Strawberry shortbread cookies are tender, buttery cookies made with just five ingredients. Cut into heart shapes, these fruity cookies are perfect for Valentine's Day.
In a spice grinder or food processor, grind freeze dried strawberries into a powder. Set aside.
In a large bowl, add butter and confectioner's sugar and mix with a hand mixer until creamed and fluffy. In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients - freeze dried strawberry powder, flour, and salt.
Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix with a hand mixer until ingredients are just incorporated. Your dough will be very thick and crumbly, but holds its shape when pinched between two fingers (shortbread dough does not come together like regular chocolate chip cookie dough).
Shape dough into a disc and wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Dust counter top and rolling pin with flour, then roll dough to ¼" thickness. Using a 2" heart shaped cookie cutter (or other shapes), cut dough into shapes. Using a spatula, carefully transfer cookies to prepared baking sheet, about 1 inch apart.
Bake for about 9-12 minutes, or until cookies look set/dry across the tops and they begin to very lightly brown around the edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring off baking sheet. Shortbread cookies are very delicate and need time to cool before handling.
Notes
Quantity of cookies will depend on the thickness of your dough and size/shape of cookie cutters. We used a 2" heart to make 40 cookies.
Leftover cookies will keep for up to 5 days in a tightly sealed container. To keep fresh longer, place a slice of bread in your cookie container. The cookies soak up the moisture from the bread and stay tender longer.
Freeze-dried strawberries cannot be substituted with any sort of wet strawberry ingredient (jam, fresh strawberries, etc). Strawberry powder can be omitted to make a plain shortbread cookie. Or, try my chocolate chip shortbread cookie dippers instead (they can also be cut into heart shapes).
For a vibrant pink/red color, add a few drops of red food coloring with the butter.