Strawberry Crumb Bars

Ingredients
For the Filling:
3 cups of strawberries (fresh or frozen)
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/3 cup sugar

For the Crumb:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
10 tbsp butter, cold and diced
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp whole milk

Powdered sugar, to top

Directions:
1. Make the Filling: combine all ingredients and place in a small pot over the stove. Start with low heat, and allow the juices from the strawberries to fill the bottom of the pan (you can cover the pan to allow this process to happen quicker). Once the mixture starts to look watery, turn it up to high heat, uncovered. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until the mixture appears to thicken. Using a fork, smash all the large pieces of strawberries. Filling is ready when the mixture looks fairly uniform and noticeably thickened. Allow to cool — you can make ahead and store in the fridge for about a week.
2. Make the Crumb: After the filling is done, start the crumb. Prepare an 8×8 inch pan with parchment paper and oil, and preheat the oven to 350ºF. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and butter together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Once the butter chunks are no bigger than pea-sized, add the yolk, vanilla, and whole milk.
3. Press half the crumb mixture into the bottom of the pan, making an even layer. It will feel like this is not enough crumb mixture, but trust me it is! The crumb will expand in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, then take out of the oven.
4. Pour the strawberry filling on top. Crumble the rest of the crumb mixture over top the strawberry filling. Bake for another 30 minutes, or until the crumb becomes a golden brown. Watch your bars towards the end, because the edges tend to burn a bit faster — no worries if the edges crisp up, you can always cut this off. Once they cool off a bit, cut them into bars and sprinkle with powdered sugar!

Notes:

* The strawberry filling is basically jelly and it’s super tasty! Feel free to save a tablespoon or two to enjoy with yogurt or on a pancake. Alternatively, you could probably use jelly from a jar (though I have not tested this myself).