Ultimate Strawberry Brownies (Natural)

Chewy, from-scratch strawberry brownies loaded with fresh strawberries and finished with a vanilla glaze! Grab the vanilla ice cream!

Watch me make these strawberry brownies from start to finish!

IT. IS.FINISHED!!!! The detox is over!! Hallelujah!

So I had the bright idea to do a 7-day detox with my sister.  This detox would be 7 days of no sugar, no dairy, no fast food, no unhealthy carbs……basically no kinda fun whatsoever.

I somehow managed to get my kids and husband to join us by bribing them with all the delicious and colorful meals I was going to be making. They fell for it.

By day 4 my husband and I were ready to call it quits! I was so tired of eating fruits and vegetables and cooking every single friggin meal down to the homemade ketchup!  We decided to tell the boys we were ending the detox. It went like this:

Me: Well guys, we did 4 days and that’s something to be proud of it! Y’all can stop now if you want to.

Ethan: I’m not really ready to stop. I kinda like this. Plus I want to say I actually finished it.

Isaac: Yeah, I mean, I want chicken nuggets, but like… we’re basically almost done.  No point in quitting now. Might as well finish it.

Hubby and I: Giving them a fake “yeah sure. That’s cool!” smile.

Not the answers we were hoping for, but I was so proud of them. After my hubby and I, both agreed that we sucked and our kids were way better than us, we thought about secretly cheating and sneaking downstairs to eat the leftover Oreo Biscuits.  I couldn’t bring myself to do it though. We finished strong and celebrated with pizza.  BEST. PIZZA. EVER.

The BEST diet Crasher: Strawberry Brownies

The detox wasn’t a total waste though. Since then we’ve been eating less sugary foods, and more fruits, and vegetables and I’ve still been cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day which really helps the boys cut back on snacking. They LOVE to snack.

As our first homemade dessert, I decided to make Strawberry Brownies! We deserved it!

When I posted these incredible lemon brownies, I promised on social media that I’d eventually get around to posting the strawberry version so here we are! I couldn’t wait to make these strawberry brownies because they are simply incredible!!

If you thought chocolate brownies and vanilla ice were good together, try these strawberry brownies with vanilla ice cream!! Talk about an amazing dessert!

Here’s what makes these Strawberry Brownies The BEST!

• Packed with a whopping 1 pound of fresh strawberries!
• No artificial strawberry cake mix flavor
• No strawberry gelatin needed
• So dense and chewy
• Full of natural strawberry flavor
• Easy recipe

What are strawberry brownies?

Whether you call them strawberry blondies or strawberry brownies these babies are sure to disappear quickly, especially if you are a strawberry lover! A strawberry brownie is a basic brownie recipe without cocoa powder. Instead, fresh strawberries steal the show! They are finished off with a sweet vanilla glaze!

Natural Food Coloring

I added 4 drops of red food coloring to give these strawberry brownies a deeper natural pink color. That is totally optional. If you want to keep these strawberry brownies natural but want a deeper shade of pink go with a few drops of beet juice ( like I did with this hot pink lemonade) cranberry juice or use Watkins natural food coloring.

Strawberry Brownie Ingredients

BROWNIES

• strawberries washed and stems removed
•  Unsalted butter
• granulated sugar
• large eggs
• pure strawberry extract
• pure vanilla extract
• pure lemon extract
• all-purpose flour
• salt

GLAZE

• powdered sugar
• whole milk
• vanilla extract
• salt

How to make Strawberry Brownies Recipe

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Add strawberries to a blender and puree.
2. Add puree to a saucepan over medium heat.
3. Simmer gently while stirring until the strawberries have reduced to 1/4 cup.
4. Remove from heat and let strawberry reduction cool. Set aside until ready to use.
5. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line a glass 8×8 square baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
6. In a large bowl,  stir together melted butter and sugar.
7. Stir in eggs, vanilla extract, strawberry extract, and lemon extract.
8. Fold in cooled strawberry reduction.
9. Stir in flour and salt just until combined.
10. Stir in 2-4 drops of food coloring for a deeper shade of natural pink. Stir just until combined.
11. Pour strawberry brownie batter into the prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer.
12. Bake on the middle rack for about 35-40 minutes or until the center is set.
13. Remove from oven and let cool.
14. To make the glaze, combine all glaze ingredients until the mixture is silky.
15. Once brownies have cooled, spread the glaze on top and allow it to harden.
16. Slice brownies into 20 squares and serve.
17. Store brownies in an airtight container.

Tips for making Strawberry Brownies

• Don’t over stir the batter. It’s important to stir the batter just until the ingredients are incorporated. Too much stirring could result in dry brownies.
• Strawberry extract. Use a pure, all-natural strawberry extract that’s made with real strawberries and alcohol.  This will give your brownies a bolder, natural strawberry flavor.
• Only add 1/4 cup of strawberry reduction. Be sure to reduce the strawberries down to 1/4 cup. If you add more than 1/4 cup of strawberry reduction the brownies could bake up soggy from too much moisture.

Dress them up!

These strawberries are perfect as it but if you want to dress them up a little here are a few ideas:

1. Add a little bit of pureed strawberries to the glaze! This will create a pink glaze with specs of strawberry.
2. Add colorful sprinkles to the top of the glaze!
3. Add crushed pistachios! These beautiful green nuts are such a nice contrast up against the pink brownies and white glaze and they go great with the flavors.
4. Add strawberry crunch topping! Sprinkle the tops with strawberry crunch topping to create strawberry crunch brownies.
5. Drizzle with strawberry ice cream topping.
6. Sprinkle the top with crushed freeze-dried strawberries

FAQs

Can I add white chocolate chips? Sure! They definitely don’t need it though. The vanilla glaze gives a wonderful contrast to the strawberry flavor.

Can I use a hand mixer? Yes, but doing this recipe by hand, reduces the likelihood of overmixing the batter.

Can these brownies be frozen? Yep! To freeze, wrap the cooled brownies individually in plastic wrap and place them in a freezer  container

Can I use a strawberry cake mix to make these brownies? This recipe does not require a strawberry cake mix and adding it could mess up the recipe.

In the mood for more flavored brownies? Check out these sweet potato brownies, lemon brownies and red velvet brownies!!

Get the Recipe: Ultimate Strawberry Brownies (Natural)

5 from 17 ratings

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 40 minutes mins

Servings: 16 brownies

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Ingredients

 

½1x2x

• 1 lb strawberries, (washed and hulled)
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1¼ cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure strawberry extract
• ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon pure lemon extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2-4 drops red food coloring

GLAZE

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons whole milk (may need more or less)
• ¼-½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• salt, pinch

Instructions

 

• Add strawberries to a blender and puree.
• Add puree to a sauce pan over medium heat.
• Simmer gently (reduce heat if needed) while stirring until the strawberries have reduced to 1/4 cup. (It will be very thick. Keep an eye on it and stir constantly to prevent scorching)
• Remove from heat and let strawberry reduction cool. Set aside until ready to use.
• Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line a glass 8x8 square baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
• In a large bowl,  stir together melted butter and sugar.
• Stir in eggs, vanilla extract, strawberry extract, and lemon extract until well combined.
• Fold in cooled strawberry reduction. (see note)
• Stir in flour and salt just until combined.
• Stir in 2-4 drops of food coloring for a deeper shade of natural pink. Stir just until combined. (I always use 4 drops of McCormick red liquid food coloring)
• Pourbatt er into the prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer.
• Bake on the middle rack for about 35-40 minutes or until the center is set.
• Remove from oven and let cool completely.
• To make the glaze, combine all glaze ingredients until the mixture is silky. Add more milk if needed.
• Once brownies have cooled, remove them from the pan and spread the glaze on top, and allow to harden.
• Slice brownies into 16 squares and serve.
• Store brownies in an airtight container.

Video

Notes

In the video, I added the strawberry puree last. Either way works, but if you want to see what shade the natural color will be before adding the food coloring, then add the puree at this step.

Cuisine: American, southern

Course: Dessert, Snack

Tried this recipe?Mention @divascancook on Instagram or tag #divascancook.