Strawberry Shortcake Cookies. This is not my recipe. It’s mostly Martha Stewart’s. Just because it’s not a recipe I wrote doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy making these cookies. It certainly doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy eating these cookies. Because these cookies are exactly the sort of sweet I do enjoy– because they’re not too sweet. Though there is a healthy amount of butter in these cookies, there is also a healthy amount of fresh fruit. This is a balance that appeals to me.
However, what I liked best about these Strawberry Shortcake Cookies is what I learned from them.
As a blogger (and now a cookbook author) I am most interested in creating and sharing recipes that can be made again and again. However, the process often starts with a recipe I saw somewhere else. A recipe like these Strawberry Shortcake Cookies. When I see a recipe that appeals to me (and by that I mean one that I want to steal) I often start out by making it (nearly) as written. I occasionally put something on the blog at this stage. Though I sometimes just take notes and put the whole idea aside until I come across another version, or I think of a way to make it more my own. I consider this a starting place for most posts. Let’s face it, there aren’t too many new things under our kitchen exhaust fans. I don’t mind learning from others, and I don’t mind waiting to reconfigure or percolate most things before I know what’s right for me or this blog.
I knew there was something about these Strawberry Shortcake Cookies that appealed to me. I came across them in 2009. I let them percolate all this time because I’ll admit, on the first try I found them a bit finicky in the making. So I tucked the idea and my notes aside for all these years. I recently pulled them out again and gave the recipe the once over. Martha called for an extra tablespoon of sugar in her version. I didn’t see the point. I don’t like strawberry shortcake that is too sweet. I knew I wouldn’t like Strawberry Shortcake Cookies that were too sweet. So I changed that…
But the sugar wasn’t the finicky part of this recipe– it’s not why I put the notes away for so long. You see, I found that the sweet juice from the strawberries tended to leach out during baking, causing the cookies to stick to the parchment. It also made the bottoms burn black. So in my 2013 version I alleviated that problem somewhat when I lowered the cooking temperature from 375 F. to 350 F. Still I had to watch the cookies very closely to find the balance between cooked through but without a black bottom. Finally (I know it sounds like I didn’t like these cookies– but I swear I did), Martha’s not kidding when she says to eat these cookies within 24 hours. I would say you should eat them within 4 or 5 hours. They get a bit too moist if allowed to sit too long in my opinion. Eating three dozen cookies in 4 or 5 hours sounds a bit indulgent. But take these to a big potluck and I bet they all get scarfed down well before their texture changes.
Strawberry Shortcake Cookies Redux
I think when I make these cookies again (and I will make these cookies again). I’ll change the fruit to dried or maybe to whole wild blueberries (you know the teeny tiny “lowbush” ones) and I won’t macerate them in lemon and sugar, but I’ll probably toss them in a scant teaspoon of vanilla and I’m sure I’ll change the “wet” cream to a drier “sour cream”. In that case I may need to add back the tablespoon of sugar I removed from the batter of the original strawberry version. But that’s a question for another day. Of course I’ll have to change the name from Strawberry Shortcake Cookies to Blueberry Shortcake Cookies. I wonder if that’s a big enough change to call these cookies mine? Hmmm. Stay tuned. GREG
Martha’s Strawberry Shortcake Cookies
Print This Recipe Yield 36Source Martha Stewart LivingPublishedI made changes in the sugar amount and the cooking temperature and time in this recipe. The bottoms became too black too quickly in the original Martha Stewart version.
Ingredients
- 12 ounce fresh strawberries (hulled and cut into ¼‑inch dice)
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ cup granulated sugar (divided)
- 2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 ounce cold unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- turbinado sugar (for sprinkling)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. In a separate large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining granulated sugar. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, or rub in with your fingers, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then gently stir in strawberry mixture.
Using a 1 ½‑inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing evenly apart. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar, and bake until golden brown, about 24 minutes. Make sure you rotate the pans between racks in baking and watch them closely as the bottoms tend to burn easily from the sweet strawberry juice. Transfer the sheets to a wire rack, and let cool. Cookies are best served immediately, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for no more than 1 day. The fresh fruit causes the texture to change quickly.
Hmmm, I’m fairly new to baking. I bake the way I cook with a “let’s see what happens” approach. I think I’ll have some fun with this one. I’ve never been able to follow a recipe all the way through from the start. I was just here looking for some ideas for “durable cookies” for mailing when I noticed this one. I have a recipe for strawberry cookies but this one looks yummy. I better get back to my cookies for shipping for now. Thank you for the ideas.
What if you added the sugar back in, but didn’t toss the berries with lemon and sugar? That maceration really makes them lose liquid. Or, what if you used dried strawberries (not freeze-dried)? There are some out there that are pretty hard, but my local natural food store has some that are nice and soft.
Dried strawberries is a fun idea! GREG
They look incredible! Pinned! I rarely bake cookies with fruit because what you talked about — the liquid leeches out, then burns on the bases of the cookies, yes, story of my life. I did finally (kind of) get a mango & white chocolate cookie to work. The recipe could use some work, but it’s work-able as written. Lol I love how thick you got these. Mmm, delish!
Leave it to Martha to come up with this bad boy.…lovely execution!
What a great creative recipe — strawberry shortcake in cookies!? You have delicious shots — wish I can pick some up and eat them right now…
These look great but I too was thinking they’d been soft, so thanks for all baking ( and eating) tips. And i’d say that yes, after all those changes, it’s your recipe.
I love learning what desserts people who don’t have a crazy sweet tooth (like me), like. Naturally sweet berries are the best! These are pretty and remind me a bit of scones. I LOVE those tiny wild blueberries — try it!
I love shortcake and the twist here into cookies. Yum!!
I liked reading your recipe development process. I’m at a point where I’m trying to make my own creations a bit more, so it’s cool to read about how others do it.
Also,the cookies look fantastic. I say call the blueberry ones yours.
Not to be a dope, but please explain 1 lb of lemon juice? Thanks!
No wonder this recipe was so finicky! (Thanks fixed the error). GREG
Yeah, I always have a bunch of recipes percolating like that! It does sometimes take awhile to figure out what a recipe wants to be when it finally grows up. Anyway, these look terrific. And I’d say it’s a feature,not a bug, that you have to eat them so quickly. Just adds justification for what we’re all going to do anyway!
I am definitely going to give these a try. They’re so pretty!
Looking forward to your report on the Blueberry version!
They sure look good, but I hear you about the moisture factor. And I can understand how these would be “best eaten” within several hours of coming out of the oven. Strawberries seem to be a particular offender in this area. But once that is settled, with the sweetness adjusted on one’s liking, I bet these would be great. You are so right about there being nothing new under the exhaust fans. By now, it’s all been done. I love taking something and switching it to suits me — or just experimenting, refining and making it my own. It’s no diss to the original recipe Quite the contrary, it’s a compliment.
They do look good! Apart from the finicky part, they seem like a good recipe to have. They would be perfect to bring to a gathering.