries and vegan chocolate chips. Spread batter into prepared baking pan.
6.  Bake for 25 minutes or until the blondies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a tooth pick inserted in the middle yields moist crumbs.
7. Remove blondies from the oven and allow them to cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove blondies from pan using parchment paper and allow them to cool on a wire rack. Once cool, cut blondies into squares.

Note: I doubled the recipe and used a 9 X 13 inch baking pan.

Recipe credit: The Fig Tree ~ celebrating the best of both vegetarian and vegan cuisine.

Enjoy!