Strawberry Cut Out Sugar Cookies

January 13, 2025

So you love sugar cookies, but want to add a little bit of pizzazz? Try out this Strawberry Cut Out Sugar Cookie recipe that uses freeze dried strawberries for genuine strawberry flavor.

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Whether you’re making these cookies for Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, or just for fun, you’re going to love the fresh strawberry flavor you get with this recipe, while the dough remains easy to work with and create fun shapes.

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Ingredients

Let’s go over the ingredients needed to make these Strawberry Cut Out Sugar Cookies!

Butter: I prefer salted, but you can use unsalted as long as you add an additional 1/4 tsp per 4 oz of butter

Cream Cheese: This is a non negotiable for my cut out sugar cookies! It adds delicious tang and flavor

Granulated Sugar: Enough for flavor and structure, but not enough to make it too sweet

Whole Egg plus 1 Yolk: The extra yolk adds chewiness!

Vanilla Extract: Just a little bit of vanilla pairs beautifully with the strawberry flavor while still letting the berry notes be the star

Flour: All Purpose works best for this recipe

Freeze Dried Strawberries: Brings authentic strawberry flavor without throwing off the moisture level of the cookies

Salt: Salt balances and enhances the flavors

Cornstarch: Makes the cookie dough texture easier to work with, and also hold it’s shape better

Using Freeze Dried Fruit in Cookie Dough

Let’s talk about the freeze dried strawberries a bit more!

Freeze dried strawberries work so well in cookie dough because it doesn’t add more liquid and change the consistency the way strawberry puree or fresh strawberries do.

By grinding up the freeze dried berries, you can create a potent fruit flavor that you can swap out for some of your dry ingredients. In this case, I used my classic Soft and Chewy Cut Out Sugar Cookies recipe and subbed 2 oz of the flour for 2 oz of the freeze dried strawberry powder.

To pulverize the freeze dried berries, use a small food processor or blender! My mini food processor recently bit the dust so I upgraded to this Kitchen Aid 3.5 Cup Size and I’ve been super happy with it.

KitchenAid KFC3516WH 3.5 Cup Food Chopper, White

If your grocery store is hit and miss with whether or not they carry freeze dried strawberries, or you want to get a better cost per ounce, I recommend this brand, particularly when it’s on sale!

Sale

Augason Farms Freeze Dried Sliced Strawberries Can, Emergency Food Supply, Everyday Meals, 18 Servings

If you have extra freeze dried fruit, you can use it for snacking, or as a flavor boost in things like smoothies, yogurt, ice cream, and more. I’m currently working on a strawberry buttercream recipe using freeze dried strawberries so stay tuned!

Making The Dough

Combining Dry Ingredients

First, measure out 2 oz of the freeze dried strawberries and pulverize in a mini food processor or blender until you’ve reached a powder consistency.

Don’t have a food processor or blender? Smash the berries using a mortar and pestle or something similar until you’ve reached the powder consistency.

Strawberry Cut Out Sugar Cookies Freeze Dried Strawberries

Next, whisk your flour, salt, freeze dried strawberry powder, and cornstarch together in a medium size bowl and set aside for later. Shout out to John from Preppy Kitchen for introducing me to the idea of adding cornstarch to sugar cookies! Adding cornstarch makes a huge difference in the spread, and workability of the dough.

Combining the Cream Cheese, Butter, and Sugar

Mix your just softened but not squishy butter in the bowl of an electric mixer just until it begins to evenly spread around the sides as shown in the photo below. This is where you’ll need to add your cold cream cheese, and then beat until combined. Don’t go overboard on this, but do make sure they’ve fully incorporated by scraping down the bowl and beater as needed along the way.

Next, add in your sugar and beat until incorporated. Once again, we’re not looking to add a ton of air by beating for long periods of time. Excess air in a dough can also lead to spreading.

Tip: Scraping down your bowl frequently will help ingredients evenly incorporate more quickly, lessening your chances of overworking your dough! I really like this stiffer silicone spatula for making cookie dough that I’ll link below.

Flex-Core Spatula Wood Handle – Light Aqua

Add in the Eggs & Extract

Add in the egg and yolk, along with the vanilla extract and mix until combined.

Mix in the Dry Ingredients

With your mixer on low, slowly add in the flour mixture. Keep an eye on it so you can turn it off when you see there are no more dry ingredient streaks remaining.

Give the bowl and beater a thorough scrape to ensure there are no wet ingredients remaining. Evenly mixed dough increases the consistency of your cookies from the first one you roll out, to the last!

Chilled VS Non Chilled Sugar Cookie Dough

Now here’s where you get to choose your own adventure. A hot topic in the world of sugar cookies is chill time. I did a poll on Instagram to hear what people prefer when it comes to having to chill sugar cookies, and the vast majority of bakers were totally fine with it if it meant better cookies in the end!

Here’s the cool thing about this dough. You can totally get away with not chilling it.You’ll need a bit more flour as you roll it out, and you’ll probably have a pinch more spread in the oven (but when I say pinch, I mean less than 1/8 inch difference from chilled dough option). If 1/4 inch total spread (1/8 inch per side) across your cookie is no biggie to you, by all means, feel free to skip chilling your dough!

Chilling the dough for 2 hours makes the dough SUPER easy to work with, and you need less flour to roll it out which is helpful. My preferred method is to chill my dough in one or two saran wrapped 1″ thick discs or squares for two hours before rolling, cutting, and baking.

Rolling Out the Dough

When it comes to rolling out sugar cookie dough, I can’t recommend a rolling pin with guide rings enough. These bad boys make quick and consistent work of rolling out any kind of dough. I prefer to roll sugar cookies out at 3/8 of an inch so they stay thick and chewy. I’ll throw a link down below to a rolling pin similar to the one I use!

Mepple Rolling Pin with Thickness Rings and Pastry Baking Mat, 13.6″ Adjustable Wood Rolling Pin Dough Roller for Baking Cookie Pizza, Comes with Large Silicone Pastry Mat and Wooden Stand

When rolling out your dough, your goal should be to handle it the least amount possible. The more you work your dough, the more it is likely to spread. Get as many shapes as you can out of each roll out!

I recommend picking your dough up every several rolls and swiping over the counter and backside of the dough to make sure you have an adequate amount of flour to reduce sticking! If you roll your dough out all at once, you might get to the end and realize your dough is stuck to your counter making your shapes a bit more difficult to remove.

TIP: You can use a small offset spatula to move your cookie shapes from the counter to your trays to avoid pinching or bumping the dough

As you go, you can dip your cookie cutter in a bowl of flour to make the dough release even more easily.

Baking the Cookies

Baking Equipment

Now that you have your dough rolled and cut, you may be asking, what is the best surface to bake sugar cookies on? I will pass along a recommendation to use either parchment paper, or a silicone mat. Avoid anything greased or non stick, because that can lead to extra spreading. With how well this recipe holds it’s shape, you can really pack a lot onto one tray (just don’t go any close than 1″ apart)

I used to use parchment paper, but I’ve switched to baking my cookies on a silicone mat! Here’s a link to one of my favorite mats.

Sale

Silpat Premium Non-Stick Silicone Baking Mat, Half Sheet Size, 11-5/8 x 16-1/2, Orange

Bake Time and Checking for Doneness

Bake your cookies at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-13 minutes, or until cookies are no longer shiny on top. Some people who’ve tried this say their ovens bake them a bit faster, so just take a peak at them halfway through and adjust the time as necessary. Also, if you roll the cookies out thinner or use small cookie cutters, the cookies will also need less time to bake.

To see if the cookies are done, look for the sheen to go from shiny, to an even eggshell finish. Making sure you don’t over-bake your cookies is a key step in having a moist result that isn’t dried out. Shoot to have no brown edges/bottoms on the cookies.

Cut Out Sugar Cookie Tips Summary

Sugar Cookie Tips Summary

Use cold ingredients to make the dough
Avoid over mixing
Scrape down the bowl often
Chill dough for two hours to achieve the best workability and the least amount of spreading
Handle dough/re-roll as few times as possible
Use a rolling pin with guide rings for consistent dough thickness
Dip cookie cutter in flour as you go to help the dough release more easily
Bake cookies on a silicone mat or parchment paper
Bake cookies for 10-13 minutes, until the sheen of the tops has changed from shiny, to an even eggshell/matte finish. Avoid over baking and do not brown edges/bottoms. Rotate your baking sheet halfway through the bake time.
Allow cookies to cool completely before frosting

Freeze Dried Strawberry Cut Out Sugar Cookies Frequently Asked Questions

Can I substitute a different freeze dried fruit powder to create different flavors?

Although I haven’t personally tested this, I see no reason why swapping out a different fruit powder wouldn’t work! Give it a try and let me know how it goes! A few thoughts if you do, if you use a less flavorful fruit, you may need to use more powder and compensate by removing more flour from the dry ingredients.

You’ll also need to consider what extracts would pair best with the fruit you choose. I typically recommend using anywhere between 2-3 tsp of extract in sugar cookies depending on the balance of your flavors.

Can I use fresh strawberries instead of freeze dried strawberries in sugar cookies?

I don’t recommend using straight up fresh strawberries because the excess moisture can cause issues in the dough consistency. You’d have to experiment with different ratios to change the recipe that much.

Can I use unsalted butter instead of salted?

Yes you can swap out unsalted for salted butter in baking! If you use unsalted, just add an additional heaping 1/4 tsp of salt per 4 oz stick of butter.

Is it more accurate to measure ingredients by weight, or volume in measuring cups?

Measuring by weight will give you the most accurate results and will be the most true to how this recipe was developed. Depending how densely packed an ingredient is, the amount that fits in 1 cup can vary. If you choose to use cups, I would recommend spooning your flour into the measuring cup rather than scooping it out with the measuring cup itself.

Do these cookies hold their shape?

These cookies hold their shape extremely well! I developed it to be soft and delicious, but still hold clean lines to create beautiful backdrops for decorating. Even with zero chilling, this recipe spreads less than 1/4 inch total. To achieve the sharpest shapes (less than 1/8 inch total spread), chill the dough for two hours before rolling, cutting, and baking.

How can I get the least amount of spread in my cookies?

Use cold ingredients.
Avoid over mixing, over handling, and over rolling your dough. The more air you incorporate, the more potential spread you may have.
Chill your dough for two hours before rolling, and if you want to go the extra mile you can even chill your cookie shapes on the baking sheet for ten minutes after cutting your shapes to further reduce spread!
Bake cookies on silicone mats or parchment paper. Do not use any type of greased or non stick metal because the cookies will have less “grip” and will spread further.
Bake at the proper temperature. Using too low of a temperature causes the butter to melt and spread before the cookie has begun to set. Use an oven thermometer to get accurate readings on your oven’s temperature.
Use a recipe (like this one!) that doesn’t include leaveners like baking soda and baking powder.
Use quality aluminum baking sheets that will evenly conduct heat. (Not dark colored)

Do I have to chill the dough?

You can totally get away without chilling this dough. However, you will need to use a bit more flour when rolling it out, and it might spread a pinch more (and when I say a pinch, I mean less than 1/8 of an inch more than if you were to chill it). For BEST results, chill the dough for two hours before rolling, cutting, and baking. To chill, I prefer to divide the dough into two halves, and then wrap each half in saran wrap and press it into a disc that’s one inch thick. Chilling makes the dough’s consistency a dream to roll and cut shapes, and produces a cookie with little to no spread. We’re talking 1/8 of an inch to none.

Can I make the dough in advance?

Yes! Cookie dough will last three days in an airtight container in the refrigerator, and in the freezer for two months.

Can I freeze the cookies once they’ve been baked?

Yes! Baked unfrosted cookies will last 3 months in an airtight container in the freezer.

Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookie Buttercream

Allow the cookies to cool before frosting. I’ve included my go to Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookie Buttercream that has one more unexpected ingredient that creates the dreamiest flavor! It’s also not overly sweet like a lot of American buttercreams can be so you won’t feel like you have to skimp on the frosting to avoid a toothache.

Unlike the cookie dough, you DO want to beat the butter until light and fluffy for longer periods of time. It makes a big difference in the density and sweetness of your buttercream! Then once you’ve added your extracts, powdered sugar, salt, and then beat it until the whole mixture is light and fluffy, we can move along to my favorite addition.

Say hello to my last key ingredient, French Vanilla Coffee Creamer! You could totally sub this for heavy cream if you’d like to and just compensate with extra vanilla and almond extract to taste, but honestly, you should definitely give the french vanilla a chance! P.S. the salt in the buttercream is important to give balance to the sweetness, so don’t skip it!

I really wanted this buttercream to be creamy and delicious, so I increased the amount of butter I usually add to a buttercream. It does create an “off white” frosting, but I think the flavor and texture is worth it. If you’d like to reduce the yellow coloring a smidge, you can add a TINY tiny amount of purple food coloring which will tip the color to a cooler shade. Go small on this though because you can always put more in, but you can’t take it back out!

To smooth out air bubbles in your buttercream, I recommend running the mixer on low for at least 5 minutes to work out more of the air pockets, or mix by hand with a silicone spatula.

Frost the strawberry cookies with as little or as much buttercream as you like. Stay tuned for design inspiration! I’m going to be frosting these in cute Valentine designs in the next few days.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! It’s a fun one to mix in the rotation when you want the shapes of sugar cookies with a little more flavor variation.

Looking for more sugar cookie ideas? Check out these ideas!

French Blue Floral Buttercream Sugar Cookies

Soft and Chewy Cut Out Sugar Cookies

Sugar Cookie Bars