Strawberry cookies made with real strawberries! These cookies are soft with slightly crispy edges and a thick, chewy middle. You can top them with a light glaze or roll them in sugar.
I was about to make our lemon drop cookies a few months ago when I got the brilliant idea that if a candy could be blended to flavor a cookie, surely freeze dried fruit could as well. Sure enough, a summer strawberry cookie was born!
I thought strawberry was the absolute best flavor as a kid. Now I actually tend to go more raspberry out of the berry family (curious what you all would pick), but my kids are for sure on the childhood bandwagon of fresh, juicy red strawberries. They love that these cookies are dense and chewy but they have the pick of rolling in sugar or topping with a crackly glaze.
I personally prefer to make a lemon glaze to brighten up these sweet cookies, but you can do whatever makes you happy!
Ingredients for Strawberry Cookies
Most of the strawberry cookie recipes out there use strawberry cake mix or strawberry pudding to get the strawberry flavor (in fact we have our own strawberry pudding cookie recipe here on the blog), but I love using real strawberries in this recipe to get that true strawberry flavor. Here is what you will need to make these cookies:
For the Cookies
- Freeze Dried Strawberries: Don’t use fresh strawberries. They will add too much moisture to the dough and make the cookies cakey.
- Sugar: regular granulated white sugar
- Butter Flavored Shortening: You can also use regular shortening (you’ll lose a little richness in flavor) or just regular butter but they end up more dry with just butter.
- Unsalted Butter: softened, combined with the shortening, the cookies are tender and still rich in flavor
- Eggs: add structure to the cookies
- Vanilla: adds flavor
- Strawberry Extract: just for a little boost in flavor
- Flour: use all-purpose flour
- Baking Soda: leavening agent to give the cookies rise and fluffiness
- Baking Powder: leavening agent that works with the baking soda to help the cookies rise
- Salt: enhances all the flavors
For the Glaze
- Powdered Sugar: adds sweetness and structure to the glaze
- Milk or Water: milk will be a little more rich in flavor
- Lemon Juice: I love to add a little lemon juice to give a nice flavor burst to the cookie, but it is totally optional.
- BONUS: You could also add a little strawberry extract to the glaze if you want even more strawberry flavor.
Sugar
- Sugar: Roll the cookie dough balls in sugar before baking if you prefer that instead of the glaze.
The measurements for all the ingredients and the instructions for making these cookies can all be found in the recipe card at the