Nanny Bribery Strawberry Pinkie

Nanny Bribery Strawberry Pinkie

There’s so much technology reform going on here that I’m struggling to pick up the pace a bit…  Between a shiny new Mac we picked up in Hong Kong and a couple of crippling PC waiting to be discharged without honor, I’m ignoring the anxiety-signals sent from my very empty draft-box.  But as what it seems to have become a post-going-away tradition, let’s start with my doggie nanny bribery, shall we?

Well technically, my doggy nanny didn’t exactly enjoy these strawberry pinkie bars… instead she had the test-samples I scrambled up the night before we left which to say the least, needed some improvements (was that why I came home to three broken light bulbs?…).  You see, for awhile I’ve been trying to create a pinkie bar (you know… instead of “blondie”) using some sort of berries, for no other reasons than so I can call it pinkie and say “pink is the new blonde!”…  Yeah, I’m that girl.

But the first tester came out too wet and just not “strawberry-y” enough and it had been bothering me the entire time I was away.  So I made it my business to right it as the first thing I got home.  That’s right, EVEN before fully toying with my shiny new Mac that was being SUCH a tease while I was in the kitchen!  Give me a pat on the back… come on… I put strawberry before Apple.  That’s something.  And to be honest I am quite pleased with the result this time.  These pinkies have the same texture as blondies which is moist and soft, and the flavor is a pleasing balance between the sweetness of the berries and tartness from the lemon.  If I wasn’t too hasty to cut it before it completely cooled down (when was I ever…), they’d probably look even prettier.  So enjoy these strawberry pinkies.  I gotta go on a date with Apple now…

Servings: 20~24 small circles, or 20 large squares

Ingredients: loosely based on Saveur’s persimmon bar

• 1 cup of strawberry puree
• 1/4 cup of lemon juice
• 113 g (1 stick) of unsalted butter, melted
• 3 tbsp of strawberry jam
• 2/3 cup of diced strawberry
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp of lemon zest
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1/8 tsp of baking soda
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 cup of powder sugar/icing sugar
• 2 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice

Preheat the oven on 350ºF/175ºC.

In a blender, puree strawberries with 1/4 cup of lemon juice.  The lemon juice should be enough to get the blender going (you should have 1 1/4 cup in total volume).  Add the puree to a large bowl with melted butter, strawberry jam, diced strawberry, eggs, lemon zest, baking power, baking soda, salt and vanilla extract.  Whisk until the mixture is evenly combined.  Then add the flour and whisk until just combined.

Line a 9″x9″ square baking-pan with a removable bottom with parchment paper.  Pour the batter into the pan and smooth out the top with a spatula.  Bake in the oven for 25 min, or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Let the pinkie cool on a cooling rack for 5 min.

Meanwhile, whisk 1 cup of icing sugar with 2 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice together.  The mixture should be fairly thick.

After cooling for 5 min, pour the icing onto the warm pinkie and smooth it out with a spatula.  Depending on your preference for sweetness, you could add all or just 2/3 of the icing, which is what I did.  Then let the pinkie cool completely before cutting.

Cut the pinkie into equal squares, or use a cookie cutter to punch out little circles of it.  Don’t worry if the icing shatters a little bit.

These should keep in the refrigerator up to 1 week.