The details
Strawberries and Cream Cookies are my most recent cookie baby and I’m pretty proud of them! The star of the show is the strawberry milk crumb which tastes like strawberry milk/strawberry ice cream and makes the cookie dough the prettiest shade of pink. The cookies are chewy and fruity, and most of all, creamy AF. They are husband-approved and toddler-approved, so they are a treat who will please anyone in your home. WARNING: These cookies involve a 24 hour chilling of the dough, so plan ahead for these guys! It’s worth the wait.
About this strawberry milk crumb
The strawberry milk crumb is a crumble of dry ingredients, including nonfat milk powder, sugar, cornstarch etc, mixed into wet crumbles with melted butter. They are baked, tossed in melted white chocolate, then tossed again in freeze-dried strawberry powder. Why so complicated, you say? Because the result is complex in flavor and is everything in these cookies!
The recipe for the strawberry milk crumb is adapted from Christina Tosi’s recipe for a berry milk crumb from her Milk Bar cookbook. I can’t recommend this cookbook highly enough–It’s by far my most used baking cook book.
Anyways, the main two ingredients you’ll want to get your hands on are freeze dried strawberries and non-fat milk powder. You can find freeze dried strawberries in the dried fruit section of several grocery stores–I find them at Target and Trader Joe’s. The great thing about freeze-dried strawberries is that they contain super-concentrated fresh strawberry flavor without any of the water that tends to weigh down strawberry-flavored bakes. One 25-30 gram package of these is plenty, simply reserve a small handful of strawberries to crumble at the end, and pulverize the rest of them into powder inside the package by squeezing with your hands.
Nonfat milk powder can be found at most grocery stores in the baking section. It’s great for adding a creamy flavor to bakes. If you’re looking for other uses for the nonfat milk powder you use in this recipe, Ruth Tam has some really inventive recipes that involve toasting milk powder for a caramelized flavor.
Helpful tools to make the best tasting (and most attractive) cookies
- Medium cookie scoop
- Large biscuit cutter or cookie cutter (for cookie scooting)
- Silpat baking mat for lining your baking sheets
Why chill the cookie dough 24 hours?
This technique allows the flavors to meld better together over time in the fridge, and also promotes better emulsification of butter and eggs with sugar and flour. The result is a cookie with a more chewy inner bit and crunchy edge texture. I use this technique with most of my cookies and find it really does make a difference.
If you REALLY can’t wait, you can bake these right away. You may just not have that perfect ideal cookie texture. And sometimes, that’s okay!
Similar Recipes
Love strawberry? Check out my Olive Oil Cake with Balsamic Roasted Strawberries or my Dreamy Strawberry Buttercream.
If you’re feeling cookies today, you might like my Key Lime Pie Cookies or Salty Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies (a classic).
Bake to this music
Strawberries and Cream Cookies
Capture all the flavors of ripe strawberries and fresh sweet cream with these Strawberries and Cream Cookies! This cookie tastes like strawberry ice cream and I’m absolutely here for it.
- Yield: 24 cookies 1x
Ingredients
For the strawberry milk crumb:
- 1/2 cup nonfat milk powder
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 3 oz white chocolate chips
- 1 package freeze-dried strawberries (about 25 g), pulverized into powder
For the cookie dough:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
- 1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 recipe strawberry milk crumbs (above)
- extra freeze dried strawberries for topping
Instructions
- Make your strawberry milk crumb. Preheat your oven to 250. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment or silpat. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk nonfat milk powder, flour, cornstarch, sugar, and salt until combined. Pour melted butter over the dry mixture and mix using a spatula until the mixture forms crumbles. Spread crumbles on your baking sheet and bake at 250 degrees for 20 minutes.
- Allow crumbs to cool for 5 minutes or so, then pour crumbles into a medium mixing bowl. Melt your white chocolate in a heatproof container in the microwave, mixing every 15 seconds. Once melted, drizzle white chocolate over the crumbs in the mixing bowl. Using a spatula, stir until the crumbs are all coated in white chocolate. Add your powdered freeze-dried strawberries and mix once more, until the crumbles are all coated with red powder.
- Make your cookie dough. In a large bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes on medium high. Add your eggs one at a time and vanilla, and beat on medium-high another 5 minutes until shiny, light, and fluffy. Mix dry ingredients (flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt) in a separate bowl, and add them to your wet cookie dough mix, folding with a spatula or mixing on low until almost combined. There may still be some flour streaks. Add your white chocolate chips and strawberry milk crumbs and mix on low until the dough turns a pretty shade of pink.
- Using a medium cookie scoop (or heaping 2 tbsp), scoop cookie dough into balls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or silpat. Scoop them close together in rows. Flatten the tops slightly with the back of you hand to encourage them top spread in the oven. Then, cover the whole sheet with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 24 hours.
- Time to bake! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Bake cookies, set 2 inches apart from each other, for 10 minutes. Promptly after removing from the oven, sprinkle with crumbled freeze-dried strawberries. Cookies will keep well at room temperature for 3-5 days.
Notes
- Strawberry crumbs can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer for up to 1 month.
- These cookies are adapted from Christina Tosi’s recipe for Blueberries and Cream Cookies from her Milk Bar cookbook.
- Category: cookies, desserts