While thumbing through Nancy Baggett's Simply Sensational Cookies, I noticed an unusual recipe for "Very Strawberry Sugar Dusties." I own a lot of cookbooks, almost all of which focus exclusively on baking, so I've seen a lot of cookie recipes. But this one stood out because it calls for freeze-fried strawberry (or raspberry) powder, which Baggett says gives the cookies "a distinctive, intense fruitiness."
Baggett provides a recipe to make freeze-dried strawberry powder, which basically entails running freeze-dried fruit and powdered sugar through the food processor and straining the resulting mixture. I decided to just grind some Just Tomatoes freeze-dried strawberries with a hand blender, because this is the procedure I use to make corn powder from freeze-dried corn for Christina Tosi's Corn Cookies, and it works out great. I didn't add any powdered sugar and I didn't sieve the resulting mixture, but I still ended up with a very fine and uniform strawberry powder (even though I created a bit of a free-floating strawberry dust cloud in the process).
This recipe is in the "Extra-Easy Cookies" chapter of the book, and once your have your fruit powder, making the dough is simple. You mix softened butter, vegetable oil, powdered sugar, baking soda, the strawberry powder, and water until blended and smooth. After you incorporate the flour, the dough is ready to bake immediately; you just shape the dough into balls (I used a #50 scoop) and arrange them on a baking sheet. After baking but while the cookies are still warm, you dredge them in a mixture of powdered sugar and more strawberry powder.
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The resulting cookies are delightfully bright pink. Tom said they tasted like a cross between a spritz cookie and a Cap'n Crunch Crunchberry. The cookies are similar to Mexican wedding cakes (or these Ginger Butter Balls) in concept, except for the strawberry flavor. I thought that they were quite tasty, although the texture of the cookie perhaps could have been more tender (like a Mexican wedding cake, which should melt in your mouth). I definitely see this cookie making an appearance at future girl-themed baby showers.
Recipe: "Very Strawberry Sugar Dusties" from Simply Sensational Cookies, by Nancy Baggett.
Previous Post: "A Silly Name, But Seriously Delicious: Ginger Butter Balls," May 15, 2012.
Baggett provides a recipe to make freeze-dried strawberry powder, which basically entails running freeze-dried fruit and powdered sugar through the food processor and straining the resulting mixture. I decided to just grind some Just Tomatoes freeze-dried strawberries with a hand blender, because this is the procedure I use to make corn powder from freeze-dried corn for Christina Tosi's Corn Cookies, and it works out great. I didn't add any powdered sugar and I didn't sieve the resulting mixture, but I still ended up with a very fine and uniform strawberry powder (even though I created a bit of a free-floating strawberry dust cloud in the process).
This recipe is in the "Extra-Easy Cookies" chapter of the book, and once your have your fruit powder, making the dough is simple. You mix softened butter, vegetable oil, powdered sugar, baking soda, the strawberry powder, and water until blended and smooth. After you incorporate the flour, the dough is ready to bake immediately; you just shape the dough into balls (I used a #50 scoop) and arrange them on a baking sheet. After baking but while the cookies are still warm, you dredge them in a mixture of powdered sugar and more strawberry powder.
.JPG)
Recipe: "Very Strawberry Sugar Dusties" from Simply Sensational Cookies, by Nancy Baggett.
Previous Post: "A Silly Name, But Seriously Delicious: Ginger Butter Balls," May 15, 2012.
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