Strawberry shortbread cookies are buttery shortbread cookies filled with sweet and tart strawberry flavor. These strawberry butter cookies get their pink hue and berry flavor thanks to freeze dried strawberries in both the cookie and glaze. Make these pink shortbread cookies for a taste of spring and summer all year long.
Jump to:
Why Should You Make This Recipe
I absolutely adore the sweet, slightly tart and fresh flavor of strawberries. My Strawberry Danish, Strawberry Pound Cake, Strawberry Brownies, Strawberry Dump Cake and Strawberry Crumble are a few strawberry recipes from the blog that I love. I know you’ll love this strawberry shortbread recipe because:
- You love fun variations on classic cookies. These strawberry shortbread cookies are a fun, fruit filled twist on the classic buttery shortbread cookies. I personally love to top mine with a wonderfully tart strawberry glaze for even more strawberry flavor.
- Layers of flavor and texture. These freeze dried strawberry cookies have a nice firm, but soft, buttery bite with tons of concentrated strawberry flavor. The strawberry glaze brings another layer of sweet and tart strawberry flavor.
Ingredients
This strawberry butter cookie recipe requires only a handful of pantry basics to make. Here’s what you’ll need.
Strawberry Cookies
Gather butter, sugar, freeze dried strawberries, vanilla extract, salt and flour.
Strawberry Glaze
Gather powdered sugar, freeze dried strawberries and milk.
Substitutions
Here are my recommended substitutions to make these wonderfully easy pink shortbread cookies:
- Freeze Dried Strawberries: Make sure to get freeze dried, not just dried strawberries. I usually get mine from Trader Joes, but freeze dried strawberries are available in most grocery stores. Freeze dried raspberries would be an excellent substitute.
- All purpose flour: To make this blueberry sour cream cake gluten free, use a good 1-1 gluten free flour. I recommend using the one from Bob’s Red Mill.
- Unsalted Butter: Vegan butter or plant based can also be used in place of regular unsalted butter in this recipe.
- Granulated Sugars: This recipe hasn’t been tested using alternative sugars. However, I love using maple sugar as a refined sugar free option in my other cookie recipes.
- Vanilla Extract: This gives a lovely background flavor to these cookies.
Variation
Shortbread Cookies with Strawberry Jam: Keep the butter cold instead of room temperature. Follow the rest of the recipe as written up to the rolling out step. Rather than rolling out the dough, just gather the dough into a ball. Chill the cookie dough for the recommended time. When it’s time to bake, scoop the dough with a small tablespoon (15 ml) sized cookie scoop, into a ball. Place each of the shortbread balls onto a lined baking sheet. Press a teaspoon sized thumbprint into the center of each cookie. Fill with ½ teaspoon of strawberry jam and bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are set and very lightly golden.
How To Make
Learn how to make strawberry shortbread cookies in a few easy steps.
Make the Shortbread Cookie Dough
- Reserve 6 - 8 slices of freeze dried strawberries if you’d like to crush some on top of the cookies after baking them. Pour the remaining freeze dried strawberries into a food processor. Process the berries until a powder like consistency. Divide the powdered freeze dried strawberry powder. Scoop about 2 tablespoons for the glaze and the remaining 4 tablespoons for the cookie dough. Freeze dried strawberries will start to rehydrate and get a bit mushy if left out, so place the reserved slices and the freeze dried strawberry powder for the glaze in an airtight container for now.
- Cream the butter and granulated sugar together on medium speed until well combined, about 3 - 4 minutes. On low speed, cream in the vanilla extract and salt, followed by the 4 tablespoons of freeze dried strawberry powder. On the lowest speed setting, mix the in the flour until just combined. Transfer the pink cookie dough onto a piece of parchment paper. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap. Roll out the shortbread strawberry cookie dough into a sheet about ¼ inch thick. Don’t worry about the shape. Transfer the covered shortbread cookie sheet to the fridge to chill for 1 - 2 hours.
Bake the Cookies
3. Preheat the oven to 350 F (177 C) for about 30 minutes before baking the cookies. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a small, 2 inch biscuit cutter, cut rounds of fruity shortbread cookie dough. Transfer the rounds onto the lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Gather, re-roll and chill the remaining cookie dough until it’s time to cut out and bake another batch. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are set and lightly golden brown. The centers will look slightly puffed up. Cool the cookies on the hot baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to fully set. While the strawberry butter cookies cool, make the strawberry icing.
Glaze and Serve the Cookies
4. In a mixing bowl, whisk together to the powdered sugar with the reserved 2 tablespoons of strawberry powder. Once combined, whisk in milk to achieve your desired consistency for the strawberry glaze. Mix until well combined. Using a small spoon apply the desired amount of frosting to the top of each strawberry cookie. Sprinkle more freeze dried strawberries in top if you like.
How To Make Ahead, Store, Freeze and Thaw
- Make Ahead: These strawberry shortbread cookies can easily be made ahead of time. Prepare the strawberry cookie dough as written in the recipe. Store the dough covered in the fridge 1-2 days before baking. I recommend preparing the dough through to the rolling out stage. Cover the dough sheet with plastic wrap and store inside a gallon ziplock bag.
- Store Baked Cookies: Store the cookies in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. If the cookies need to be stacked, separate the layers with wax paper.
- Freeze and Thaw Baked Cookies: Place unglazed cookies in an airtight and freezer safe container for up to 2 months. Do not glaze if you plan on freezing the cookies. Apply the glaze after thawing. Thaw the cookies by transferring them to sit out a room temperature for a couple of hours.
- Freeze and Thaw Cookie Dough: Prepare the cookie dough to the rolling stage or the cut out stage. Flash freeze the cookie rounds by laying them on a parchment lined baking sheet and freezing until frozen, about 20 - 30 minutes. Transfer the cookie dough sheet or rounds to an airtight, freezer safe container for up to 2 months. Allow them to thaw overnight in the fridge before baking.
M's Expert Tips
- Wait to powder the freeze dried strawberries. These berries love to adsorb the moisture in the air as soon as the bag is opened. This can cause them to become gummy. Make sure to process them into powder right before you plan to bake the cookies. Store the powder for the glaze in an airtight container until it’s time to make the glaze.
- Measure the flour properly: I highly recommend using a food scale to get perfectly measured ingredients every time.
- Keep the cookie rounds cold. The shortbread dough should be kept chilled in the fridge until it’s time to cut out the cookie rounds and bake. The colder the cookie, the better the shape.
- Gather and re-roll the strawberry shortbread dough. Since these strawberry shortbread cookies are cut out cookies, there will be excess dough after each round of cutting out the cookie dough. Gather, re-roll and chill the leftover dough until you are ready to bake the next batch.
- Use a small ziplock bag for the icing. This strawberry glaze is easy to apply using a spoon, but a piping the glaze from a bag makes the glaze more even.
FAQs
Freeze dried fruit makes a tasty and flavorful addition to any baked good. Make sure to grind it into a powder like consistency right before baking.
A few things can cause cookies to spread more than they should. The butter can be too warm. Make sure the butter is softened but still cool to the touch. The cookie dough may be too warm. Chill the dough in the fridge for 1 - 2 hours before baking. If needed, chill the cut out shortbread cookies for 15 - 20 minutes before baking. The oven can also run hotter than the control panel says. Double check by using an oven thermometer. Finally, you may need to add 1 -2 tablespoons more flour.
Overworking the dough and adding too much flour are two common mistakes made while making shortbread.
Other Shortbread Recipes To Try
If you try this Strawberry Shortbread Cookies recipe please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Doing so helps other readers decide if this is a great recipe to bake. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking! Happy Baking! - M
Strawberry Shortbread Cookies Recipe
Equipment
- 1 stand mixer with paddle attachment or electric hand mixer with beaters
- 1 plastic wrap
- 3 sheets parchment paper
- 2 large baking sheets
- 1 2- inch (5 cm) biscuit or cookie cutter
Ingredients
Strawberry Shortbread Cookies
- 1 oz. (34 g) freeze dried strawberries, divided
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, softened still cool to the touch
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2¼ cups (270 g) all purpose flour
Strawberry Glaze
- 1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons freeze dried strawberry powder
- 2 - 3 tablespoons milk, as needed
Instructions
- Reserve 6 - 8 slices of freeze dried strawberries if you’d like to crush some on top of the cookies after baking them. Pour the remaining freeze dried strawberries into a food processor. Process the berries until a powder like consistency.1 oz. (34 g) freeze dried strawberries, divided
- Divide the powdered freeze dried strawberry powder. Scoop about 2 tablespoons for the glaze and the remaining 4 tablespoons for the cookie dough. Freeze dried strawberries will start to rehydrate and get a bit mushy if left out, so place the reserved slices and the freeze dried strawberry powder for the glaze in an airtight container for now.
- Cream the butter and granulated sugar together on medium speed until well combined, about 3 - 4 minutes. On low speed, cream in the vanilla extract and salt, followed by the 4 tablespoons of freeze dried strawberry powder. On the lowest speed setting, mix the in the flour until just combined.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, softened , ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract , ¼ teaspoon salt , 2¼ cups (270 g) all purpose flour
- Transfer the pink cookie dough onto a piece of parchment paper. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap. Roll out the shortbread strawberry cookie dough into a sheet about ¼ inch thick. Don’t worry about the shape. Transfer the covered shortbread cookie sheet to the fridge to chill for 1 - 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (177 C) for about 30 minutes before baking the cookies. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a small, 2 inch biscuit cutter, cut rounds of fruity shortbread cookie dough. Transfer the rounds onto the lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Gather, re-roll and chill the remaining cookie dough until it’s time to cut out and bake another batch.
- Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are set and lightly golden brown. The centers will look slightly puffed up. Cool the cookies on the hot baking sheet for 5 minutesbefore transferring them to a cooling rack to fully set. While the strawberry butter cookies cool, make the strawberry icing.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together to the powdered sugar with the reserved 2 tablespoons of strawberry powder. Once combined, whisk in milk to achieve your desired consistency for the strawberry glaze. Mix until well combined. Using a small spoon apply the desired amount of frosting to the top of each strawberry cookie. Sprinkle more freeze dried strawberries in top if you like.1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons freeze dried strawberry powder, 2 - 3 tablespoons milk, as needed
Leave a Reply