Have I Mentioned That I love Berries And Chocolate?

I love them separately, I love them together. I do so love them on a plane, I would happily chow down on them on a train. I would eat them with a goat (but he better not try to get any) I would eat them near a moat. I will so eat them sam I am. I would eat them in a can. Ok, maybe not that last part but my rhyming skills are rusty.

Ok, now that my Dr. Seuss moment is over, I really do love berries. And chocolate. And berries and chocolate together. I look forward to Spring/Summer every year for one reason only since I hate the heat. I can get berries inexpensively (and corn on the cob but that’s another story.)

I wanted to make something with fruit for today (Memorial Day) but I just wasn’t up to something that took a lot of work or, since I wanted something my two year old (and grandkids) could eat, something that was too messy.

I decided to make a bar cookie with fresh Strawberries. Then the wonderful thought occurred to me to use chocolate too because I mean really, is there anything better than a chocolate covered strawberry? Except maybe chocolate and raspberries.

I ended up with a mildly sweet shortbread style crust with a juicy creamy chocolate covered strawberry center topped by crumbs and more chocolate. While my recipe is fairly different, I want to give a shout out to the lovely hostess ofÂ Can You Stay For Dinner for the inspiration.

So if you want a nice bar cookie to take with to a BBQ tonight, this one will work for you. It would also be great as a weeknight (or weekend) dessert for your family or the best idea of all, just as one of those go hide in the closet and whimper pitifully if anyone comes near and tries to take them from you style sweets.

Enjoy!! Have a great Memorial Day!

CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRY BARS

CRUST-
1 cup softened butter (2 sticks)
2 cups flour
2/3 cup powdered sugar
FILLING-
1 lb container fresh strawberries, capped and thinly sliced
1/2 cup strawberry preserves (I actually ended up using a 1/4 cup strawberry and a 1/4 cup Raspberry but you can use what you like)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 12 ounce bag chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly grease a 13×9 inch pan.
Combine flour, butter and powdered sugar until you have pea sized crumbs.
Pat 2 cups of the crumb mixture into the bottom of the greased pan. Set the rest aside.
Bake the crust for ten minutes or until a very light golden brown around the edges.
Meanwhile, gently fold your sliced strawberries together with the preserves.
In a small bowl, mix half the bag of chocolate chips with the sweetened condensed milk and microwave on high in 30 seconds increments, stirring after each one, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
Carefully spread the strawberry mixture on top of the hot crust. Then pour the chocolate/milk mix on top of the berries and spread. Sprinkle that with the reserved crumbs and the other half of the bag of chocolate chips.
Bake at 350 for about 30 to 35 minutes or until the center is set.
Let cool, preferably in the fridge for a couple of hours. But just letting it cool and attacking it works too.

31 thoughts on “Have I Mentioned That I love Berries And Chocolate?”

Strawberries… 🙂

31 thoughts on “Have I Mentioned That I love Berries And Chocolate?”

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