Strawberry Cookies

Chewy strawberry cookies that burst with berry flavor! Brown sugar and bread flour give these cookies a wonderfully chewy texture. Ground freeze dried berries add a punch of berry flavor to the cookie which is boosted with a simple fresh strawberry juice glaze. 

The goal for this strawberry cookie recipe was to get a cookie that had wonderful berry flavor but, and this was so important to me (!) kept a wonderfully chewy texture. 

What makes cookies soft versus what makes cookies chewy 

This usually comes down to the amount of water in the cookie dough. The more water you have, the softer the cookie will be. The lower the protein of the flour, the softer the cookies. The more granulated sugar or egg white, the cookie will be crispier. 

I started with fresh strawberries (given I began testing these in May, I couldn’t help but want to reach for those gorgeous ripe red in season berries!) but fresh added far too much water which led to a softer texture. If there’s anything I hate in a cookie it’s a cakey cookie, so the fresh berry idea was tossed. 

A lot of strawberry cookie recipes start with a strawberry cake mix; but those usually have a more artificial strawberry flavor. I wanted these cookies to taste like strawberry. 

Freeze dried berries were the next way to go I had to account for their power to also make for a softer cookie (the berry powder tends to absorb any extra liquid and swell with it) so I worked the recipe to use melted butter, and a ratio of both brown and granulated sugar that could work. Bread flour was the last perfect trick to this recipe: the extra protein in it gives the cookies that perfect amount of chew with some lovely crispy edge! 

Why berry lovers will love these strawberry cookies 

• They have a pronounced strawberry flavor, thanks to a punch of freeze dried strawberries 

• The ideal chewy cookie texture isn’t compromised with the addition of the strawberries. 

• They’re an easy bake: there’s no need for a stand mixer or hand mixer to make tkhese, simply whisk everything together, let them chill then bake 

• You get a double dose of strawberry: a strawberry glaze on top turns these into double strawberry cookies. 

Recipe Ingredients 

Freeze dried strawberries: You’ll find these in the nuts/dried fruits aisle at the grocery store. Target and Trader joes sell bags with 35g of freeze dried berries for less than $4 and those bags are what this recipe was formulated around. 

Butter: European or american butter will work. Salted or unsalted too! If using salted, halve the amount of salt in the recipe. 

Sugar: We’re doing a mix of granulated and brown sugar for this recipe, so that we get a good spread on the cookies, wonderfully sweet flavor, but also some nice chew in the center. You can use light or dark brown sugar; if it’s dark the cookies will be a shade darker. 

Lemon: Fresh lemon zest adds nice flavor to the berry cookies and complements them well. If you like you can also add ½-1 teaspoon of lemon extract. Don’t add lemon juice as it will add a lot of water to the cookie dough. 

Bread flour: With it’s higher protein content, bread flour makes these cookies nice and chewy

Vanilla: Pure vanilla extract adds a hint of sweetness to the cookie dough. You can also add a bit of lemon extract (or swap it out for almond, if you like that). 

Egg: one whole egg. I haven’t tried it, so I can’t confirm – but I venture these could work with a flax egg replacement. 

How to make this recipe

First, melt the butter but only partially. Then add the sugars and return the butter and sugar to the heat to fully or almost fully melt the butter. 

Add in your flavors and whisk the mixture very, very well. 

Add the egg and whisk again, you’ll get a shiny mixture. 

Grind up the freeze dried berries and add the powder to the mix. 

Then add the flour and fold until it’s fully mixed. Set the dough in the refrigerator, without covering, to chill. 

Scoop the cookies and bake until golden on the edges. They will puff up in the center and crack. 

Can I use fresh or frozen berries to make these cookies? 

Sadly there’s no substitute for the freeze dried berries. This cookie recipe relies on the absence of water in the berries for it to work well. If you add fresh or frozen you’ll have an overly wet dough, which will lead to a cakey mess of a cookie! 

Can I make these with another berry to make raspberry or blueberry cookies? 

Yep you sure can! They’re fabulous with freeze dried blueberries although the blueberry cookie dough color is a bit of a dark gray rather than bright purple (if this bothers you, add some food coloring to brighten them). 

Freeze dried raspberries also work great here! 

Can I make these to freeze and bake later? 

Yes! Once you’ve made the cookie dough, allow it to chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour (this is important for flour hydration). Then portion the cookie dough into 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie. Set on a parchment lined plate or baking pan and freeze (no need to cover yet) for 10 minutes, until solid. 

Once the balls are firm, you can toss them into a ziplock gallon bag and store in the freezer until you’re ready to bake. 

You can bake them from frozen, just add another 2-3 minutes in the bake time. 

Do these strawberry cookies travel well? 

They do if they aren’t glazed. Once the glaze goes on things can get a bit messy if they are stacked. 

Add-Ins for Strawberry Cookies 

You can add white chocolate chips to this dough for a chunkier cookie or a chopped up white chocolate bar. Milk or dark work too, if you like that combination! I’d use no more than 1 cup of chocolate chips, less if you do’nt like a lot of chunks. 

Strawberry Glaze for Strawberry Cookies 

There are a few options for topping the cookies, you can either roll the dough in granulated sugar which will give them a slightly crispy and sparkly finish, or make a glaze. 

I love the glaze option because it adds more berry flavor to the cookie – plus you get to use fresh berries! 

To make the strawberry glaze you’ll press some fresh berries (you can also use thawed frozen berries) through a fine mesh sieve to get a ‘strawberry juice’. Then whisk that together with powdered sugar. 

You could also do a strawberry cream cheese glaze which would turn them into strawberry cheesecake cookies: simply add some whipped cream cheese to the glaze. You’ll need to add more powdered sugar to get the glaze to thicken. 

Rule of thumb to make a thick versus thin glaze: 

Per 1 cup of powdered sugar (which is enough to coat about 8 cookies) add 2-3 tablespoons of liquid. Add more powdered sugar to make it thick, add more liquid to make it thin. 

Strawberry Cookies

Chewy strawberry cookies that burst with berry flavor! Brown sugar cookie dough and bread flour give these cookies a wonderfully chewy texture.

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 15 minutes mins

Chill Time: 2 hours hrs

Yields: 16 cookies

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Ingredients

• 226 g or 1 cup unsalted butter
• 200 g or 1 cups granulated sugar
• 70 g or ⅓ cup brown sugar light not dark
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tsp lemon juice freshly squeezed
• 1 large egg
• 300 g or 2 ⅓ cups bread flour
• 35 g freeze dried strawberries

Method

• Set the butter in a heatproof bowl and microwave for about a minute, until it’s partially melted. Add the sugar on top, stir it into the butter then return the bowl to the microwave for another 30-60 seconds, until the butter is fully melted.
• Whisk the sugar and butter mixture for 2 minutes, then add the lemon zest, vanilla, baking soda and salt. Whisk well.
• Add the egg in and whisk until the mix is shiny and smooth, about 1 full minute.
• Set the dried berries in a food processor or blender and process until you have a powder (it’s ok if there are a few larger bits).
• Add the bread flour, lemon juice, and freeze dried berry powder to the bowl and use a rubber spatula to mix until you can’ spot any more flour bits.
• Don’t cover the bowl, but set it in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Use a cookie scoop to portion the dough into 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie. Leave about two inches between each dough ball as the cookies will spread.
• If you want to do a glaze topping, leave the cookies bare. Otherwise, dip the cookie dough ball face down into some granulated sugar to coat.
• Bake cookies for about 10-12 minutes, until golden just on the sides.
• If making a glaze, wait until the cookies are completely cool, then mix 1 ½ cups powdered sugar with 2-3 tablespoons of either lime juice or fresh strawberry puree. Spoon over the center of each cookie.

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