Strawberry Lemonade Bars [Vegan option]

I was going to avoid posting this Strawberry Lemonade Bar recipe because the days certainly aren't getting any more summery, but I figured you might like a small taste of summer while the rest of the interwebs is inundated with an assortment pumpkin recipes.

So here you go.

But don't worry, I'll be joining in on the pumpkin craze shortly!

I made these bars while my oven was broken. I had just bought oodles of lemons and strawberries for baking, and the the bottom coil in my oven quite literally started on fire. I totally freaked out let maintenance know of the issue, but it would be a few days until it finally got fixed. I couldn't just let my fruit go bad! That, and I was seeing a ton of raw slice recipes and I just had to give it a try.

So I came up with these beautiful gems. I love the color of them, and the flavor is even better.

I used grass-fed gelatin in the filling to make sure it set, but it's entirely unnecessary (plus, omitting it makes this recipe vegan and raw). The coconut creme in the filling should do all the work of helping this set when it's cold!

Speaking of work (see what I did there?), I see I'm kind of slacking when it comes to posts that aren't necessarily recipes. It appears I struggle with that more than I thought I would. I'll still keep trying at it, but in the meantime I have a backlog of recipes I want to share with you! And they all may (or may not) involve pumpkin. Because fall. Although I seriously shouldn't be talking about fall in a summer recipe blog post, should I? I'm really good at this blogging thing. At the very least, I'm trying out a new post style for this blog post! We'll see how it turns out.

Okay, okay. Enough words. Here's the recipe for Strawberry Lemonade Bars:

Strawberry Lemonade Bars [Raw and Vegan options]

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 15 minutes

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Crust:

• 1 c cashews
• 1 c dates
• ¼ c coconut oil, melted

Filling:

• ¾ c lemon juice (3-4 lemons for me)
• 1-2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 6 Tb water (omit if not using gelatin)
• 2 Tb gelatin (omit for vegan, vegetarian, raw)
• ¾ c coconut creme (I used a full container of coconut creme)
• 1 c strawberries, chopped
• 2-4 Tb honey/maple syrup/coconut sugar (depending on desired sweetness)

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Instructions

For Crust:

1. Put dates and cashews to blender and blend until the mixture reaches a grainy/paste texture
2. Add melted coconut oil and stir to incorporate
3. Press crust mixture into 8x8 baking pan, doing your best to keep it evenly spread
4. Refrigerate pan while preparing the filling

For Filling:

1. IF using gelatin, add water to the lemon juice. VERY SLOWLY sprinkle gelatin into lemon/water mixture, stirring as you go. You're trying to avoid the gelatin from clumping, so don't just dump it in. Then, allow mixture to set for 4-5 minutes (omit this step if you opt to not use gelatin).
2. Mix together all filling ingredients.
3. Remove crust from fridge and pour filling over top. Return to the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Then they're ready to eat! However, I think they're best if left overnight.

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Notes

If you have coconut milk on hand, you can use that instead. Just refrigerate the can overnight and use the cream that rises to the top!