Nothing screams "summer cookies" like these simple, fluffy, fresh strawberry shortcake cookies. They're soft, chewy, and full of fresh strawberry flavor. Keep them light or add a fluffy cream cheese filling to take them to the next level. These cookies are easy to make, perfect for a picnic, a barbecue, or just a snack on a hot day and bound to be a hit with everyone who tries them!
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💭 Why you'll love this recipe
- Use fresh strawberries or frozen strawberries: If you've stopped to ask, "What can I use strawberries for?" this recipe is for you! Easy to make with fresh strawberries in the summer and frozen ones during the rest of the year.
- Easy to make, ready in under an hour: These cookies are utterly delicious, soft and chewy and super fluffy but they take very little time to make. You can also make and freeze the cookie dough ahead of time if you'd like!
- Delicious flavor combo. The sweet and tangy taste of fresh strawberries, paired with the buttery and crumbly texture of shortcake, who can resist?
📋 Ingredients and notes
These strawberry shortcake cookies use just nine simple ingredients (not counting the optional filling). This includes all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt (salt is critical to activate the baking powder), granulated and brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, lemon juice and fresh strawberries.
Notes:
- You can use fresh or frozen strawberries! I typically use fresh strawberries in the summer and then use frozen ones the rest of the year.
- If you're feeling adventurous, you can swap the dough recipe for your favorite strawberry cake mix recipe and then fold strawberries in. This results in cakey strawberry cookies, but they have more strawberry flavor!
Make vegan strawberry shortcake cookies
To make a vegan cookie, use vegan butter (to maintain the same fluffy texture) or vegetable oil (slightly less fluffy texture) instead of butter. Swap the egg with flax egg (1 tablespoon flax meal + 2.5 tablespoon of water). If you want the cream cheese filling, just use a vegan cream cheese instead of regular!
Other Variations:
- Use extracts: If you want to mix it up, experiment with different extracts. For example, almond extract can add a subtle nutty flavor, or lemon extract can provide a citrusy twist!
- Add a tangy twist: You can add a tangy twist by incorporating cream cheese into the cookie dough. You can also incorporate some lemon zest or a small amount of lemon juice into the cookie dough for a refreshing citrusy flavor.
- Dip them in chocolate: After baking the cookies, dip half of each cookie in melted chocolate and allow it to set. This will add a decadent touch and a delightful contrast of flavors.
🍓 Make strawberry cookies from scratch
This recipe is inspired by Otis Spunkmeyer's strawberry shortcake cookies (loved them when I lived in the Bay Area). That version has white chocolate and cranberries in it. Mine is simpler and highlights the deliciousness of the strawberries in just three steps!
Chop strawberries and soak in lemon juice and sugar
Soaking strawberries in lemon and sugar brings out both the sweet and tart components in the fruit. This makes them a perfect complement to the sweet and fluffy cookies! It also helps keep the strawberries fresh for longer.
I strain strawberries after soaking for 10 minutes, and strain again before adding to the dough. You can save the strained liquid too! Just add it to cream cheese for a strawberry-flavored filling! If you wish, you can add some rose water to this to enhance the strawberry flavor with something super complementary.
Next, prepare the dough and fold in strawberries
Mix the all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt and sift them together. Cream butter with both sugars, and add eggs and vanilla extract to make a smooth mix. Then, combine with the dry ingredients to make a flaky dough.
Drain strawberries, fold gently into the dough. Then, scoop out medium sized balls and bake them, spaced about 2" apart on a large tray at 350F. For a decadent cookie, you can add strawberry jam or cream cheese filling (see below for notes)
Portion dough and bake!
Using a cookie scoop, portion out the dough into equal pieces (roughly 1.5 tablespoons each) and then place them on a baking sheet, neatly spaced apart from each other.
Your strawberry shortcake cookies are ready to be devoured!
🧁 Optional Filling (Jam or Cream Cheese)
The strawberry shortcake cookies, without any fillings, are already absolutely delicious. They are also a tad lighter than the ones with filling. But occasionally, you want a more decadent cookie. So if you want a "filled" cookie, you have two options. You can either use a strawberry jam or a cream cheese filling.
Simple strawberry jam filling
Remove the edges, and chop up 1 lb of strawberries. Add this to a small saucepan, along with 1.5 cups of granulated sugar.
Bring to a boil, then add 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice. Continue boiling for 15 minutes, stirring to make sure they don't stick to the bottom or burn.
Portion the cookie dough into 12 equal sized "dough balls" and then flatten them. Use your thumb to create an indent in the center of each cookie.
Add a teaspoon of the jam to the thumbprint area. Bake and enjoy your jam thumbprint strawberry shortcake cookies!
Decadent cream cheese filling
Cream together 4 oz of soft cream cheese with 2 tablespoon of powdered sugar. As soon as you're done creating the filling, portion them into 12 teaspoon sized dollops on a baking sheet. Throw this in the freezer while you prepare the dough (~10 minutes). Then, you can make a simple thumbprint cookie for an easy fix, or you can stuff the cookie.
I'll warn before you start. "Stuffing" the cookie is a bit messy and takes a while, so if you want a quick, clean, but delicious method, the thumbprint method is the way to go. But hey, if you're up for an adventure, you won't regret stuffing the cookie! I was inspired by Sally's Baking Addiction (specifically, her red velvet cookies) to freeze the filling before stuffing the cookie.
Take two small portions of cookie dough (small cookie scoop or about a tablespoon of dough each). Flatten one of them a bit. Take a frozen cream cheese filling ball, and place it in the center of the cookie dough.
Cover with the other piece of cookie dough and roll into a nice smooth ball.
The key is to do this as quickly as possible. The heat from your hand could start melting the cream cheese, and then it's a mess. Delicious, but still a mess.
Ideally, you want the filling to be cool as it goes into the oven. So, consider popping the finished cookies in the fridge for a few minutes before you pop these stuffed strawberry shortcake cookies into the oven.
👩🏽🍳Top tips and FAQs
Picking the right strawberries
Skip strawberries that are visibly moldy or grossly misshapen (or smell bad). If your strawberries look a bit bruised few days after you buy them, chop off those parts. The Environmental Working Group reported that strawberries contain the most pesticides of any fruit or vegetable, so when possible, please try to buy organic to avoid residues.
Storing and cleaning strawberries
Store your fresh strawberries in the fridge until it's time to eat them. Wash them first under running water thoroughly before you consume them.
Don't put washed strawberries back into the fridge though - this can cause them to go bad soon. If you sliced an extra strawberry or two while making this recipe, make sure to eat them within two hours. Don't store those in the fridge more than two days!
FAQs
Don't mix the butter and flour too much. You ideally want a crumbly texture that holds together when pressed. You also want to make sure to avoid excess moisture as much as possible. So, drain strawberries right before you fold them into the dough.
Coating strawberries with a pinch of flour before adding it to the cookie dough will prevent them from dropping to the bottom of each cookie
Frozen strawberries work great this recipe! Chop them finely, add lemon juice and pop in the fridge while they soak (about 10 minutes). Then, strain the strawberries really well, and pop them in the freezer for about 3-5 minutes so they retain their structure and don't add excess water.
If you're not able to find flour, you can use strawberry cake mix in a pinch. Just replace everything except the folded in strawberries with a box of cake mix, 2 eggs and ⅓ cup of butter instead. Then fold in the strawberries into that dough. Note that the cookies will be a tad flatter than the recipe below.
Yep! In fact, they are a great way to add strawberry flavor and sweetness without adding moisture. To use freeze-dried strawberries, simply grind them up in a food processor or blender until they are a fine powder. Then, add them to the recipe instead of the fresh strawberries.
🍴 Serving and storage suggestions
I suggest storing these strawberry shortcake cookies in the fridge in an airtight container. This will make sure they stay fresh for longer, maintain the fluffiness and keep the strawberries as fresh as possible. Try to finish them off within a day or two when possible!
You can also freeze these cookies, either before or after baking.
- To freeze cookies before baking, portion into cookie balls, and place them on a flat baking sheet. Freeze them for at least 1-2 hours. Then, transfer them to a freezer-safe bag or container. Bake according to recipe directions. This can be a bit messier if you have cream cheese filling, so in that case, I suggest flash-freezing, and then storing them in a single layer.
- To freeze strawberry shortcake cookies after baking, first, allow the cookies to cool completely. Place them in a single layer in a freezer-safe container. Freeze the cookies for up to 3 months.
If you like these delicious, strawberry shortcake cookies, don't forget to check out some of my other great cookies:
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📖 Recipe
Strawberry Shortcake Cookies
Ingredients
Strawberry Filling
- 3 medium strawberries, chopped (~½ cup of chopped strawberries)
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Cookies
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter, softened at room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 large egg
- 1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
Optional Cream Cheese Filling
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 2 tablespoon powdered sugar
Instructions
Prep strawberries:
- Chop up the strawberries finely and then add the lemon juice and sugar to them and stir well. Cover and soak them for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, strain and set aside
Prep Filling (Optional)
- Note: This is only if you decide to go the filling route but this is totally optional - the main recipe does not include filling.
- Cream together about 4 oz of cream cheese with 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar (and strained strawberry juice). Line a baking sheet or plate (that can fit in your freezer) with some parchment paper. Scoop 1 teaspoon of this filling onto the sheet - repeat so you have 12 tiny cream cheese "balls". Throw this in the freezer for while you make the dough
Prepare Dough
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Sift the baking powder and salt in with the all purpose flour. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter with the two sugars - the consistency should be pliable and soft (I typically use the paddle attachment in my stand mixer, but you can also use a hand mixer or cream by hand - see recipe notes for doing this by hand)
- Add the egg and vanilla extract to this mixture. Then, slowly add the flour mixture and mix until it's a smooth dough
- Strain the strawberries one more time and then add to the dough - fold gently taking care not to mash up the strawberries (if you want an extra fruity taste, you can add up to ¾ cup)
Bake Cookies (No Filling Version)
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon mat. Just scoop out roughly a 1.5 tablespoons of dough and roll into a smooth ball and place them on the baking sheet. Note: Make sure to leave 1-2" between each ball to ensure that they have space to spread!
- Bake at 350F for 20 minutes - the cookie will look and feel "soft and fluffy" but it should be done (check the bottom to see if it's harder and browned as an additional check)
Bake Cookies (With Filling!)
- Note: Again, this is an optional step - skip if you're just making the regular cookies! This WILL get a tad bit messy (more stuff on your hands, but the end result is totally worth it!)
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon mat
- Remove the cream cheese balls from the freezer.
- Scoop roughly 1.5 tablespoons of dough, roll into a ball, and flatten into a "small pancake" on the palm of your hand. Place a cream cheese ball at the center and crimp the edges so it reforms into a rough ball. Smooth it out into a ball like shape to the best extent possible and place on the baking sheet - repeat with the rest of the dough until you have 12 cookies
- Bake at 350F for about 20-22 minutes and check the bottom to see if it's browned and a bit harder (the rest of the cookie will be fluffy) - enjoy the deliciousness!
Video
Notes
- This recipe is a bit messier than most cookies because the strawberries are sticky. If you want the basic cookie without filling, use a cookie scoop, and you're set!
- This recipe needs room temperature butter - so try to take the butter out about 30 minutes before you need to use it if possible!
- If you're creaming the sugar and butter by hand, first use a wooden spoon to really break up the room temperature butter and sugar and get them mixed roughly together - then use a fork to really "fluff" them up the same way you fluff rice. This will take 2 to 5 minutes so get ready for action!
- Every person's oven is a bit different, so I suggest starting to check around the 18 minute mark to make sure it doesn't over bake!
- Nutritional information provided for the basic cookie without filling!
Nutrition
Note: This recipe was originally published on May 23, 2020 and updated on May 22, 2023 with additional tips and helpful process shots. Original content can be found below.
I tripled the basic recipe and made bars for a block party! It took a long time to cook - after 20 min I did several 5 min checks until done. Worked out great and everyone loved them!
So glad to hear this!
These were a delicious cookie to make for the season! Love the use of fresh berries and how they didn't weigh down the cookie or turn it soggy. Still great texture and taste!
These cookies were the perfect summery treat! Light, soft, fluffy and so flavorful!
These cookies are delicious! At first I thought the icing would be too sweet, but the strawberry flavor is just right.
Strawberries were on sale at my local market this week so it was the perfect time to make this recipe! They were delicious and disappeared quickly. Will make it again this summer for sure!
These were so easy and delicious without any of the fuss of traditional shortcake. My kiddos loved them! We'll be making them on repeat this summer for sure! 🙂
These are so easy to make and very delicious!!!!
These turned out amazing! I love how pretty they are and they taste heavenly!
Thank you so much! So glad you liked them.
These cookies were so amazing! My kids absolutely loved them and begged for me to make more.
My family can't resist these beautiful strawberry shortcake cookies! They are so chewy and flavorful, we love to put an extra cream cheese filling. Yummy!
Gosh these look so yummy. I can't wait to try them.