These strawberry cookies are everything you want in a sweet treat – soft centers, crisp edges, and a bold, jammy strawberry flavor that runs all the way through. Plus – no artificial coloring, just big, vibrant, pink cookies. The berries are roasted, to help concentrate their flavor, so every bite is evenly packed with that bright, sweet-tart strawberry flavor. I’m always surprised at how starkly strawbery-y they taste!
This recipe has had a few recent tweaks, making it easier, more reliable, and more delicious than before. The cookies are less cakey and more chewy-meets-crispy thanks to a roll in turbinado sugar. The strawberries are roasted for better flavor and overall texture. And don’t worry, their pink hue is still very much part of the appeal. These make a great ice cream sandwich cookie, but also a fantastic treat if you love anything strawberry.
Read on for all my tips/tricks on how to make these strawberry cookies!
Table of contents
Why it’s crucial to roast the strawberries
Roasting the strawberries is a non-negotiable here! It helps cook off excess moisture so you hit that perfect middle ground – not too wet, not too dry. As they roast, the berries soften and concentrate into this jammy, super flavorful version of themselves that melts into the dough.
The old version of this recipe chose the easy way out by not roasting the strawberries, and what that did was give the dough excess moisture that was nearly impossible to work around, leaving you with a tasty cookie, but one that could get gummy or cakey depending on how it was baked. Now, the flavor of the strawberry hits you first, thanks to how concentrated it is after the roasting process. These roasted strawberries emulsify easier with the butter, and they make a cookie dough that acts very similar to a chocolate chip cookie – crispy on the edges and gooey on the center – just with a very berry flavor.
It’s the step that makes all the difference between a cookie that just has strawberries in it and one that actually tastes like strawberries.
Ingredients you need for these strawberry cookies
- 3 cups (360g) strawberries, fresh or frozen
- 1 cup (227g) salted butter, softened
- 1Â cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) brown sugar
- 2 cups and 2 tablespoons (300g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon beet powder, optional, for color
- 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 cup (180g) white chocolate, chopped
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) Turbinado sugar, for rolling
Ingredient substitutions
This recipe is really customizable! Here are some substitution suggestions:
- Strawberries: Can be swapped with raspberries, blackberries or blueberries (cherries also would work!). Just make sure to not skip the roasting!
- All-purpose flour: Can be swapped for King Arthur’s 1:1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour, if needed.
- Butter:Â I initially developed this recipe using plant-based butter. It came out well and can be used in place of regular butter. No other fat substitutions are suitable here.
- Beet powder:Â Instead of beet powder, you can blend up freeze-dried berries until you have a fine powder, or just omit.
- White chocolate: Can be swapped with white chocolate chips, regular chocolate chips, vegan chocolate chips (I like the ones from Pascha), or you can omit.
How to mix roasted strawberries into cookie dough
- After roasting the berries, gently mash them into a paste. If there’s too much moisture, roast them for another 10 minutes.
- Add the mashed strawberries to the bowl of a stand mixer along with the butter. Mix on medium speed for 2-3 minutes. It won’t fully mix yet but do the best you can to make a smooth mixture.
- Add the sugars and mix on medium speed for 10 minutes (!). It will feel long but it’s crucial to help the dough emulsify the berries and get light and fluffy.
Then you’ll add in the dry ingredients like normal and bake!
Storage tips
Here’s the best way to store these cookies, based on each method:
To store the baked cookies in the fridge:Â These will keep in an airtight container for up to 5 days. I like to wrap each cookie in a layer of wax paper to prevent the from sticking to each other.
Why is this recipe in grams?
Grams is always my preference for baking, and I hope it will be yours, too. The only way to ensure complete accuracy is through measuring by weight, not volume. One cup of flour can weigh all the way from 120 grams to 160 grams, depending on how it was packed. This ends up causing some volatility and mismatched results.
I want to ensure you get the best results with this recipe (and I want to keep this recipe foolproof!) so I highly recommend getting a small affordable kitchen scale if you want to move forward with this particular recipe.
Watch the recipe here
The video may not fully represent the recipe. For best results, follow the instructions as written.
Looking for more cookie recipes?
Salted Banana Cookies
Matcha Cookies
Brown Butter Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
And that’s it for these Strawberry Cookies!
If you make them, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
You can also shop this video if you’re looking for the exact pieces I use – I’ve linked everything on my ShopMy! *some links may contain affiliate commissions
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3
Equipment
- 1 whisk
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- 3 cups (360g) strawberries, fresh or frozen
- 1 cup (227g) salted butter, softened
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) brown sugar
- 2 cups and 2 tablespoons (300g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon beet powder, optional, for color
- 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 cup (180g) white chocolate, chopped and divided
- 1/4 cup (50g) turbinado sugar, for rolling
InstructionsÂ
- Stagger two racks in your oven and preheat to 350°F convection, or 375°F standard.
- Add 360 grams of strawberries to a parchment-lined baking pan. Roast for 45 minutes (if using frozen) or 25 minutes (if using fresh). You want most of their moisture released, with the strawberries feeling stiff and firm. Gently mash them into a paste, adding them back into the oven for 10 minutes if there is still too much moisture (see blog image for reference).
- To the bowl of a stand mixer, add the mashed strawberries and 227 grams of softened butter. Mix on medium speed for 2-3 minutes. It won’t fully mix, but do the best you can to make a smooth mixture!
- Add 200 grams of granulated sugar and 50 grams of brown sugar and mix on medium speed for 10 minutes (yes, ten!). It will feel long, but it’s crucial to help the dough emulsify and get light and fluffy.
- While the mixer is going, in a separate bowl, whisk together 300 grams of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon beet root powder and 1 teaspoon kosher salt.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until just combined.
- Add in three fourths of the white chocolate and mix again, reserving some for topping. The dough will be soft, but shouldn’t be unmanageable.
- Scoop the cookie dough into 16 2-ounce balls and roll just their tops in turbinado sugar. Add them to a parchment-lined baking sheet, spaced 2-inches apart, and press the remaining white chocolate chunks on top.
- Bake for 12 minutes then take them out and give them a smack on the counter. Use a large cup, cookie cutter, or bowl to swirl around the cookies, easing them into circles. Bake for another 3-5 minutes. You are looking for the cookies to be slightly golden on the edges and no longer wet. See baking notes below!*
- Let them cool for around 10-15 minutes, until they feel solid and crisp on the edges, then enjoy!
Notes
Old Version
Below is the original recipe that was first developed in 2022. For the updated recipe, please see the above.
Makes 12 cookies
Total cook time: 27 minutes
Ingredients
- 3Â cups (360g) fresh strawberries
- 1 cup & 2 tbsp (250g) granulated sugar
- 2 sticks (228g) plant-based butter, *see author’s notes
- 3 cups (390g) all-purpose flour
- 1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup (180g) white chocolate chips, chopped
- 1 tbsp flakey Himalayan pink salt, for topping
Instructions
- Using a chef’s knife, finely chop the strawberries until they are almost macerated. Chop to get them as fine as possible. If you are open to it, you can also use a blender to turn them into a purée, just be sure not to add any extra liquid.
- Add the strawberries and any excess juice to the bowl of your stand mixer. Add in the plant-based butter and sugar. Put on the paddle attachment, and turn your mixer on low speed to break everything apart. Later move it up to medium speed to beat everything together. Let this beat for about 4-5 minutes or until the mixture is noticeably lighter and fluffier.
- ***Note, this mixture will not fully emulsify, and don’t worry! The hunks of strawberries and the liquid from the strawberries make it impossible to get a smooth result. What you are looking for is that the butter and sugar have creamed together, creating aeration that holds the strawberries together and makes a light, fluffy (if not kind of chunky) mixture of wet ingredients.
- While the mixer is going, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- In two rounds, add the dry ingredients into the wet. Use a spatula to fold in the dry ingredients. Do this gently to make sure the dough is as light as possible.
- Add in the chocolate chips and mix again. The dough will be wet, but that’s a good thing!
- Preheat the oven to 375°F, store the cookie dough in the fridge while the oven preheats.
- When it is time to bake, portion the cookie dough out into 12 equal sized balls, each weighing about 4 oz. Sprinkle each ball with a liberal amount of flakey pink salt.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes at 375°F, or until the bottoms are golden.
- Remove the baking sheets from the oven and give them a smack on the countertop to help the cookies depuff and spread out. This is a critical step unless you want puffy cookies!
- Use a large cup to swirl around the edges of the cookies to create a perfect circle. Let them cool for a few minutes and enjoy!
Note*: Vegan butter is used because it is lighter in color compared to classic butter. Classic butter, depending on the variety, is useable, but it will result in a more muted color in the final result.Â
Comments
Justine, these are so pretty! Might make them for my floor since I’m moving into my new dorm tomorrow! Do you think coconut oil would work instead of vegan butter? I’m thinking it might make them spread too much.
Couple of notes – I would definitely recommend stating in this post whether the butter should be room temp or chilled, salted or unsalted, etc. I went ahead and used chilled unsalted, because in your TikTok video the vegan butter looked rather solid, but I’m not vegan and am unsure if that’s the normal consistency or it was chilled. But they’re truly amazing. I can’t wait to make the blueberry cookies!
Hi Justine, these look great! What are your thoughts on using almond flour in this recipe?
I’d recommend a 1:1 gf flour blend if you are gluten free! Almond flour tends to absorb more moisture so it can’t be substituted 1:1 in this.
Hi Justine! Not sure what went wrong because I followed the recipe to a T but for some reason, I ended up with about 22 cookies and they didn’t rise that much. The inside of the cookie is still a little raw so I’m trying to bake them longer so they cook all the way thru. It almost seems that there’s too much moisture inside. Maybe the measuring utensils are not as accurate and I thought. They taste great though just under cooked inside. Any suggestions?
This could be a lot of issues but my first thought is opt for a scale to measure next time, and the cookies should be a bit bigger, with the recipe yielding about half of what you got. This helps regulate the temp a bit as they cook – but again, it could also be factors like the oven, the berries not being ultra macerated or even being at a different stage of ripeness. I wish I could fully diagnose but please take these as my best guesses for not being there during the process!
Hi Justine, I have super ripe blackberries I just picked and wanted to try in a cookie – would you recommend the same weight as the strawberries or any modification?
All berries are different and I haven’t personally tested it with blackberries, but I’m a little nervous at the potential of the seeds impacting the result of the recipe. But if you try it, start with the same weight measurement and please report back!
Hiya, as a vegan and vegan white chocolate chips not being great, could you replace with chopped peeled almonds to get a similar flavour?
I made these with fresh raspberries (same weight) and they were AMAZING!!!
Omg I’m thrilled! I’m so glad it worked!
I measured out 4 oz of refrigerated cookie dough, and they turned out HUGE, bigger than any glass I own to circle them lol
Flattened like a regular cookie in the oven- nothing changed when I counter smacked since they were already flat.
I think I did not macerate the strawberries enough, or something else maybe?
I was intimidated by how much salt was added on top, but they turned out great despite the few little obstacles!
naturally like your web site but you have to test the spelling on several of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling problems and I in finding it very troublesome to inform the reality on the other hand I will surely come again again.
These were so different and delicious! Made them for a work party and everyone loved them!
Omg I’m so thrilled you made them! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review and comment <3
These look so pretty and delicious
Hi! Love the vegan berry cookie recipes!
I just tested mine out and my recipe is making about 3-4 dozen cookies using a cookie scooper! I’m not mad :). Two quick notes. I roughly chopped my berries then let the stand mixer destroy them a little more on a low setting (for us non pro choppers – this works for m). Second I used half confectioners sugar half organic coarse (because it’s all I had). Turned out really delish.
Final thing. I added a heaping tablespoon of strawberry preserves at the end. I wish I added more. It gave it some fun caramelization is some places.
My parents are vegan and I love bringing them these cookies! Thank you.
Oooo this sounds delicious! Thank you for taking the time to leave a thorough review, I know other readers really appreciate it! (And so do I!)
Just made this with a friend for her first batch of homemade cookies– it was a success, so delicious! They are on the softer side but still pillowy and yummy. Thanks!
I’m honored to be part of her first! So glad this was a success 🙂
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