Soft Sugar Cookies with Strawberry Frosting
Soft-baked sugar cookies topped with a vibrant and flavorful strawberry frosting. The perfect spring and summer cookie that is not only beautiful, but delicious, too.
Servings 20
Calories 348kcal
Ingredients
Cookies:
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened to cool room temperature
- 1 ⅓ cups granulated sugar
- 1 ¾ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- ¼ cup full fat sour cream
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Frosting:
- ¾ cup freeze dried strawberries
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened to cool room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar plus more if needed
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 generous tablespoon strawberry jam
- 2 tablespoons milk OR 5-8 strawberries* plus more, if needed
- optional garnishes: sliced strawberries or sprinkle with freeze dried strawberry powder
Instructions
Cookies:
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper (this helps the cookies from spreading).
- Using a hand mixer, or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar for 2 minutes, until light and creamy. Add extracts, egg, egg yolk, and sour cream and beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. The mixture might look a little curdled, that’s ok.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat until combined.
- Allow the dough to sit at room temperature for 5 minutes. Scoop the dough into 2-tablespoon balls (briefly rolling them in your hands, if necessary, to make the dough balls smooth). Place the dough balls a couple inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes (see note), until the edges are set and the center is still slightly underdone. The cookies should still be light in color, not brown. Place the baking sheets on wire racks to cool completely; the cookies will firm up once cool.
Frosting:
- In a small food processor, blend freeze dried strawberries until they turn into powder. Pour the powder into a fine mesh sieve, discarding the solids and seeds, keeping the fine powder that came through the sieve. Set the powder aside, you should have a scant ¼ cup.
- With a hand mixer, or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl and the beater as necessary. Add the powdered sugar, ½ a cup at a time, beating until combined.
- Add freeze dried strawberry powder, vanilla extract, jam, and either 2 tablespoons of milk OR 2 tablespoons strawberry puree. Beat on medium speed until fully combined, being sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl and beater as needed. If necessary, adjust the consistency by adding more powdered sugar to thicken, or more milk or strawberry puree to thin it out.
Notes
Watch the cookies closely during the last few minutes of bake time. Depending on the size of your cookie dough balls and your exact oven temp (some ovens run a bit warmer or cooler than stated on the display) you might need to to adjust the bake time by a couple minutes in either direction.
*To use fresh strawberry puree instead of milk to thin out the frosting, add 5-8 strawberries to the food processor or blender (after using it for the freeze dried strawberries). Process the fresh strawberries until pureed. You’ll need 2-3 tablespoons of fresh strawberry puree.
The flavor of the frosting will get stronger over time.
Nutrition
Calories: 348kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 56mg | Sodium: 53mg | Potassium: 168mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 37g | Vitamin A: 462IU | Vitamin C: 108mg | Calcium: 24mg | Iron: 3mg