Strawberry Squares, these delicious baked treats are easy to make, feel free to use your favorite pie filling flavor!
Strawberry Squares
This easy baked dessert is semi-homemade, the cake is made from scratch but it’s filled with canned pie filling. Strawberry is my favorite flavor, but this can be switched up with cherry, apple, apricot, etc.
The fist time we made this recipe, my daughter Karina baked them when she was still in her teens. The original recipe is from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook, More From Magnolia: Recipes from the World Famous Bakery
. For those who never heard of the Magnolia Bakery it’s a pretty well known bakery here in New York City, famous for their cupcakes. When I worked in the city, my boss would order cupcakes from there whenever it was someone’s birthday, I couldn’t resist the red velvet and I’m not really a cupcake person!
Anyway, these simple cake squares have been a hit since 2010, you can go back and read the comments and see how everyone made them their own. I was surprised at how flavorful and flaky they were with such few ingredients.
The original recipe called for cherry pie filling, which I am not a fan of, so I used strawberry filling instead. For holiday baking, cherry pie, strawberry or even raspberry looks festive.
Variations:
- Pie Filling Variations – any pie filling would work, try blueberry, apricot or apple pie.
- Fruit Preserves – You can also use low-sugar fruit preserves in place of pie filling
- Lemon Curd – try swapping the pie filling for lemon curd
- Fruit butters such as pumpkin butter or apple butter would also taste great in place of pie filling.
More Dessert Recipes You Will Love!
Strawberry Squares
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, or GF flour
- 1/2 cup canned strawberry pie filling
- confectioner's sugar for dusting
- baking spray
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Spray Baking Pam in a 13 x 9- inch baking pan.
- In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter with the granulated sugar until smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add the vanilla.
- Add the flour and mix thoroughly.
- Spread the dough evenly in the prepared pan.
- With a small, sharp knife (or toothpick), score into twenty-four 2-inch squares.
- Place a teaspoon of pie filling in the center of each scored square.
- Bake for 30 - 35 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the pan comes out clean.
- Cool to room temperature, then sprinkle with confectioner's sugar before cutting and serving.
I just took this out of the oven and it looks great! The batter didn’t cover my fruit centers at all. I wanted to make it a bit healthier so I used 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour and the rest as all-purpose flour. Also used raspberry pie filling…I would’ve liked to use strawberry, but it wasn’t available at my grocery store. I played with the idea of doing blueberry too, but thought it was a waste of the pie filling…but think how cute it would look for July 4th picnic! I haven’t even tried it yet, but already know I will be making this again. I will post an update after it cools and I eat a piece…cannot wait!
Gina, Possible to cut the eggs Down to maybe 1 or 2?
Just made these for Valentine’s Day dessert tonight. They are delicious! (yes, I had to taste test first before dinner!) I made 1/2 recipe in an 8×8 square pan and used a cookie cutter to make them into heart shapes. I also made them with Truvia Sweet Complete and Good Good Strawberry Jam to cut the sugar grams down. I’m confident my husband will love them!
Love that!!
Excellent. Also made my own strawberry topping. 1 cup strawberries cut up, 2 Tbsp sugar, 2 tsps fresh lemon juice. Cooked for ten minutes. Stirring constantly. Cool . Also added 1/2 tsp almond extract. Vanilla Nad almond extracts a great combination.
This recipe is a keeper and worthy of a company dinner
These are delicious! I made them with GF flour and made homemade filling because I had fruit to use up. I made strawberry and blueberry filling following the tip from another comment (purée 1 cup of fruit and the bring to a boil with 2T sugar and 2tsp lemon juice; continue to boil for 10 minutes; allow to cool completely). They were very easy to make and cut easily once cooled. Great recipe!
Did anyone find these super sweet??? Because of the sugar, not the filling
I omitted the powdered sugar coating…and they were just delicious! Loved them!!
Love! I’ve made these a few times now. I too had the batter covering the pie filling issue – so, I simply added another dollop of pie filling when it was all done. Huge hit. Small squares make for perfect small treat! They look great too! I’ve made them with cherry filling and blueberry filling. Another hit!
I made this recipe twice and each time, the batter covers the cherries. What am I doing wrong?
Can I use guava paste?
Sure
I wonder if these can be frozen?
Sure
Is the baking time the same for all-purpose or gluten-free flour? It’s an even 1:1 swap?
I tried making this with coconut flour. Typically for every cup of all-purpose flour you only use 1/4 of a cup of coconut flour. So I did a half a cup of coconut flour and two eggs instead of four. Came out horrible. It’s just a pile of strawberry, sugary mess.
Why aren’t the calories listed?
Fixed now.
Hi! I don’t see a calorie count for this? Do you have it? Have you stopped listing the calorie info? That is personally what I follow as I eat from all food groups but want to keep my calories under a certain number. If possible, I’d love to see that info too as the points etc aren’t something that I work with or totally understand. Thank you!!
Nutritional info is listed under the recipe, there was a typo on this on calories were left out. Fixed now. 138 🙂
This is a traditional Midwest recipe my family has been baking for over 50 years. So simple yet so tasty!
Calories?
Don’t see calories listed. (Not that they’d stop me from making this!)
Fixed! 138
So easy to make, but may filling spread a lot so not super pretty. I did use strawberry preserves instead of pie filing because that’s what I had in the house. I used 1 teaspoon and the preserves spread all all over the squares. So disappointed…I didn’t think that would happen. : / Unfortunate that they didn’t turn out as pretty as the picture but they taste amazing!
Have these in the oven now, made them with raspberry pie filling!
Can I use splenda instead and polaner sugar free strawberry jam instead?
Sure
Made this yesterday and it turned out perfect, just like the ones in your photo. Thank you so much for the simple, yet delicious, recipe. My substitutions were Lemon curd instead of Strawberry and 1/4 tsp each salt and baking soda. I'm going to do this again with orange zest and a bit of orange juice. Yum! Love your blog.
Oops, forgot other subs- 1 cup each – white whole wheat & all purpose flour + 4 egg white subs.
Ooh my goodness! These are wonderful. We are snowed in today and I didn't have any pie filling or jam, but I did have some fresh strawberries, so I made my own filling. (Puree 1 cup sliced strawberries in food processor or blender. Add pureed strawberries, 2 T sugar, & 2 tsp lemon juice to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and let boil for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool completely.) They smelled heavenly – like strawberry shortcake – right out of the oven. Yum! I can't wait to try these with fresh raspberries or blueberries.
After all these great comments, I feel like a loser. Everything was fine until I added the flour and then the batter was like thick dough and stuck to my beaters. I'm not sure where I went wrong. Any ideas?
Amazing! I'm so glad I finally decided to make these during the blizzard! I made half raspberry and half apricot and everyone loved them!
I just made these today and I'm not a baker, but they came out AMAZING. Light and fluffy and delicious. A definite keeper! Thank you for the recipe!
I lightened these up even more and made them with light butter, 2 eggs and 1/2 C of egg substitute, about 1/3 of the flour was white whole wheat and I used light cherry pie filling. The turned out really great. So tasty with coffee! I will definitely be making these all the time!
I just had one hot from the oven and it was delicious! Light and sweet and cakey… Mmm (: I used pineapple jam instead of pie filling, and it worked great. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for this recipe! So simple! Mine are cooling now and they smell & look divine! Can't wait to try them 🙂
Made these over the weekend, delicious! Thanks!
Reading all your comments is making me want to bake them again!
Any suggestions on how to add a little bit of peanut butter to these? (so it's like a pb&j!)
Mine are in the oven as of right now! I used raspberry jam for the filling- let's see how it turns out!
They are super delicious and pretty. I quadrupled the recipe as I was making for a large group, also used my perfect brownie pan which works great for keeping the same size and not having to cut. Tastes like a soft shortbread.
I made these last night & they are delicious. I gave some to my Mom, my coworkers & my friends & they all loved them. A keeper for my recipe book. Thanks!
Wondering if you have any suggestions for using fresh organic blueberries for topping rather than can strawberry pie filling. Think it would be AMAZING to make a fresh blueberry filling for it.
I made the mistake of making these for my grandson's birthday party and now I'm stuck making them for get together that they need sweets.
I have been asked to host a cooking segment at my son's pre-school using the letter A and since I have homemade apricot preserves was looking for a bar type recipe. I made these this afternoon as a test batch with my 4 1/2 year old son using blackberry preserves and they were great. I was surprised at how flavorful and flaky they were with such few ingredients.
I can't wait to bake these with his class next week (and send today's batch to work with my husband tomorrow before I eat MORE than I should).
Thanks for another winner, Gina!
This was my first of your recipes I made. AMAZING! I did use almond extract and seedless raspberry jam. Absolutely delish. I can't tell you how much I love your recipes. They make weight watchers much more enjoyalbe.
wow! these look amazing, thanks for sharing C:
My husband, not a cook, made these last night. He couldn't find strawberry pie filling so he bought blueberry, but it didn't make a difference. These are so yummy! Thank you for posting simple, healthy recipes that my husband can follow!
I made these for a party I went to last night and everyone wanted me to email them the recipe as soon as I got home. They couldn't believe that they were only 138 Cal.
I made these for our Memorial Day party yesterday – they came out great, and as everything I have made from your site so far, they were a big hit! I loved the texture of the cake – very light, but still 'toothsome'. I will be making these again, maybe with blueberry next time :d
To the person who can't print, email me,
schoko – cupcakes, great idea!
They came out the oven 20 min. ago and already 10 eaten up!
I didn't have a 13×9 bakeform, so I made 12 cupcakes and 12 madeleines.
Withhout the pie filling. They perfect, thanks Gina.
Hey Gina, this looks great but i'm unable to print it for some reason. I've made quite a few other things from you and have been very happy with the results! My bf loves my cooking but it's not always figure friendly. I tried a few WW recipes and they were…ehhh. So I (and my bf) thank you for your site! So glad I found it!!
I couldn't find strawberry filling at the store, so I used raspberry instead and it was REALLY good!
rue, not sure, but it sounds like it would work! Let me know if you try it.
I'm new to cooking/baking but these were so easy to make! They came out perfect, but I wish they had a little more fruit flavor to them. Do you think if I add a couple bananas to the cake bottom recipe it would still come out okay???
oh i forgot to add that i also used smuckers simply fruit strawberry, i suppose that may have affected the points as well!
I did 1 C Whole Wheat and 1 C White flour (only because I didn't have enough white haha) with the rest of the recipe the same – and recalculated the points and it came out to 3 p+!
My mom has made these for years- but with a lemon flavor- I can't remember if she used extract or juice- the lemon and the cherry are wonderful together! (Though I think lemon and blueberry….)
Made them last night with rasberry jam. They tasted just like linzer tarts. I need to get them out of my house! So good!
I've made these with pie filling and I just made them with low sugar strawberry jam, and they are just as good!
I made these tonight with Blackberry pie filling, soooo good! Thanks!
I don't have any pie filling on hand, can I use strawberry jam?
I altered the recipe a bit, used only 1 cup of sugar, 2 whole eggs and 2 egg whites, 1 cup whole wheat flour mixed with 1 cup all-purpose flour, and 1 teaspoon baking powder. They came out great, my family loved them. Can you figure out the point value for me?
Just wondering if anyone has subbed applesauce for the butter? Thanks!
Great idea making these with apple butter!! Or even pumpkin butter would be interesting.
Yes, Im sure the points are lower with Splenda. I guess the eggs effected the fact that they didn't rise.
Made these tonight… with cherry. haven't tried them yet – but noticed they did not rise very much. but that is probably because I changed a few things in the recipe, using egg whites instead of whole eggs, and splenda instead of sugar (not because I didn't WANT to use the sugar and eggs, but I didn't have any in the house)
Soooooooooo I will see how they are – but i tried a nibble and they taste good. 🙂 I am sure using Splenda & Egg whites (and not using any confectioners sugar) will lower the points considerably as well, so I can have a couple of them, instead of just 1. 🙂
Have these in the over now ! I made the apple butter today so I used that in the center 🙂
This was the first recipe I've made from this site. It was good. I even used the splenda sugar mix and cut back a point.
Aww, Angela, your brother is a sweetie 🙂 Blueberry, yum!!
I made these for my Mom's birthday yesterday (with blueberry pie filling). While we were eating them, it came up that I got the recipe off your site – when my 9-yr-old brother heard that, he exclaimed, "Gina is my best friend!" These are really good!
I just pulled these out of my oven. I made them with cherry pie filling. They look great and my house smells so good. Thanks!
No, I wonder if it has something to do with the batter and how long it mixed? Not really sure.
Same thing happened to me as did with Cara–filling sunk right to the bottom. Do you know why it would do that? It was so disappointing!!
Ok, so I bake a lot and usually without incident, but I just made two of these and the filling sunk in both. Think it's because I used cherry pie filling?? (love your stuff, Gina!)
It's cake, so naturally the fresher the better. I didn't refrigerate mine, I left them out overnight and they were ok, not really sure though.
Gina, I am thinking of making these for Christmas!
My question is – can I make these ahead of time? And, if so, do I need to refrigerate them? Would that change the taste/consistency of the cake OR the filling?
thank you, thank you! 🙂
Here is a tip when you only want to print a little bit of a blog, highlight the recipe (or items you want printed) press ctrl+p choose the selection option and then print. Then you only get the recipe, and not any of the rest of the blog.
They are more on the cakey side…
Just wondering, how moist are they? (my daughter's got the flu & she loves dense, moist cakes! Would these be a good suggestion?)
I just highlighted the recipe itself and copied it into a blank Word Document. It worked when I did it that way.
Strawberry! This is so yummy! I can't wait to try this at home. My hubby will surely be surprised by this in our wedding anniversary.
I love how the jam sinks into the squares! These sound delicious and look so pretty!
Sorry about the printing, I will work on this, I wish I had the staff of Food Network! This is a Blogger issue I've complained to Google about, I'm hoping to get this resolved but it prints perfectly on Firefox in the meantime.
Gloria- I love Brooklyn! I live in Long Island, and work in Manhattan (yes, I have a full time job!)
I echo the printing issues…it would be fantastic if there was the option to print as a recipe card (4×6) like you can on other recipe sites such as Food Network. I love your recipes but spend a lot of time copying and pasting!
Hey, Gina! I've commented before that I LOVE your blog and recipes, but I did NOT know you are in NY??????!!! You wrote here on this post: "…or those who never heard of them, Magnolia Bakery is well known here in New York City." "HERE," in NYC??? Where are you? I was born and bred in Brooklyn!! 🙂 Email me and let me know. In the meantime, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!
Best regards,
Gloria
This looks perfect! It has a strawberry filling at the center of the pan. I love it especially when hit has a strawberry fruit on top of it.I’m sure my daughters will like it and ask for more if I make some of this. Thanks for the awesome recipe.
Wow thanks for sharing! Mouth watering pictures!
TJ- lol!! That's what I did, brought my mom some, then gave the rest away to my daughter's friends! Give some to your neighbors!!
I made these yesterday and I need to get them out of here! lol I loved them!
Maybe green sugar sprinkles?
i was thinking about making this for christmas. do you have any ideas on how i can add green to this? if i added green food coloring to the mix it might look gross. haha. green sprinkles?
Mine were all perfect, I'm not sure why that happened? My daughter actually baked these for me.
Tried them and they were lovely, but for some reason mine rose but only the middle ones? Your's don't look as if they did.
Maybe 2 tbsp cocoa powder, then taste to see if it's enough?
These are so easy to make! My 5 month old enjoyed being in the Baby Bjorn while I was mixing them together. If I wanted to make these chocolate, how much cocoa would I add? Thanks!
When the print box comes up to print, only print the first two pages…9 times out of 10 that will cover the entire recipe. Or do a print preview prior to printing so you can see exactly what pages the recipe and instructions are on.
I can't print either 🙁 It also doesnt work to copy and paste into a word document to print from there.
Oops! Forgot to tell you that I tried to copy and paste it into a new document and that didn't work either!
Gina, This recipe sounds great! I'm certainly going to try it. I'm very frustrated with the printing of your recipes! I don't want 10 pages of comments or even pictures of the recipes. Please help us out! Tks!
There is a button that says print this post above the comments, did you use that when you printed? Any feedback is helpful, I really want to resolve the printing issue.
I thought the cake tasted good. My daughter's friends all went crazy over them, so I hope that helps. I think preserves would be delicious here, I was thinking the same thing!
try pushing ctrl and P it should work!
This sounds delicious! This might also work using leftover cranberry relish from Thanksgiving in place of the strawberry pie filing. I'll probably give that a try next week.
Ooo I think I would do a cherry pie filling.. 🙂
I still can't print your recipes either. I use Internet Explorer (the latest version) and there is no way I can figure out how to print them without getting reams of pages of comments, etc. As "Anon." said this morning, is there a print button missing?
@ Veronica…I am the blogger from MyKitchenAdventures…and to answer your questions…they are cake like, but with the taste of a sugar cookie. I would say they are more dense than light. This recipe was a family recipe handed down to one of the bakers at Magnolia. I hope this helps! 🙂
Gina, would you mind adding your review of these to the post? I'd like to know about the taste (you didn't say if they were good, though I imagine they would be) and the texture. Are they light or dense? Would you make them again? Thanks! BTW, I'm STILL making your pumpkin spice lattes–I'm addicted. 🙂
Do you think sugar free strawberry jam would work instead? Would that cut down on points?
Hello does anyone have a cut out cookie recipe they could share?
Thank You,
Kim
Thank you! I was looking for one more treat to bring for Thanksgiving, and these will be perfect! Since my family is big on cherries, I might switch it back to cherry pie filling. Yum!
I think I will try these with blueberry filling. I still have not figured out how to print out your recipes. Is there a print button I'm missing somplace?
These are soft and cakey, not a cookie.
Are these softer and more "cakey" in consistency or harder and more like a bar cookie.
Looks awesome – thanks for posting
Thanks for noticing that, it's strawberry pie filling. I mentioned in my first paragraph that I used strawberry pie filling instead of cheery, but I forgot to change it in the ingredient list. I just adjusted. Use any pie filling you like! Blueberry would be great too!
My question exactly! Cherries in a strawberry square???
Oh I am so glad you tried these! They are really easy, as you said. Thanks for posting the link to my blog! I will have to experiment with other pie flavors as well! Thanks again, Gina!
www.mykitchenadventures1.blogspot.com
Renee
Why are they called strawberry squares when they don't have any strawberries in them?
These look amazing Gina! I have a Magnolia cookbook at home and love a lot of the recipes. I'll definitely be making these soon.