Strawberry Cookies

These strawberry cookies are incredible. They use strawberry gelatin powder to color and flavor the dough and strawberry jelly, forming a delicious center that spreads as the cookies bake. The white icing stands out on the pretty pink cookies, making them a wonderful springtime or summertime dessert. These are very nice cookies to bring to a party or give as a gift if the recipient can refrigerate them quickly.

Mixing everything together takes some time, so it’s worth it to prepare extra dough for long-term freezing. Once you assemble a few cookies, you’ll find the recipe is a lot easier than it looks. It’s worth the effort and these cookies may become a regular feature in your repertoire of cookies and treats.

Strawberry Cookies Ingredients

• Butter: You’ll cream the butter with the sugar to incorporate more air into the dough.
• Confectioner’s sugar: This helps the dough become lighter.
• Egg: A large egg binds the ingredients together.
• Vanilla extract: This subtle flavor makes the strawberry flavor seem much more full.
• All-purpose flour: This has the right amount of protein and gluten for well-formed cookies.
• Strawberry gelatin: This will flavor and color the dough.
• Baking soda: This will help the cookie dough rise a bit during baking.
• Cream of tartar: This activates the baking soda. Don’t substitute baking powder for baking soda and cream of tartar. Baking powder uses those two ingredients in a different ratio than this recipe requires.
• Strawberry jelly: Your cookie filling and a source of flavor. Use jelly and not jam.
• Confectioner’s sugar: This helps thicken the jelly and milk. It also sweetens the icing.
• Milk: 2% milk turns the confectioner’s sugar into a spreadable icing.

Directions

Step 1: Make the dough

Cream the butter and confectioners sugar in a large bowl until they’re blended. Then, beat in the egg and the vanilla extract. Whisk the flour, gelatin powder, baking soda and cream of tartar together in another bowl and gradually add this mixture to the creamed mixture.

Step 2: Divide and chill the dough

Divide the dough into four portions and shape each into a disc. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes until firm enough to roll out.

Step 3: Make the filling and assemble the cookies

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Beat the jelly and confectioner’s sugar together in a small bowl. Sprinkle flour on a large, flat surface and roll out one portion of the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Flour a 2 inch round cookie cutter and cut out cookies from the dough. Place 1/2 teaspoon of filling in the center of half of the cut-out cookies and cover those cookies with the other, unfilled cookies. Press all around the edges of the dough with a fork to create a seal. Place those cookies on ungreased cookie sheets, two inches apart. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling.

Step 4: Bake and cool the cookies

Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes until the edges turn light brown. Leave the cookies on the baking sheets to cool for two minutes, and then move the cookies to a wire rack and let them cool down completely.

Step 5: Make the icing

Mix the confectioner’s sugar and milk in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth. Drizzle the icing over the cookies and let them stand until the icing sets.

How to Store Strawberry Cookies

Store these cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week. Place parchment paper or wax paper between them if you are storing them stacked in layers.

Can you freeze strawberry cookies?

You can freeze the dough for these cookies. After forming the discs of dough, wrap the ones you aren’t going to bake with in freezer-safe plastic wrap and place them into a freezer container. Freeze for up to three months. When you’re ready to use them let them thaw in the refrigerator until they become soft enough to roll out. Then you can prepare and bake the cookies as directed.

Strawberry Cookies Tips

Can you use jam in these strawberry cookies?

It’s better to use jelly in this recipe and not jam. Jam is thicker and may contain bits of fruit and seeds so it might not spread as easily during baking, affecting the look of the baked cookie. You can find seedless jam, of course, but that may still have fruit bits in it. If you absolutely can’t find jelly, you can try a test batch with jam to see how it works out.

How to you stop the cookies from becoming distorted during baking?

Pay attention to the spacing between each cookie on the cookie sheet. Those two inches allow the cookies to spread without running into each other. They also allow more air to circulate around each cookie, which leads to more even baking. Plus, the farther away the cookies are from each other the less the moisture from one will affect another as the dough bakes.

How do you stop the filling from leaking out?

Do not overfill these cookies. Leaking can sometimes be due to a poor sealing technique, but it also happens when there’s too much filling that can’t stay contained as it heats up in the oven. It may not sound like you’re adding a lot of filling to each, but the amount in the recipe should be enough to allow you to seal the cookies easily and stop anything from leaking.