Pretty Pink Cookies | How to make Strawberry Cookies

These bright pink strawberry cookies get their flavor from real freeze-dried strawberries–no cake mix or strawberry extract is needed. My recipe is a quick drop cookie recipe perfect for Valentine’s Day.

 These adorable pink cookies get their wonderful strawberry flavor from a natural source – freeze-dried strawberries!  No fake cake mixes or artificial flavoring is needed.  A few simple ingredients come together to make this sweet strawberry pink cookie recipe.  Pretty Pink Cookies are the best cookies to make for Valentine’s Day!  These would also make a great treat for baby showers or birthday parties with a pink theme.

Pretty Pink Cookie Ingredients

• Freeze-dried strawberries. These are real strawberries that have been sliced and dehydrated. No additional ingredients should be added to them. They are light, crisp, and super flavorful! We’ll process these into fine powder using a food processor before adding them to our strawberry cookies. We like to get ours at Aldi or Trader Joe’s.  Can’t find them in your local grocery store? Amazon sells them too!
• Flour
• Butter. Use unsalted butter so that you can control the salt yourself. Make sure your butter is softened, but don’t let it get too melty, or your cookies will spread too much. If all you have on hand is salted butter, you can reduce the salt in the recipe to ¼ teaspoon.
• Baking Soda. Every cookie needs a leavening agent
• Sugar. We’ll add granulated sugar to the dough itself and then use a bit more for rolling the strawberry cookies before they bake.
• Food coloring. This is optional, but it does give the cookies a pretty pink color. I recommend using gel food coloring for the best results.

How to Make Pink Cookies

1. Make a freeze-dried strawberry powder using a food processor.
2. Beat together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes.
3. Stir in the strawberry powder (not the reserved tablespoon) until combined, then stir in the drops of pink food coloring, if using.  The food coloring does give these cookies more of a bright pink color.
4. Add the egg and stir until combined.
5. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually add them to the strawberry mixture (wet ingredients) in three parts.  Scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
6. Place the balls of dough 2″ apart onto prepared baking sheets and bake in a preheated oven for 11 minutes at 350 F.
7. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on their sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes: For a different look, there are a few different ways to decorate your pink cookies.   You can dust the cookies with a little powdered sugar, top them with pink frosting, or before baking roll the cookie batter balls in pink sugar.

Storing the cookies

Store the pink cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Pink Cookie FAQs

Can I use a different type of berry?

I haven’t tried this myself, but I’m guessing that freeze-dried raspberries or blueberries might make a delicious cookie too.
If you try this recipe with another type of freeze-dried fruit, please let me know how it works for you in the comments!

Can I make the dough in advance?

Yes! You can make this dough up to 5 days in advance. If you’d like to freeze the dough, roll it into balls and freeze it in a freezer-safe plastic bag.  When you’re ready to bake, let the dough thaw and bake as usual.

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Pretty Pink Cookies | How to Make Strawberry Cookies

These bright strawberry cookies get their flavor from real freeze-dried strawberries–no cake mix or strawberry extract is needed. My recipe is a quick drop cookie recipe perfect for Valentine's Day, birthday parties, or baby showers.

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups freeze-dried strawberries *see notes
• 1 cup unsalted butter softened at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• Pink Gel food coloring is optional
• 1 large egg
• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Place the freeze-dried strawberries in a food processor and pulse until you have a fine dust.
• Combine the softened butter and sugar in a large bowl and use a mixer to beat the ingredients together until well-creamed (about 2 minutes on mid-high speed).
• Add strawberry powder and stir on low speed until combined.
• If desired, add pink food coloring until you get the perfect pink color.
• Stir in egg until combined.
• In a small bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients, stirring until completely combined.
• Scoop dough by level 1 ½ Tablespoon or with medium cookie scoop. Place the scooped cookie dough on a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet liner, spacing at least 2” apart.
• Bake in the center rack of 350 degree F oven for 11 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on a baking sheet for several minutes before using a spatula to carefully transfer to a cooling rack or wire rack to cool completely before enjoying.

Notes

Freeze-dried strawberries

These are usually sold in the grocery store in the dried fruit and nut section. We buy ours at Aldi or Trader Joe’s.  Pulverize in a food processor until they’re fine dust. 

If you already have powdered strawberries, you will need 1 cup of powder.

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