A Fresh Start with Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

Wow, hold on just a moment. Let me dust away some of these cobwebs. There, that's a little better. It's been a while, huh? But I'm trying to get back in the cooking saddle around here and the best way to do that is to get back in the habit of sharing what I make again. I'm going to be a lot busier these days as we're gearing up for a trip at the end of June, and then I'll be starting school in the fall. My goal is to try and post twice a week. Sometimes it might just be a tip or trick for coming up with something fast and easy, since that's going to be key for me soon. And I'm using my handy-dandy iPhone for pics more often now, since I found having to upload from my camera seemed to be a point of procrastination for me. I'm debating making some other changes around the blog, so if things get a little wonky, it's just my inept html/css skills at work.

To start things off with a taste of summer I made some delicious cookies. I was planning on making them on Sunday to take with us to our Concert in the Garden picnic that evening. However we went to a lunchtime barbeque at Josh's dad's house that we didn't leave until late in the afternoon, which left me little time to do the baking. So I made them on my day off yesterday instead. The cookies were so good, and really easy to make. the most time consuming part was dicing the berries. I am admittedly very slow with knives though, so that might be specific to my kitchen. No creaming butter and sugar, no adding eggs. In fact, I'm happy to tell you that there are no eggs at all. Which makes it far less dangerous to eat the cookie batter. Which you will want to do, because it was so, so good. I recommend you bake most of the batter before you taste it though, because otherwise you might never find out what the baked cookies taste like.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies
Recipe from Martha Stewart Living June 2009; Makes about 3 dozen


12 ounces strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4-inch dice (2 cups)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup heavy cream
Sanding sugar, for sprinkling

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 7 tablespoons granulated sugar in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, or rub in with your fingers, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in strawberry mixture.
• Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing evenly apart. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, and bake until golden brown, 24 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool. Cookies are best served immediately, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day.

My notes: I used my 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop to form my cookies, and I came about with roughly 28 cookies. I didn't have any sanding sugar, so I just gave them a little sprinkle with regular granulated. These cookies would be great for picnics, cookouts, even a brunch. If I was preparing them for more than just our own consumption I would have made some whipped cream to drop a dollop of on each cookie.