Frosted Strawberry Shortbread
These cookies are the taste of spring. And, lo! What icing!
The only thing that could make these cookies taste any more like spring is if I topped them with chopped asparagus and ate them in an April shower.
But that would be gross and unnecessary.
These cookies embody spring with their rich, real strawberry flavor. I tweaked a basic shortbread recipe, adding powdered freeze-dried strawberries that turn the dough a Bazooka Joe bubblegum pink. The cookies are frosted in a creamy strawberry frosting; with a strawberry flavor reminiscent of the best Italian gelato. Fresh lemon juice in the frosting does what it’s so good at, and brightens the whole experience without overwhelming the strawberry.
Since coming up with this frosting I spend most of my time thinking about what else I can put it on. Other than a spoon.
Note that freeze dried fruit is the greatest thing to happen to bakers since parchment paper. Crushed into powder, it adds more than the essence of the fruit…it is the fruit, plain and simple and lends its complex flavor to whatever it touches.
Notes on how to use freeze dried fruit to follow in a substack later this week, including how to use it in buttercream frosting, yes-oh-yes.
You can find freeze-dried berries at Trader Joe’s, occasionally Whole Foods and online at places like Nuts.com. A bag of Trader Joe’s holds 1.2 ounces of freeze-dried strawberries. And my recipe asks for 1.3 ounces. I apologize. If you don’t want to buy two bags (but you will, I promise, you will love them in so many thngs), put less strawberry in the cookie. You want the frosting to have a deep strawberry flavor.
Frosted Strawberry Shortbread Cookies
Yield: About 3 dozen 2-inch heart shaped cookies
What You’ll Need for the Cookies:
8 ounces (1 cup) butter, softened for at least 2 hours, and cut into 16 pieces
4 ounces (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
1/2 ounce (5 tablespoons) freeze-dried strawberries, pulverized**
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cornstarch
8.7 ounces (1 3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
What You’ll Need for the Frosting:
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
4 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons milk (give or take)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (or more to taste)
.8 ounces (8 tablespoons) freeze-dried strawberries, pulverized (in case you don’t have your readers on…that’s “point” 8 ounces.)
What You’ll Do:
Pulverize 1.3 ounces of freeze-dried strawberries. NOTE: You will use 1/2 ounce in the cookie dough and the remaining powder (.8 ounces) in the frosting.
In a stand mixer (or hand mixer, or by hand. I wouldn’t use a food processor because it’s harder to get the strawberries to blend in evenly), cream the butter, sugar and strawberry powder on medium speed until evenly blended. Stop and scrape down the sides frequently. You do not want to see irregular streaks of strawberry throughout.
Add the vanilla and blend on low speed until just incorporated.
Add the flour, cornstarch and salt and mix on low speed, scraping down the sides as needed until the mixture begins to just come together in many small balls of dough.
Remove the bowl from the mixer and, using your freshly washed hands, bring the dough together into a ball, pat into a thick disk, wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Remove from the refrigerator 15 minutes before you’re ready to roll out the dough. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out half the dough until it’s 1/2-inch thick. With a cookie cutter or upside-down glass, cut out desired shapes and place on a cookie sheet 1 1/2 inches apart. Repeat until all the dough is used. Roll the remaining scraps into a smooth ball and re-roll until all the dough is used up. (If you want to do this part in advance, you can. Just layer the cut-out cookies between pieces of parchment and refrigerate until ready to bake.)
Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes, depending on your oven. The cookies should only just be turning ever-so-faintly golden at the edges. Let cool on a rack. Cookies should be completely cooled before frosting.
Make the frosting. Cream the butter, confectioners’ sugar, strawberry powder and 3 tablespoons of milk together until creamy. Add the lemon juice and mix until it’s an easily spreadable consistency. I vote to add more lemon juice before you add more milk, as the tang it adds really rounds out the strawberry flavor.
Ice the cookies. Let dry at least an hour before storing them. Store layers between pieces of parchment. This is a step-by-step of how I achieved the swirly heart look:
**You can use a clean coffee/spice grinder to pulverize the freeze-dried strawberries. I use the attachment on my immersion blender. You want it fine and powdery. There will be seeds. I sifted them out for some tests of the recipe, and others not. I preferred them with the seeds. Or should I say, it’s not worth the hassle to sift them out. Also: Is it really eating strawberries if you don’t get a seed stuck in your teeth?
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I skipped icing (lazy), doubled the strawberry powder in the dough instead. Perfect balance of sweetness and acidity. Yumm!
Thank you!