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A blush of natural strawberry color and flavor from freeze dried strawberries gives these Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies their sweet berry essence. The subtle strawberry shape of the slice-and-bake cookies is a nod to their inspiration. To finish, they're dipped in a bath of melted, luxuriously rich dark chocolate and sprinkled in crushed freeze-dried strawberries for a concentrated punch of vibrant flavor and color.
Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies say romance
What comes to mind when you think romance package? I'll bet visions of long stem roses, champagne, silk sheets and chocolate dipped strawberries dance in your head. These Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies embody the latter but come in a cute cookie form. They also pair pretty elegantly with everything else on that list.
Romantic cookie recipe
Strawberries dipped in chocolate is the ultimate, intimate indulgence. The sweetness of the berries coated in thick and rich chocolate is undeniably alluring. Inspired by that sensual combo, these Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies marry natural sweet, tart strawberry flavor in tender, soft pink shortbread cookies with a satiny plunge into a smooth and warm bath of melted dark chocolate. Somebody turn the lights down, it's time to get romantic.
Chocolate dipped strawberries are the lovechild of romantic pairings. The juxtaposition of flavors echos the age old trope that opposites attract. The rules of attraction don't lie and these Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies put that perfect pairing on full-frontal display.
If it's not abundantly clear, pink and strawberry are a strong running theme throughout the recipes here on Baking The Goods. Both have a lot to offer in the baking department. Fresh strawberries are a delicate addition to everything from coffee cakes and cupcakes, liven up tarts as a simple topping or transform into a luscious curd filling. With that pleasantly fruity flavor and pretty pink color, strawberries can add a soft romance to all types of sweets.
More naturally flavored & colored strawberry bakes by Baking The Goods
The 7 simple, eggless ingredients
These Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies have a shortbread cookie base, which makes them some of the simplest cookies to make. Shortbread cookies have no leavener. That means no baking soda, no baking powder and no eggs necessary! In fact, to make the most basic shortbread cookies all you need is butter, flour and sugar. This shortbread cookie recipe incorporates a few more ingredients to give these cookies an impassioned punch of pink personality.
- Unsalted butter is a major ingredient in these cookies. Shortbread cookies rely heavily on butter for flavor and texture. Since shortbread is so simple, I always encourage using a good quality butter with a higher fat percentage for more flavor and a dreamier texture. Look for European style butter for a superior shortbread cookie experience.
- Granulated sugar not only sweetens shortbread cookies but it also provides structure. Since shortbread uses no leaveners, it's important to cream the sugar and butter just right in order to create the slightly sandy, melt in your mouth, tender texture.
- Vanilla extract blends in with butter and sugar, giving these Strawberry Shortbread Cookies an undertone of vanilla essence. Almond extract would work great too!
- All purpose flour transforms into a soft, tender cookie base when blended with the creamed butter and sugar. Once baked, these shortbread cookies have just enough of a snap to their exterior shell surrounding the softhearted interior.
- Fine sea salt balances these cookies with a kiss of salted undertones. You don't really taste the salt, it just shines it's glowing heart eyes towards the other flavors happening.
- Freeze dried strawberries work by flavoring and coloring the Strawberry Shortbread Cookies. Read more about the love spell that is baking with freeze dried fruit below.
- Semi-sweet or dark chocolate is melted down until smooth, then offers a rich pool of deep, chocolatey smoothness for the tender pink strawberry cookies to plunge. The chocolate coats teh cookies in a satiny smooth finish.
Freeze dried strawberries give cookies natural flavor & color
Grinding freeze dried strawberries down into a powder is a pro move for flavoring and coloring baked goods. Freeze dried berries have a concentrated color and flavor, which adds a whole lot of dimension to everything from cookies, to cakes and frostings. These Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies get all of their strawberry properties from freeze dried strawberries.
How to bake cookies with freeze dried berries
By crushing, grinding and sifted freeze dried berries into a powder, you can easily incorporate them into baking. For example, in this recipe freeze dried strawberries are ground into a fine powder, then whisked into the dry ingredients to naturally color and flavor the Strawberry Shortbread Cookies. In my Big Pink Cookies and Big Pink Cookie Cake recipes, the strawberry powder is blended in with the cream cheese frosting to add a soft pink hue and light strawberry flavor. I even use freeze dried strawberries to top my Strawberry Blondies in a vivid pink dusting.
Freeze dried berries can also add a crunchy, airy, textural bite when used as a topping. In this Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookie recipe, the freeze dried strawberries show up again, artfully topping the dark chocolate dip in a rustic crush.
Use any freeze dried fruit to naturally color and flavor baked goods
Don't limit yourself to strawberries exclusively, other colorful freeze dried fruits can lend their flavor and color to your favorite bakes too! Here I used a combo of freeze dried strawberries, blueberries and raspberries to naturally enhance my Big Pink Cookies into various colored hearts. The pink and purple hues in these cute little Pupcakes are created exclusively with freeze dried berries!
Where to buy freeze dried fruit
In recent years, freeze dried fruit has become much easier to come by. Nowadays you can find freeze dried fruit everywhere from Trader Joe's to Whole Foods or online. Target even has an entire section dedicated to freeze dried fruits! Nuts.com offers the freeze dried stuff as well as fruit powders that have already been ground down! The options are abundant, you just need to know where to look.
Mixing the strawberry shortbread cookie dough
One of the best things about shortbread cookies is their simplicity and versatility. In this Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies recipe, basic shortbread transforms into a beautiful pink color and a subtly abstract strawberry shape with just a couple of easy moves.
A tip for properly creaming butter & sugar for shortbread cookies
When mixing dough for drop cookies or cut cookies, you often want to cream the butter and sugar together until the sugar is fully incorporated and no longer grainy. This process generally happens within the 5 minute range. The mix becomes airy and slightly lighter in color.
However, when blending shortbread cookie dough, it's best to aim for a slightly sandier texture. It only takes about 3 minutes to properly blend the butter and sugar for shortbread cookies. This will help the shortbread cookies maintain their sandy yet tender texture once baked.
Once the butter, sugar and vanilla are creamed, the dry ingredients are added to the mix. The pink tint from the strawberry powder comes alive when it hits the butter mixture. Watch as the dough transforms into a vibrant, poppin' pink strawberry shortbread cookie dough in just a few turns of the mixer.
How to form a strawberry-shaped cookies
You could certainly opt to shape these Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies into a simple round or squared off log for the slice and bake style. Alternatively, you could roll out the strawberry shortbread cookie dough and use a cookie cutter to cut any shape your heart desires. In keeping with the strawberry theme, we form a simple, graphic strawberry shaped cookie in this recipe.
Warning the color, size and length of the strawberry cookie dough may evoke visions of, well let's just call it NSFW content. Especially during the log rolling step. 😳 Once the childish giggles subside, feel free to lean into the moment. Use your hands to gently shape the *ahem* log into a subtle, guitar pick shaped tube. Once cut, the cookies will mimic the size and shape of a real strawberry, perfect for plunging into warm, melted chocolate.
Pro Tip for freezing shortbread cookie dough logs
Shortbread cookie dough logs can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and frozen for up to 3 months. When ready to bake, transfer the wrapped cookie dough logs to the fridge to defrost overnight or for at least a couple of hours before baking. Once the dough has thawed enough to easily cut, slice the cookies and bake according to recipe instructions. If the dough is too cold, it may crack or crumble. However if it's too soft, it may squish when slicing and lose it's shape. Look for that sweet spot, firm with just enough give.
Slicing & baking shortbread cookies
Slice & bake cookies are as easy as it gets. Once the cookie dough log is formed, the dough just needs some time to chill in the fridge and firm up before slicing. There is really no other way to put it – the log should be firm and stiff before slicing. By chilling the shortbread cookie dough logs, they will hold their shape perfectly when sliced. If baking from frozen, allow the dough to defrost overnight in the refrigerator. If the dough is too cold, it may crack and crumble when slicing.
Shortbread cookies are beloved for their firm exteriors and melt in your mouth tender centers. Slicing the strawberry shortbread cookies about ½" thick and baking them at a lower temperature than classic drop cookies gives them their shortbready texture. These Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies bake at 325°F instead of 350°F. This allows them to bake a little slower, creating a snappy exterior and a soft sandy interior. By slicing them thinner, you'll end up with a fully snappy cookie. Not a bad thing, just a different experience.
Additionally, chilling the sliced cookies while the oven preheats ensures the Strawberry Shortbread Cookies maintain their strawberry guitar pick shape as they bake. Not a necessary step but certainly worth the effort.
Chocolate dipping the strawberry cookies
While they may look all kinds of luxurious, these Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies get their sultry finish in a snap. Simply melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Then dip the cooled strawberry cookies into the smooth, dark chocolate and place on a cooling rack to set. While the chocolate is still tacky, sprinkle some poppin' pink freeze dried strawberries on top for a artful finish.
That slow, smooth drip of the dark chocolate coating handsomely encases the strawberry flavor inside. Finishing the cookies with a crushed crumble of more freeze dried strawberries adds a crunchy punch of concentrated tartness. You get the best of both worlds, preserved at their flavor peak with these Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies.
Bake your own romance package with these Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies
Sure, chocolate dipped strawberries are a romantic gesture. But, taking the time to bake cookies from scratch is the ultimate show of love. Imagine 2 dozen Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies instead of 2 dozen roses. Roses eventually wilt, but these cookies won't even last long enough to lose their allure. This tempting treat disappears faster than the pop of a champagne top!
Storing shortbread cookies
Shortbread cookies will last up to a couple of weeks when stored in an airtight container. You know, in case you want to prolong the pleasure.
You can literally smell the love in the air while these Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies bake. The buttery sweetness is laced with a soft strawberry vanilla scent that wafts through the air in an ethereal plume tinged with a hint of romance. The chocolate dunk adds a lusty layer of craveable decadence, thrusting these Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies into a seductive indulgence.
And hey, if romance isn't what you're after, these Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies can cosplay as purely innocent cookies appropriate for any occasion. The ability to chameleon between sultry or sweet is one of the traits that makes the combo or strawberries and chocolate so special. It's a love story that transcends genres.
PrintRecipe
Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies
- Total Time: 2.5 hours, including chilling
- Yield: 24-28 cookies
Description
A blush of natural strawberry color and flavor from freeze dried strawberries gives these Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cookies their sweet strawberry essence. The subtle strawberry shape of the slice and bake cookies is a nod to their inspiration. Finished with a luxuriously thick dip of dark chocolate and sprinkled in crushed freeze dried strawberries for a concentrated punch of vibrant flavor and color.
Ingredients
Strawberry Shortbread Cookies
2 cups all purpose flour
6 tablespoons ground freeze dried strawberry powder, made from about 2 cups freeze dried berries
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Chocolate Dip
8 ounces semisweet or dark chocolate, roughly chopped
¼ cup freeze dried strawberries, roughly crumbled for topping
Instructions
Mix the Strawberry Shortbread Cookie Dough
Crush the freeze dried strawberries with a mortar and pestle, in a food processor or by placing them in a sealed plastic bag and gently rolling and pounding them with a rolling pin. Keep crushing them until they become a fine powder. Then sift the strawberry powder through a fine mesh sieve to remove any large seeds.
Measure flour, 6 tablespoons strawberry powder and salt into a mixing bowl and whisk together.
Add the butter, sugar and vanilla to the bowl of a stand mixer. With the paddle attachment, blend together on a medium high speed for about 2-3 minutes, just until smooth. Be sure to stop your mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times so you are sure to incorporate all of the sugar into the butter.
With the mixer on a low stir, slowly add the dry ingredients until fully incorporated. You don’t want to over-mix here, only mix until the dough has just come together. The dough should be rough with large crumbles.
Shape Strawberry Shortbread Cookie Dough
Turn out the dough onto a clean surface. Gather the dough together into a disk by gently patting, not kneading the dough, and pat to flatten the top. Once you have a round disk shape, use a knife or a bench knife to cut directly in half. Use your hands to gather each of the dough halves into a rough log shape, then roll each into a smooth log until it is about 1 1⁄2” in diameter, between 7"-8" long.
Transfer each dough log to a sheet of parchment paper. To shape into the triangle, use your hands to gently press the dough together into a peak along the top. Pinch the dough together at the top to create a point, and squeeze the sides between your hands to encourage the dough into a rounded log with one triangular tipped edge. Rotate the dough onto one flat side and gentle smooth and press. Then flip the dough onto the other flat side, smooth and press. You should have a log with a shape that resembles a guitar pick, with two flat sides and one rounded side.
Once you are happy with the triangle shape, place the log centered along the long edge of a sheet of parchment paper. Flip the dough triangle towards the the bottom edge, one side at a time to wrap the dough log entirely in the parchment sheet.
Then twist each end of the paper into pigtails in opposite directions (one towards you and one away from you) to form a locking mechanism. Smooth out the sides with your hands. Repeat with second dough.
Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour or longer. This allows the dough to set up and hold its shape nicely when baking. *You can also freeze the dough at this point. Just remember to defrost it overnight in the fridge or at room temperature for about at least a half hour before slicing and baking. If the dough is too cold or frozen, it may crack and crumble when slicing.
Bake Strawberry Shortbread Cookies
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Remove dough logs from the fridge and unroll on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, slice the logs into 1⁄2” thick cookies. You should get about 12-14 cookies per log. Optionally freeze the cookies on a lined baking sheet for 15-20 minutes, this helps them maintain their shape as they bake.
To bake, arrange cookies on parchment paper lined baking sheet with about 1" of space on all sides, evenly spaced. Bake for 12-14 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the bake. They should come out with a golden ring around the edge and be firm to the touch.
Allow to cool either on the trays or transfer to a cooling rack.
Chocolate Dip & Decorate
Melt chocolate using the double boiler method by bringing a medium saucepan of water to a simmer over medium-high heat. Set a heatproof bowl over the top and add the chocolate. Stir constantly with a spatula until the chocolate melts and is totally smooth. Be sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the simmering water.
Dip the tip of each triangle shaped shortbread cookie into the melted chocolate, covering about half of the cookie. Allow the excess chocolate to drip off before placing the cookies on a parchment paper lined baking sheet or cooling rack. Sprinkle more crushed strawberries onto the chocolate it's still tacky. Allow the chocolate at least 1 hour to set completely.
Notes
When tightly wrapped, the prepared shortbread cookie dough logs can be frozen up to 3 months.
These shortbread cookies will stay fresh up to 2 weeks when stored in an airtight container.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Chill Time: 60
- Cook Time: 12-14 minutes
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