Strawberry season is a sure sign of the start of summer. There are so many recipes available for those fresh strawberries – strawberry shortcake, strawberry pie, strawberry cheesecake, strawberry smoothie, strawberry crumb bars, strawberry trifle, and much more. In this case we’re baking Strawberry White Chocolate Crumb Cookies. They are made with freeze-dried strawberries, topped with more dried strawberries, white Ghirardelli chocolate and fresh strawberries. They are the best! MMM…mmm…mmm!
What a delightful combination - white chocolate with both fresh and dried strawberries. First finely grind up freeze-dried strawberries, holding out a bit to mix with pink or red sugar. You can make your own colored sugar by dropping a drop or two of food coloring into a quarter cup of sugar. Shake in a jar and, voila! Your have pink or red sugar, depending on how much food coloring you’ve added. Mix a little of the powdered strawberry into the sugar and set aside to roll the cookie dough balls in later.
Mix the wet ingredients and a few drops of gel food coloring to attain just the right hue of red or pink you like.
After slowly sifting in the flour mixture, you’re ready to scoop and shape your dough balls. Roll them in the ground strawberry sugar mixture and bake. The strawberry aroma is a delicious way to bake and make your kitchen smell just fantastic.
These cookies are delicious as an afternoon treat, especially with a cup of coffee or glass of milk. And they’re pretty enough to serve to company or sell at a special fund-raiser.
This recipe garners about 24 pretty red/pink cookies.
Prep your baking pans by lining them with parchment paper.
Preheat your oven to 350F degrees a few minutes before you are ready to bake.
Gather up the Ingredients:
2 ½ C Freeze-dried Strawberries, finely ground
½ C Butter, soft
1 C Sugar
Pink food coloring, gel, optional
1 Egg
1 ¾ C Flour
½ t Salt
½ t Baking soda
¼ C Sugar for rolling cookies
Gather up your Garnishes:
2 T Extra rough chopped chunks of freeze-dried strawberries for garnish
12 Strawberries, fresh, quartered or halved for garnish
24 Squares of white chocolate, Ghirardelli for garnish
Make, bake and garnish:
-In a plastic bag, crush the 2 1/4 cups of freeze-dried strawberries to a fine grind.
-In a small bowl, mix ¼ C sugar (for rolling cookies in) and a couple tablespoons of the ground freeze-dried strawberries. Set aside.
-In a medium to large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until smooth.
-Add the larger amount of the strawberry powder remaining and beat in to combine. (It smells soooo good!)
-At this time add a couple drops of pink gel food coloring to attain the color you like.
-Add and beat in the egg.
-Slowly sift in the flour, salt and baking soda, beating on low to combine.
-Scoop out 2 tablespoon cookie dough balls and set aside on a parchment paper lined pan.
-Roll each cookie dough ball in the freeze-dried strawberry powder/sugar mixture and set out on the parchment paper pans for baking, leaving about 2 inches of space between each dough ball. I just roll one side of each cookie ball and lay them on the pan, powder side up.
-Bake at 350F degrees for 10-11 minutes.
-Take the cookies out of the oven and allow to cool on the pans for 10 minutes.
-While the cookies are still warm, but not hot, lightly press one white chocolate square on each cookie. If the cookies are domed a little, the white chocolate will melt to follow the contours of the cookie, in a pretty way.
-Sprinkle with a little more strawberry/sugar powder.
-Place cookies on a rack until completely cooled. If you want the white chocolate to firm up fast, chill the cookies in the refrigerator for 10-20 minutes before adding the fresh strawberries on top.
-Just before serving, garnish with a half strawberry laid on a flat side on top of the white chocolate square. (Placing the halved strawberry on the cookie too soon, or leaving them on too long, may cause the strawberry to weep and wet the cookie. I actually had some that over I kept in the refrigerator overnight. They tasted just fine, but the strawberries had drained a little onto the cookies.) Add more fresh strawberries to enjoy along with the cookies!
Storage:
-To store, I keep them (without the perishable strawberries topping the white chocolate) in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-5 days. When ready to serve, I add the half strawberry on top of the white chocolate.
-I like to freeze the unbaked round dough balls in an airtight container for up to a month.
-If I want to freeze the baked cookies, I do so without the white chocolates or strawberries. Then, when ready to serve, thaw in the sealed container at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Lay the white chocolate on top and heat a very few seconds to get it a little melty and garnish with a half strawberry. Then you can refrigerate or serve warm. Delish!
Enjoy your summertime strawberry bounty. They are best when freshest. However you serve your fresh strawberries and cookies, “Bake your own Memories!”