Man oh man you guys- I never thought that I receive here. I hit hard with pneumonia for the past 2 weeks and I could not imagine ever wanting to go into the kitchen and cook again. Have you ever been so sick, you really and truly forget what it is to feel like you? I certainly had my moments of this through my feverish haze 104. Thank you to antibiotics and sweet and loving care of Andy, some dear friends / sisters (and my mother flew for 48 hours TLC), I finally feel like myself. This one was a doozy.
I had a dream about these cookies during a brief nap induced fever and did not hesitate to do as soon as I got my strength. You See- I'm always looking for the best way to make strawberry frosting. Stiff, strawberry frosting shape retention that strawberry puree flows, but really has a strong strawberry flavor. The secret? freeze-dried strawberries. Are you familiar? It is what you find in many breakfast cereals, and Trader Joes sells by the bag. They are dried strawberries that are dry and crispy instead of chewing (like normal dried fruit.) Execution of berries by a food processor gives a pink powder that is perfect for the ideal texture glaze. The end result really tastes like fresh berries too which is exactly what I wanted to with them.
The basic cookie is soft and there pillow- lemon cookies sugar that is not too sweet, begging to be topped with lots of frosting. The strawberry butter flavor is full of sweet berry and dolloped on top gives these cookies sweet / tart flavor combo that I love. These are really the ultimate Cookie- was so fresh and light!
I can not wait to experiment more with freeze-dried fruits in glaze. Do you think you'll do a test?
- 2¼ cups all purpose
- 2¼ c. baking powder
- ½ c. salt
- 1½ sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 large egg plus one yolk
- 2 c. vanilla extract
- Extract 1 tablespoon lemon coffee (or juice in a pinch)
- zest of a lemon
- 1½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
- ⅔ cup strawberries- ground lyophilized powder
- 2-3 cups powdered sugar
- little milk or cream
- Preheat oven to 350F. In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.
- In a large bowl of a mixer with a spatula, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and yolk and mix until smooth.
- Add extracts and zest and continue mixing until incorporated.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients and mix on low until just combined.
- Use a small spoon biscuits portion of dough and roll into balls and flattened slightly fingertips. Place dough 2-3 inches apart on a sil-pat or parchment paper a cookie sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes or until just set around the edges. (Cookies are not golden.) Refrigerate the dough between baking each batch
- Allow cookies to cool before frosting
- cream butter with strawberry powder and 2 cups powdered sugar until thick and creamy. Add a little milk and the rest of the powdered sugar gradually until the frosting is thick, smooth and spreadable.
- pipe or spread the frosting over cooled cookies.