Wilde Away

What does someone do when they've been laid off?  They go on vacation!  No wait, that doesn't seem like the normal thing to do.  Nonetheless, boyfriend and I are not in country right now, we are in Morocco!  In a way it's a good time to go on vacation.  It gets the mind off of the fact that I don't have anywhere to go in the morning.

Boyfriend and I are currently in the Sahara desert, riding camels around.  We got to spend the night in a Berber camp in the desert, where I saw the stars for the first time in a long time.  We have spent the past few days in Marrakech and will be moving on to Agadir tomorrow morning, where we will learn how to surf!  I'm very excited and totally frightened for my life.  The ocean is scary and I'm hoping we're surfing little baby waves.  On giant surf boards.  While wearing floaties.

Until I come back, enjoy these uh-mazing strawberry bars.  I made them just before we left, you know, in all my unemployed free time.  I really enjoyed them hot with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.  For breakfast.  Don't judge.

Disclaimer: OXO was nice enough to send me some fun fruit-related products as a part of their blogger outreach program, including the strawberry huller you see in the first image.  I used the huller to remove the hulls of the strawberries.  You can use a paring knife just as well, I like tools.



One Year Ago: Ketchup & Mustard
Two Years Ago: Key Lime Mallowpuffs

Strawberries & Cream Blondies

A Wilde Original

Depending on how juicy your strawberries, you may need to adjust your flour content.  My strawberries were pretty solid, but if yours are a little more ripe, add 2-4 more tablespoons of flour.  You can wait until the blondies are cooled before you cut them into squares, or your can eat them out of the pan with a fork.  Yum.

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 baking soda

1 stick unsalted butter, melted & cooled

1 cup sugar

1 large egg
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
2 cups chopped strawberries
1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F and coat an 8x11-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.  In another bowl, beat melted butter, sugar and egg until smooth and lightened in color, about 2 minutes.  Add walnuts, white chocolate and strawberries, stir in by hand.  Add flour mixture and gently mix in by hand, taking no more than 30 seconds.

Spread batter in the pan and bake for about 40-45 minutes, or until golden brown.  Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before cutting into bars.  Serve warm with ice cream!