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Strawberries and Cream Shortbread Cookies

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While the sea of heart shaped pink and red filled chocolate boxes and pastry cases in stores this time of year make this sweets lover swoon, there’s nothing quite as special as a homemade sweet treat on Valentine’s Day. So, given that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, I wanted to share the perfect sweet treat for you to make for those you love most in life – Strawberries and Cream Shortbread Cookies. Nothing says “I love you” like carbs and homemade cookies.

I’ve been a long time fan of shortbread cookies. They’re amazing in their simplicity and in all of their adaptable ways.  When I was in college, I would purchase boxes of Walker’s shortbread cookies from the British shop in the historic area of our town. They were my favorite. I still visit that British store to buy loads of things – tea, Lyle’s golden syrup, and all things Cadbury but I stick to making my own shortbread nowadays.

These strawberries and cream shortbread cookies are buttery and crumbly and full of strawberry flavor. A creamy strawberry white chocolate drizzle on top takes these cookies to next level. The star of these cookies is freeze dried strawberries. These little nuggets are made by extracting all the water from the berries, resulting in a super concentrated flavor.  Freeze dried strawberries and lots of other freeze dried fruits can be found at your local grocery store.

This shortbread cookie recipe is made like a traditional shortbread, by combining the butter and sugar, adding flavoring and then the flour and add-ins. It’s important to not whip your butter and sugar, just mix until creamy and well combined. Whipping air into the butter/sugar mixture can contribute to spreading cookies. After the flour is added, and the dough is still crumbly, crushed pieces of  freeze dried strawberries are gently mixed in.

The dough is then refrigerated a bit to make it easier to roll out and cut out shapes. I chose to make cute little heart shapes for Valentine’s Day. Once the hearts are cut out, the cookies go back to the fridge to firm up completely before baking. I like to bake my cookies until the edges start to brown slightly. Baking the cookies at a slightly lower temperature than usual will ensure that they cook through but don’t brown on top.

My favorite part of the strawberries and cream shortbread cookies is the creamy pink white chocolate strawberry drizzle on top. Coloring chocolate usually requires oil based food color, or candy color so that the chocolate doesn’t seize. Luckily you don’t need any food color to tint the chocolate for these cookies. Pulverized freeze dried strawberries are mixed with melted white chocolate to make a super creamy, strawberry flavored pink white chocolate, perfect for drizzling onto your cookies. So, so good.

Turn these into conversation heart cookies by using these craft embossing stamps to imprint your favorite conversation heart sayings. Just stamp the letters into the dough before baking.

I’m kind of obsessed with this photo. Those little hands belong to my littlest cupcake, who so badly wanted to be a part of the photo process for these cookies. Those little pink fingers also promptly shoved that cookie in her mouth upon completion of taking the photo.

If you try these strawberries and cream shortbread cookies, let me know! Leave a comment in the comment area below and be sure to snap a photo and tag it #littlevintagebaking on Instagram. I love seeing your Little Vintage Baking creations!

For another delicious and fruity dessert, check out my recipe for Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Brownies!

Strawberries and Cream Shortbread Cookies
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Strawberries and Cream Shortbread Cookies

Buttery, crumbly strawberry shortbread cookies drizzled with pink strawberry white chocolate

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Chilling time 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

For the strawberry shortbread cookies:

  • 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup (60g) confectioners sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 1/4 cup (306g) all purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1/3 cup (10g) freeze dried strawberries, crushed

For the strawberry white chocolate:

  • 1/2 cup (90g) good quality white chocolate, chopped
  • 3 tsps freeze dried strawberries, pulverized

Instructions

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the softened butter, confectioners sugar, and vanilla and beat together on medium speed until creamy and combined.

  2. Place the mixer speed to low. Add the flour to the butter mixture and beat until the mixture is crumbly and resembles curds.

  3. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Add the crushed strawberries and gently mix until the strawberries are mixed in thoroughly.

  4. Turn the dough out onto some cling film. Press the dough together, forming a disc shape, about an inch in height. Wrap the dough with the cling film and place in the refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes.

  5. Dust your work surface with flour. Roll out your cookie dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out the desired shapes and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheets, leaving about 2 inches in between the cookies.

  6. Place the cooking sheets into the refrigerator to chill for 45 minutes to an hour. If baking the following day, wrap the cookie sheets with cling film to prevent drying absorbing odors.

  7. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F while the cookies are chilling.

  8. Once the cookies are properly chilled, bake for 20-25 minutes or until the edges of the cookies start to turn a light golden brown.

  9.  Let cool completely on the cookie sheets or on a cooling rack.

  10. Place the white chocolate into a microwave safe bowl.

  11. Melt the chocolate in 30 second increments in the microwave until only a few lumps of chocolate remain.

  12. Remove the bowl from the microwave and stir until there are no longer any lumps.

  13. Add in the strawberry powder and mix to combine.

  14. Pour the strawberry white chocolate into a piping bag and decorate the cookies as you wish. 

 

Lavender Lemon Shortbread Bars

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I adore lemons. They’re bright, flavorful and so refreshing, easily making them one of my favorite flavors in both sweet (and savory) cooking. Truth be told, I’d chose a citrus-y dessert over a chocolate one any day – like these amazing lavender lemon shortbread bars.

I made quite a few batches of these bars when recipe testing, and while I usually test bake things and give away the bakes, these lavender lemon shortbread bars didn’t get the chance to leave my kitchen. Each batch was consumed so quickly that I had to fight to get a piece to test the recipe. They’re that good.

Lavender Lemon Shortbread Bars

I’ve sworn my allegiance to lemon meringue pies and lemon cream tarts over the years,  but until I developed this recipe, I wasn’t too impressed with lemon bars. I’ve made and tried many lemon bars over the years and have had some decent ones, but could never find one that was balanced enough for my liking. My ideal lemon shortbread bar has a buttery, rich shortbread crust that doesn’t become a soggy mess, a perfect balance of tart and sweet filling (more on the tart side preferred) and the right ratio of filling to crust. I set out to develop my own recipe, hoping to settle my lemon bar qualms once and for all and this one definitely does not disappoint.

Lavender Lemon Shortbread Bars

In this recipe, I’ve added lavender to the shortbread crust. I urge you to keep the lavender in this recipe even if you have tried lavender in desserts before and didn’t like it. It is true that lavender can be soapy and overwhelming if overused but that is not the case in this recipe. The lavender is subtle, but compliments and amplifies the lemon flavor. It’s beautifully fragrant and absolutely addictive in this recipe.

This lavender lemon shortbread bar recipe starts like many others, by combining the crust ingredients in a food processor allowing the lavender to break up and blend into the other ingredients before adding softened butter. While the mixture is sandy and clumpy, it is pressed into a pan and sent off to the oven to bake.

Lavender Lemons Shortbread Bars

Meanwhile, the filling ingredients are mixed together and set aside until the crust is finished baking and is lightly browned. While the crust is still warm, pour the ingredients into the crust and bake at a reduced temperature until the center has a so very slight jiggle.

While I have to admit that many times I’ve dug into these lavender lemon shortbread bars with a fork while still hot because they are THAT good, they are best served cut into squares or wedges at room temperature and finished with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar.

If you try these lavender lemon shortbread bars, let me know! Leave a comment in the comment area below and be sure to snap a photo and tag it #littlevintagebaking on Instagram. I love seeing your Little Vintage Baking creations!

For another lemon recipe, check out this Meyer Lemon Ginger Tart with Toasted Honey Meringue!

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Lavender Lemon Shortbread Bars

Bright, fresh and citrus-y lemon bars with the addition of subtle, fragrant lavender in a crumbly shortbread crust.

Course Dessert
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings 9 3x3 squares

Ingredients

For the shortbread base:

  • 1 stick (113g) unsalted butter, cut into cubes, room temperature
  • 1 1/4 cups (177g) unbleached, all purpose-flour
  • 1/4 cup (55g) granulated sugar
  • 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1/2 - 3/4 tsp dried culinary lavender

For the lemon filling:

  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 1/3 cup (266g) granulated sugar
  • 1 tbsp lemon zest
  • 2/3 cup (160ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/3 cup (80ml) half and half
  • 3 tbsp all purpose flour

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9x9 square baking pan with parchment paper. 

  2. In a food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, salt and lavender until well blended. You want the lavender to be dispersed and chopped up a bit.

  3. Add in the cubes of softened butter and pulse until the mixture is sandy and starts to form clumps.

  4. Gently press shortbread mixture into an even layer over the bottom of the prepared pan. Use a light hand when pressing in your dough to keep the shortbread crumbly and cookie-like. Refrigerate for a minimum 20-30 minutes.

  5. Bake crust for 22-25 minutes or until the edges start to turn a golden brown.

  6. Remove shortbread from the oven, let it cool slightly and reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F.

  7. Prepare the lemon filling. In a medium bowl, rub together the sugar and lemon zest between your hands to release the oils from the zest. Whisk in the flour until blended. Add the eggs and whisk briskly so that the sugar doesn't "cook" the eggs and form clumps.

  8. Add the lemon juice and half and half and whisk to fully incorporate.

  9. Pour filling over the warm shortbread and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes, until the center jiggles very (very) slightly.

  10. Let the bars cool to room temperature, about an hour. The longer they cool, the easier and prettier they are to slice. Transfer bars to a cutting board and cut into squares or wedges. Using a sieve, sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.