A snickerdoodle is a classic cookie, the kind of bake sale staple that we all have eaten alongside chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies. It’s a sugar cookie rolled in a generous coating of cinnamon sugar that gives it a warm golden finish and a spicy sweetness. That sugar coating doesn’t need to be limited to cinnamon sugar, however. You can mix it up with all kinds of other spices, or you could take it in a fruitier direction with some strawberry sugar for a variation on the classic snickerdoodle that is perfect for summertime.
Strawberry Snickerdoodles are buttery sugar cookies that are rolled in a naturally pink strawberry sugar, made with freeze dried strawberries. The freeze dried strawberries give the sugar a really concentrated strawberry flavor, so you get a lot of real fruit flavor in each bite. The best thing about this method of adding strawberry flavor is that you don’t compromise the texture of the cookies. Fresh strawberries, by contrast, bring too much extra liquid to cookie dough and can cause it to become mushy, especially if you don’t intend to eat all your cookies the same day they are baked!
These cookies have a crisp, sweet strawberry exterior and a chewy interior. Although the strawberry flavor dominates these cookies, you still taste butter and a hint of vanilla as you eat them. They should be baked until they are just set to ensure that they remain nice and chewy, and they’ll stay fresh for a couple of days after baking if you store them in an airtight container. Freeze dried strawberries can be found at many specialty markets (and at Trader Joe’s if you have one near by), and it is well worth seeking them out to make these wonderful summertime cookies.
Strawberry Snickerdoodles
3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup homemade strawberry sugar
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and vanilla extract. Gradually blend in the flour mixture until dough is uniform and no streaks of dry ingredients remain.
Place strawberry sugar in a shallow dish or bowl. Shape cookie dough into 1 inch balls and roll in strawberry sugar. Place cookies on baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between balls to allow for spreading.
Bake for about 11-12 minutes, until edges are set, but the cookies are not quite browned. Cool for 3-5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes about 4 dozen.
Linda
July 18, 2014Made these this morning. Your strawberry sugar fascinated me and then when you came up with a recipe to use it…just had to try it. But then I found I was out of the strawberries but had cranberries. So, I made a cranberry version. Guess I will find out later how well that worked. But they were beautiful cookies. And certainly sound good. I will have to try them with the strawberries but I could totally see some holiday fun with these and various berries like a July 4th of blueberries and strawberries or raspberries for the “red, white, blue”. Thanks, Nicole!
Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie
July 20, 2014What a fun use of strawberry sugar.
t7meel
August 21, 2015I like Strawberry