Soft Strawberry Sugar Cookies (Printable Version)

Tender sugar cookies infused with strawberries and topped with a delicate pink glaze for a sweet treat.

# What You Need:

→ Strawberry Sugar Cookies

01 - 2½ cups all-purpose flour
02 - ½ teaspoon baking soda
03 - ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
04 - ½ teaspoon salt
05 - ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
06 - ½ cup neutral oil (canola or vegetable)
07 - 1 cup granulated sugar
08 - ⅓ cup freeze-dried strawberries, finely crushed
09 - 1 large egg
10 - 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
11 - 2 tablespoons whole milk

→ Pink Strawberry Icing

12 - 1½ cups powdered sugar
13 - 2 tablespoons freeze-dried strawberry powder
14 - 2-3 tablespoons whole milk
15 - 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
16 - ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
17 - Pink food coloring (optional)

# How To Make:

01 - Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
02 - In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Set aside.
03 - In a large bowl, beat butter, oil, and sugar together until light and creamy, approximately 2-3 minutes.
04 - Add crushed freeze-dried strawberries, egg, and vanilla extract to the butter mixture. Mix until well combined.
05 - Gradually add the flour mixture alternating with milk, mixing until a soft dough forms.
06 - Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Gently press each ball to flatten slightly.
07 - Bake for 11-13 minutes until edges are just set but centers remain soft. Avoid overbaking.
08 - Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
09 - Whisk powdered sugar, strawberry powder, melted butter, vanilla extract, and 2 tablespoons milk in a bowl until smooth. Add additional milk for thinner consistency or pink food coloring for deeper hue if desired.
10 - Once cookies are completely cool, spoon or drizzle icing over each cookie. Allow to set before serving.

# Expert Tips:

01 -
  • They actually taste like real strawberries, not artificial flavoring, which is a rare and wonderful thing in a sugar cookie.
  • The texture is impossibly tender without being fragile, so they hold up beautifully for gift boxes or picnics.
  • The pink icing looks effortlessly beautiful without requiring piping skills or fancy decorating tools.
02 -
  • Do not overbake these cookies, even if you're nervous about them being underdone, because they firm up significantly as they cool and become hard and bitter if you push it even one minute too far.
  • Use actual freeze-dried strawberries, not strawberry extract or powdered drink mix, because the difference in flavor is like comparing fresh fruit to artificial cherry soda.
  • Make sure your cookies are completely cool before icing them, otherwise the glaze will melt and slide off like it's rejected by the cookie entirely.
03 -
  • Weigh your ingredients if you have a kitchen scale, because volume measurements for flour can be inconsistent and lead to dough that's slightly too dry or too wet.
  • These cookies freeze beautifully either baked and uniced or as raw dough portioned on baking sheets, so you can bake fresh cookies on demand whenever you want.
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