These rich and buttery strawberry shortbread cookies are full of berry flavor! Freeze dried strawberries provide great strawberry taste and a subtle natural pink color. The dough is quick to mix together and doesn't spread when baked, so it's perfect for cutout shapes. An easy glaze adds an extra bit of sweetness and decoration.
I love baking with freeze dried fruit. I've used the powder from strawberries, raspberries and blueberries to make flavored buttercream frostings for family birthday cakes. And these mango cookies feature bold tropical flavor from freeze dried mangoes. This was a fun experiment to see if I could pack the concentrated flavor of strawberries into a shortbread cookie. (Success!)
Strawberries can be challenging to incorporate into some recipes due to their high water content. Freeze dried strawberries are the perfect workaround, as they contain all of the intense red fruit flavor without any of the water. Give them a quick spin through a food processor and you have strawberry powder.
This strawberry shortbread cookie recipe combines a punchy, sweet strawberry flavor with the buttery crumb of a delicious shortbread cookie.
INGREDIENTS
For the strawberry shortbread cookies
Unsalted butter - At room temperature. Using unsalted butter allows you to control the total quantity of salt in the recipe. Salt content in salted butter varies from brand to brand.
Powdered sugar - Powdered sugar adds sweetness while providing a more delicate texture. Sift your powdered sugar to avoid lumps
Kosher salt - for enhanced flavor.
Vanilla extract - for additional flavor.
Powdered sugar - Powdered sugar is used to make the glaze. Be sure to sift your powdered sugar well to avoid lumps.
Whole milk - The glaze is fairly thin. You'll allow the excess to run back off into the bowl. If you prefer a thicker glaze, start with only 1 Tablespoon of milk and add the remainder in small amounts until you reach desired consistency.
