These strawberry shortbread cookies feature a delicious but simple shortbread cookie filled with freeze dried strawberries and topped with a fresh strawberry glaze. They are the perfect summer cookie!
These strawberry shortbread cookies whip up super easily. You know how much I love my strawberries and this is the season for them! What I love most about this recipe is that even if its a really hot day, you get little breaks in the process for the dough to be in the refrigerator. They also bake up within 15 minutes or less depending on your elevation.
If you love strawberries as much as I do, I highly recommend this Old Fashioned Strawberry Cake. This Strawberry Flan is also a yummy dessert to make for those summer months.
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Why This Recipe Works
- It comes together very easily.
- It is absolutely delicious.
- The shortbread cookie paired with the strawberry glaze is the perfect bite of summer.
Ingredients
- Butter is the star of this recipe, paired with all purpose flour and sugar. When blended together, you will get the perfect base for these Strawberry Shortbread Cookies. The vanilla extract is added to tie all the flavors together.
- Adding in the freeze dried strawberries into the batter gives you the perfect burst of strawberry flavor without adding anything artificial.
- The simple glaze is made up of a confectioners sugar, milk, melted butter and fresh strawberries and adds even more strawberry flavor and the perfect sweetness to the mix.
Variations
- Instead of freeze dried strawberries you could use any other freeze dried fruit to change up the flavor.
- You could make up any kind of a fruit glaze with smashed fruit to match the freeze dried fruit or accompany it.
- Sandwich the cookies together and fill with strawberry jam for a homemade strawberry sandwich cookie!
- You can use strawberry powder instead of having to crush the freeze dried strawberries.
Instructions
Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Cream for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
Sift the flour, add the salt and then mix on low speed until they are combined and the dough starts to clump together and pull away from the sides (30 seconds to 1 minute. Then add in freeze dried strawberries and mix again.
With your hands, squeeze the shortbread dough together into a ball.
Wrap the dough ball into plastic wrap, flatten into a disc and put it in the fridge for 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350. Once chilled, roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to about a ¼ inch think.
Once the dough is rolled out, use a 3 inch round or scalloped cookie cutter to cut out approx. 8-10 cookies. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Refrigerate the cookies for at least 30 minutes.
Bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 350°F for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to turn golden.
Remove from the oven, allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the glaze, add powdered sugar, melted butter and mashed strawberries to a bowl.
Whisk together until fully combined.
Spoon over the cooled cookies. Each cookie can get roughly 2 teaspoons of glaze.
Allow the glaze to harden.
Helpful Hints
These cookies need room temperature butter. If you try to use cold butter, the butter and sugar will not cream together completely. The creaming process is what gives these cookies their fine crumb.
If your dough is not pulling away from the bowl after you sift in the flour and salt, simply add in small amounts of flour until it does start to pull away.
Storage
Once the glaze has hardened, you can keep in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the fridge.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between shortbread cookies and sugar cookies?
While both delicious cookies, shortbread has a finer crumb meaning they are more crumbly and tender. They have a different ratio of ingredients, with shortbread cookies having more butter and sugar cookies having the addition of eggs.
What is the trick to shortbread cookies?
The trick is to let them dry out in the oven. Bakers found that by letting the cookies dry out (bake) in the oven, the shortbread became lighter and sweeter.
How long do you whip shortbread?
The butter should be softened, not melted for the whipping process of shortbread cookies. If the butter is melted, the cookies will spread during the cooking process and burn.
Why do you refrigerate shortbread dough?
By refrigerating shortbread dough, this keeps the butter firm for the baking process. This will create a light crumbly cookie and it will not spread and burn.
These buttery strawberry shortbread cookies are so delicious and jam packed with intense strawberry flavor. They are easy to make and also such a great way to use up some of those summer strawberries!
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Recipe
Strawberry Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
Shortbread Cookies
- ¾ cup butter unsalted, room temperature
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup freeze dried strawberries crushed so that no large pieces remain
Strawberry Glaze
- ¾ cup confectioners sugar
- 2 strawberries large, hulled, finely diced and mashed
- 1 teaspoon butter unsalted, melted
Instructions
For the shortbread cookie
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter and sugar and cream for about 2 - 3 minutes on medium speed until light and fluffy, and pale in color. Scrape down the sides and bottom the bowl half way through. Add in the vanilla and mix again.
- Sift the flour and add the salt and then mix on low speed until they are combined and the dough starts to form clumps and pull away from the sides of the bowl (20 seconds to 1 minute).
- With your hands, squeeze the shortbread dough together into a ball. Place onto some plastic wrap, flatten into a disc and put it in the fridge for 10 minutes.
- Once chilled, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about ¼ of an inch thick. Try not to overwork the doughboy kneading it. Just press it gently together each time.
- Once the dough is rolled out, use a 3 inch round or scalloped cookie cutter to cut out approximately 8-10 cookies. Place on the prepared baking tray.
- Refrigerate the cookies for 30 minutes minimum.
- Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes until the edges of the cookies are just starting to turn golden.
- Remove from the oven, allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Glaze
- Add powdered sugar, melted butter and mashed strawberries to a bowl.
- Whisk together until fully combined. Add milk until desired thickness is achieved. If glaze is too runny, add more powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon at a time to thicken it up.
- Spoon over the cooled cookies, about 2 tsps per cookie. Allow the glaze to harden.
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