Do you like shortbread cookies? If yes, then you’ll definitely love this recipe! With its crumbly texture and buttery flavour, shortbread cookies are loved by almost everyone. And when combined with strawberry, I bet nobody will be able to resist them. With their delicate texture and fruity goodness, these cookies are the perfect treat for any occasion!
It took me many rounds of testing to make these cookies perfect. But it was so worth the trials I have done to get the right texture and flavour of the cookies. And let me tell you one thing: these cookies will be the best shortbread cookies you will ever taste. This is a twist on classic shortbread cookies, and if you are a strawberry lover like me, then these cookies are for you.
I have paired these cookies with a cream cheese glaze that is drizzled on top of the cookies. Apart from being delightful in taste, it looks amazing as well with its pink colour and white cream cheese drizzle on top.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Flavour: It has a rich buttery, and fruity strawberry flavour that just melts in your mouth. The combination of butter and strawberry creates a delightful cookie that is hard to resist. The rich buttery flavour is one of the alluring flavours that bring out the classic flavour of shortbread cookies, while strawberry brings a sweet, playful berry flavour.
- Texture: These cookies have a delicate and crumbly texture that practically melts in your mouth. Although it’s crumbly, the best part of this cookie is how it melts in your mouth.
- Easy: Making these cookies is relatively easy. You can bake these delicious cookies in just a few minutes through the simple steps given in this blog.
- Crowd pleaser: These cookies are really a crowd-pleaser with their buttery and strawberry flavour. Bake these cookies for any of your next occasions and see the satisfying look of your guests through them.
Important Ingredients Used in the Recipe
- Corn flour: It helps in creating the crumbly and delicate, tender texture of the shortbread cookies. It also helps in lightening the texture of the cookies so that they don’t become too dense or tough.
- Unsalted butter: The buttery flavour of these cookies comes from unsalted butter. It also helps in achieving melt in your texture in the cookies.
- Strawberry puree: It is the star ingredient that provides the cookies with a strawberry flavour. You can use any type of strawberry puree, like frozen or fresh. I have used a frozen one.
- Strawberry essence: I have used strawberry essence to give the cookies a prominent strawberry flavour. It enhances the flavour of strawberry puree.
- Salt: It enhances the overall flavour of the cookies.
How to Make Strawberry Shortbread Cookies?
Preparation: Gather all the ingredients that are required for the cookies. Measure them properly to ensure the best result. Preheat the oven to 180°C or 350° F (OTG mode: upper rod + lower rod + fan). Prepare a baking tray by lining a silicon mat or butter paper.
Creaming: in a bowl, beat unsalted butter and sugar to cream them until they are pale and fluffy. Use room-temperature butter for the perfect texture. Now add in the egg and strawberry essence and mix again to get a homogenous mixture.
Add dry ingredients: in the same bowl, sift in the dry ingredients, which are all-purpose flour, corn flour and salt. Sifting the dry ingredients will give us smooth cookie dough and prevent lump formation.
Add strawberry puree: Add strawberry puree, mix again and form a smooth dough. Make sure that the puree is at room temperature. Lastly, add in edible gel food colour and give it a final mix to make the perfect dough. Since the cookies turned purple because of the puree, I added a red gel colour to make the dough pink, which represents strawberry. Keep it in the refrigerator for 5 – 10 minutes if the dough is too sticky or soft.
Shaping: Place the dough between two butter papers and roll it to 4 mm thickness. While rolling, make sure that you do not apply too much pressure or else the cookies’ surface will not be flat. Just apply enough pressure so that you can roll it and bring it to the desired thickness. Now, with a 5.5 cm round cookie cutter, cut it and place the cookies into the lined baking tray.
Baking: Bake them at 180° or 350° F (OTG mode: upper rod + lower rod + fan) for 8 – 10 minutes.
Glaze: Meanwhile, make the glaze for the cookies; in a bowl, mix cream cheese and icing sugar together. Make sure that you sieve icing sugar before mixing it with the cream cheese. It prevents the chances of getting lumps. Add milk and give it a mix again. Transfer it to a piping bag and keep it aside for the assembly of the cookies.
Assembly: After baking the cookies, let them cool down on a cooling rack. After it has completely cooled down, drizzle the cream cheese glaze on top diagonally. And with this, you have buttery and strawberry-flavoured shortbread cookies.
Chef Tips For The Recipe
Using Room Temperature Ingredients.
Use room-temperature butter while creaming.
Make sure that the strawberry puree is at room temperature before adding it to the dough.
Importance Of Sifted Icing Sugar.
While making the glaze, sift the icing sugar to prevent lump formation.
Handling A Soft Dough.
Keep it in the refrigerator for 5 – 10 minutes if the dough is sticky or too soft.
How to Store Strawberry Shortbread Cookies?
You can store baked cookies without the glaze at room temperature for 7 – 8 days if you keep them in an air-tight container.
The glazed cookies can be stored for at least 4 – 5 days in an air-tight container.
If you keep the cookies in the refrigerator or freezer, they may turn soggy by soaking unnecessary moisture.
More Easy Recipes
If you like this recipe, then I would highly recommend checking out other incredible recipes that are as good as this one.
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can use any kind of fruit puree to make the cookies.
Yes, you can use gluten-free flour instead of regular all-purpose flour to make the cookies gluten-free.
Shortbread cookies have a higher ratio of butter than regular cookies and have a crumbly texture.
As mentioned in the recipe, roll out the cookie dough to 4 mm thickness. While rolling the dough, make sure not to apply too much pressure.
