Strawberry Brownies

Why you’ll love this recipe

Flavor: The classic combo of chocolate and strawberries.

Texture: Fudgy brownies with creamy frosting and the option to garnish with juicy fresh strawberries.

Appearance: These brownies are pretty enough to serve for a holiday, birthday, or celebration. The pop of pink frosting takes them over the top.

Make ahead: These brownies can be made up to one day in advance. Store in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.

Key ingredients

These ingredients are key to this recipe:

Cocoa powder and chocolate chips: This combination ensures a fudgy texture and rich chocolate flavor throughout. I prefer milk chocolate chips for this recipe to keep the chocolate from overpowering the strawberries. Feel free to use semisweet or bittersweet chips, if you prefer.

Strawberry jam: This ingredient is used in both the brownies and the frosting. It adds a deep strawberry flavor.

Freeze dried strawberries: This is the special ingredient that adds lots of fresh strawberry flavor to the brownies and the frosting. Using fresh strawberries can make the brownies wet and mushy, so this is the perfect alternative.

Recipe overview

Full recipe below in recipe card

Brownies:

• Combine melted butter and sugar.
• Add eggs, vanilla, and water.
• Add cocoa powder, flour, powdered sugar, and salt.
• Stir in chocolate chips and freeze dried strawberries.

Spread the batter into a lined and greased 8×8 pan. Place small spoonfuls of strawberry jam all over the top and swirl it into the batter. Bake for 23-28 minutes then cool completely.

Frosting:

• Beat butter and powdered sugar
• Add freeze dried strawberry powder, strawberry jam, vanilla, and milk.
• Beat until smooth and creamy.

Ingredient spotlight: freeze dried strawberries

Freeze dried strawberries are strawberries that have low water content and are dried out and crispy. They can be found on the dried fruit aisle. I get them at Target or Whole Foods. Note: they are not dried strawberries which are soft and chewy, like a raisin.

Because they are dry they allow us to add a deep, more intense strawberry flavor without adding too much moisture which could make the brownies wet and mushy.

Using freeze dried strawberries also allows you to make this recipe year round!

Serving and storage

Store the brownies in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. I think they are best within the first day.

Bring to room temperature before serving for the best flavor and texture.

More brownie recipes

Recipe

Strawberry Brownies

If you’re a fan of chocolate dipped strawberries you will love these strawberry brownies. Fudgy brownies filled with strawberries and swirls of strawberry jam topped with a vibrant strawberry frosting.

5 from 7 votes

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 24 minutes minutes

Total Time: 44 minutes minutes

Servings: 12

Calories: 415kcal

Author: Allison Mattina

Ingredients

Brownies:

• ▢ ½ cup melted unsalted butter
• ▢ ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ▢ 2 large eggs
• ▢ 1 tablespoon water
• ▢ 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ▢ ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ▢ ¼ cup powdered sugar
• ▢ ¾ cup all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
• ▢ ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ ¾ cup chocolate chips, I prefer milk chocolate for this recipe
• ▢ ½ cup freeze dried strawberries
• ▢ generous ¼ cup strawberry jam or preserves

Strawberry frosting:

• ▢ ½ cup freeze dried strawberries
• ▢ 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• ▢ 1½ cups powdered sugar
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 tablespoon strawberry jam
• ▢ 1 tablespoon milk

Instructions

Brownies:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8 square pan with foil or parchment paper, leaving a couple inches of overhang on two sides (this will allow you to lift the whole tray of brownies out of the pan for easy removal). Grease the foil/parchment.
• Combine granulated sugar and melted butter in a large bowl. Stir it briefly then allow it to sit undisturbed for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, whisk the butter and sugar vigorously for 30 seconds. The sugar will not fully dissolve but the mixture will come together. Add eggs, water, and vanilla extract, whisking again for about 30 seconds.
• Sprinkle cocoa powder, powdered sugar, flour, and salt over the wet ingredients. Whisk until well combined. Tap all the excess batter off the whisk and remove the whisk from the bowl. Stir in the chocolate chips and ½ cup freeze dried strawberries.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Place small spoonfuls of strawberry jam all over the top. Use the tip of a sharp knife to swirl the jam into the batter. This will be a little difficult due to the chunks from the chocolate chips and strawberries, but just swirl/drag the knife through the best that you can.
• Bake for for 23-27 minutes. The brownies are done when a toothpick inserted just outside the center comes out with moist fudgy crumbs attached but no raw batter. See notes for more on this. Remove from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack to cool completely. 

Strawberry frosting:

• In a small food processor, blend freeze dried strawberries until they turn into powder. Pour the powder into a fine mesh sieve, discarding the solids and seeds, keeping the fine powder that came through the sieve. Set the powder aside.
• With a hand mixer, or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl and the beater as necessary. Add the powdered sugar, ½ a cup at a time, beating until combined. Add freeze dried strawberry powder, vanilla extract, jam, and milk. Beat on medium speed until fully combined, being sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl and beater as needed. If necessary, adjust the consistency by adding more powdered sugar to thicken, or more milk to thin it out.
• Spread the frosting on top of the cooled brownies.

Notes

Bake time: The brownies should be removed from the oven when a toothpick inserted into the brownies come out with moist fudgy crumbs on it (no thin raw batter). Remember, there are lots of chocolate chips in there, so melted chocolate is ok. We love this tip from America’s Test Kitchen, “bake until toothpick inserted halfway between edge and center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached.” The very center will finish cooking after you remove the pan from the oven and the edges should already be done.

Nutrition

Calories: 415kcal | Carbohydrates: 65g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 66mg | Sodium: 180mg | Potassium: 346mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 51g | Vitamin A: 454IU | Vitamin C: 241mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 6mg

Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.

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