Strawberry Shortcake Sugar Cookies

The uncomplicated and delicious sugar cookie gets a fresh, new flavour profile, and an upgrade in this Strawberry Shortcake Sugar Cookies recipe. A classic sugar cookie base is topped with a simple glaze and sprinkled with homemade shortcake crumbs. These would make a great giftable dessert idea for Valentine’s Day!

Well, Dear Reader, here were are! Today is the last day of my 7 Strawberry Shortcake Sweets series. I promised you on Monday that I would show you ways to use up your batch of Strawberry Shortcake Crumbs, and now, I’ve delivered on that promise. I’d like to say that I saved the best for last with these Strawberry Shortcake Sugar Cookies, but that’s not the case at all. I’ve enjoyed all of them!

Truth be told, after a week of Strawberry Shortcake madness, we are a little bit sugared out. For the next week, we’ll be living on steamed vegetables and brown rice! But first, I think there’s still one scone left, so I have to get to that before John.e does!

Have you tried any of the recipes? Or were you waiting until the series had ended to see which recipes you would choose? Obviously, we tried them all. I forgot to ask John.e if he had a favourite, but my favourites were the scones and the flakies. The scone shouldn’t come as a surprise, because I share scone recipes quite often. The flakies were a blast from the past, and I found myself eating one for dessert on three consecutive nights! Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this series! Let’s move on to the last one – these beautiful and delicious cookies!

SUGAR COOKIES

I have shared a sugar cookie recipe once or twice before. It is one of those cookies that lends itself to many holidays and special occasions. When you really think about it, the sugar cookie base is not specific to one occasion or instance at all. You have probably seen them in grocery stores, sitting close to the check out lines. They are whimsical and brightly coloured so that they catch your eye.

More importantly, they’re most often set on a lower shelf so that they catch the eye of children. Did you know that marketers will often strategically place items at the same height as the little seated area of your grocery buggy? Yes, they want your kids to not only see it, but reach for it as well! Store-bought sugar cookies are fine, but I prefer to make my own. That way, I know they’re fresh!

I made these exact same cookies for Canada Day, but used only red and white frosting. They were also a great treat for Easter, especially with drizzled candy melts! But, I’ve tried versions of icing and sprinkles. How about a topping? How about completely changing the taste and texture too? Strawberry Shortcake Sugar Cookies practically invented themselves!

INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR THIS RECIPE

You might have guessed by now that you need a batch of Strawberry Shortcake Crumbs. I shared that recipe on Monday, and you can find it here. Go ahead, click on the link. It will open and new page so you won’t lose this one. The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

For the Crumbs:

• Vanilla Pudding – Just a plain box of the powdered mix is all you need. There’s no need to mix it according to the instructions on the package.
• Strawberry Jello – Again, this is just the powder. You will use the powder as it is – no need to mix it and let it set.
• Flour – Regular all-purpose flour is good.
• Butter – I used salted butter to offset some of the sweetness. Unsalted butter is certainly okay too.
• Golden Oreos – These are the vanilla flavoured Oreos. You’ll use one full package of Golden Oreos.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE RECIPE FOR THE CRUMBS

For the Cookies:

• Flour – No need for anything special. Just use regular all-purpose flour. I have not tried this recipe with any other type of flour.
• Baking Powder – This is used to increase the volume of the batter and to add texture as well.
• Salt – In baking it helps to enhance and balance sweetness. 
• Butter – Make sure your butter is at room temperature!
• Sugar – Sugar will caramelize when baked, which will help to brown cookies and cakes.  In cookies, the sugar will help the dough to spread, and will create a crispness to the bottom of the cookie.
• Eggs – Whenever you set out to bake, make sure your eggs are at room temperature too – just like your butter!
• Vanilla Extract – Probably the most common extract and the most common flavouring used in cakes and cookies. 

For the Glaze:

• Confectioner’s Sugar – This superfine sugar is sometimes called powdered sugar.  It is used in frostings quite often.  When dusted lightly onto cakes and cookies, it adds just a touch of sweetness, but more importantly, it looks very visually appealing!
• Milk – When a baking recipe requires milk, I always use whole milk, unless otherwise stated. 
• Food Colouring

FOOD COLOURING

Before I get too far into this, I am just going to get this one thing out of the way. I did use food colouring to dye the frosting. Using food colouring is not ideal for some people, but I don’t personally have an issue with it. I know there are many “natural” ways of coloring food, so if you already employ those in other recipes, feel free to do so here too.

I have used only pink. The frosting drizzle on the white cookies is what the frosting will look like without any added colouring. I’m a huge advocate of gel food colouring. But, just to be contrary, in this case, I’m going to suggest you use liquid food colouring. The gel will allow you to tint the frosting without changing the viscosity, but liquid food colouring will get you a deeper, brighter colour.

You may have to use a lot of the liquid colouring to get the frosting tinted enough. Adding more than 8-10 drops of liquid colouring will change the thickness of the frosting, but you can easily fix that by whisking in an additional tablespoon of confectioner’s sugar. Use as much or as little food colouring as you wish to get the desired colour. Remember, it is easier to add colour than it is to take it away, so add a drop or two at a time!

HOW TO MAKE STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE SUGAR COOKIES

Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside. In a large bowl, use a mixer to beat together the butter and sugar until creamy and light yellow in colour. (About 4-5 minutes.) Add the eggs one at a time and beat into the butter and sugar mixture. Finally, beat in the vanilla extract.

Next, sift in the flour, salt, and baking powder. Beat into the wet mixture until well combined. Portion the cookie dough into heaping tablespoons. Roll into a ball and place onto the prepared baking sheet. Press down on each ball until ball is flattened to just over 1/4 inch thick. (I used the bottom of a drinking glass.)

Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling. Once completely cooled, stir the milk into the confectioner’s sugar until a thin, smooth frosting is formed. Divide the frosting into two bowls. Tint one bowl of frosting with pink food colouring and leave the other bowl of frosting white.

Lay half of the cookies face up onto a wire cooling rack with a baking sheet underneath to catch any dripping frosting. Lay the other half on a separate cooling rack and baking sheet combo. You can use a fork to drizzle the frosting over the cookies, but I like to transfer the frosting to a small Ziploc bag and cut off a little bit of one of the lower corners of the bag. Then, working in a zigzag motion, drizzle the frosting over the cookies. Once the cookies are frosted, sprinkle over the Strawberry Shortcake Crumbs. Allow frosting to fully dry before packaging cookies.

STORING, PACKAGING, & FREEZING

When it comes to most cookies, they taste best at room temperature, but they don’t hold up well to being left out on your countertop for long periods of time. Cookies will stay fresh in a cookie jar or food-safe container with a lid for 3-5 days if left to sit on your kitchen countertop. You can store them in a food-safe container in your fridge. When you want one, two, or half a dozen, take them out of the container and place them in a single layer on a plate. Let them sit at room temperature for 5 minutes and they’re ready!

If you plan to freeze your Strawberry Shortcake Sugar Cookies, you certainly can! Once they are completely cooled, pile them into a clean, food-safe container. The container must be freezer friendly! You’ll want to ensure a very tight fitting lid too. I use these quite often when freezing baked goods. I like to place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top of the container before pushing the lid on. This helps to create a better seal. The goal is to keep all of that freshness locked in!  

You can freeze these cookies for up to three months. If you plan to give previously frozen cookies as a gift, I would lay them out onto a wire cooling rack to thaw completely. Once thawed, pile into cellophane bags and tie with a ribbon, or stack in a cookie tin/box.