Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

Who knew cooking was contagious?  For the most part, Kristi (my wife) leaves the kitchen creating to me, but when I came home from work tonight the house smelled wonderful!  I went straight to the kitchen to find out what the sweet aroma was and saw these mouth watering cookies ... Strawberry Shortcake Cookies and had to try them immediately....Wow, they were even better then they smelled!  Great job Kristi!!!  See what she says below.

Tis the season for strawberries!  In case you've been hiding in a cave over the last few weeks, you can't make a trip to the grocery store without being greeted by an abundance of this red fruit.  So needless to say, I wanted to make a dessert incorporating this ingredient and instead of going with the traditional Strawberry Shortcake... I turned it up a notch and with the help of Martha Stewart and some delicious red berries I picked up from Market Street I decided to make Strawberry Shortcake Cookies!    

First off, here a few interesting facts about strawberries:

• On average, a strawberry has 200 seeds
• Strawberries are the only fruit with seeds on the outside
• If all the strawberries produced in California, in one year, were laid berry to berry, they'd wrap around the world 15 times
• Strawberries are grown in every state in the United States and every province of Canada
• Strawberries are a member of the rose family
• Ninety-four percent of US households consume strawberries
• Strawberries are the first fruit to ripen in the spring
• Strawberries are low fat, low calorie; high in vitamin C, fiber, folic acid, potassium
• In medieval times, strawberries were served at important functions to bring peace & prosperity

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

This recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Ingredients

- 12 ounces strawberries, cut into 1/4-inch dice (2 cups)

- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

- 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

- 2 cups all-purpose flour

- 2 teaspoons baking powder

- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

- 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

- 2/3 cup heavy cream

- sanding sugar, for sprinkling


* optional: cool whip for topping (I didn't have cool whip when I made this batch, but definitely think I'll add a drop of cool whip and a sliced strawberry on top of the cookies for next time!)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. 

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and remaining 7 tablespoons granulated sugar in a large bowl. 

Rub in the butter with your fingers until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in strawberry mixture.

Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets line with parchment, spacing evenly apart. Spring with sanding sugar, and bake until golden brown, 24 - 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool. 


Next time I make these I'm going to add a drop of cool whip on top and a strawberry slice.