Strawberries. A baker’s worst enemy. You might have experienced this: you have a carton of summer strawberries on your counter, the idea of muffins or cookies or pie sounds oh-so-appealing, you pull out your mixing bowls, find a good recipe….and then you watch, with increasing levels of horror, as your strawberries go from ripe, plump, and red to mushy, watery, and brown.
“I will never again bake with strawberries.” Or so I thought.
I spent Tuesday with one of my dearest friends in the world. She showed me her backyard garden, verdant with herbs like cilantro and basil, with vegetables like kale and squash. She also showed me two small strawberry bushes…with a few ripening berries making their entrance into the world. As I drove home, I thought about those tiny berries and how lovely they’d taste in a few weeks’ time. And the baking dilemma bit me. I wanted to make strawberry cookies so badly…but dare I try?
A few traffic jams were good for my thought-process because by the time I reached Colorado Springs and our neighborhood Whole Foods, I knew just what I needed to do. Roast. I needed to draw out the liquid of the berries and intensify their sweetness before adding them to my cookies. And the stars seemed aligned with my plan because when I walked into the grocery store, there were my organic strawberries, almost 50% off.
These thumbprint cookies are buttery and not too sweet. I used coconut sugar instead of granulated sugar which added a wonderful color and nuttiness to my thumbprint. And the strawberries? Well, I roasted them with a few tablespoons of raw honey, and my house smelled delightful as they caramelized in the oven. I took them out and tried a bite before spooning them on top of my thumbprints (I had a jar of jam as a back-up). Hallelujah. My fear of baking with strawberries was finally gone.
Roasted Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies
1 pound strawberries, washed and hulled
2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Toss strawberries with honey and place in a deep baking pan. Allow to roast in oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until the juices are thick and bubbly. Set aside to cool
In a medium bowl attached to a stand mixer, beat together coconut sugar and butter until smooth and creamy, about five minutes. Stir in egg and vanilla. Beat until combined. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir dry ingredients into butter-sugar mixture. A soft dough should form. Allow to chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Scoop dough out in one-inch balls. Place about two-inches apart on baking sheet. With your thumb or the back of a spoon, form a small indentation into each piece of dough. Generously spoon roasted strawberries into center. Bake cookies until the edges are lightly golden, about 12 minutes. Remove and serve warm.
These cookies look so cute, they almost look like mini strawberry pies! Great idea roasting the strawberries!
I adore roasted strawberries too! 🙂 They are always a delight. Your cookies are beautiful. 🙂
Yeah, I’ve experienced the misery of trying to bake with strawberries. Ugh.
These look delicious though! And really quite pretty too!
Mmmm roasted strawberries are SO good! Adding them into these cookies is such a great idea!
I love thumbprint cookies!! They just make me happy! These look amazing. And roasted strawberries make just about anything better 🙂 Happy friday friend!
How cool! I just made a delicious strawberry coffee cake last night, so we both have strawberries in our minds… and mouths! 😉
I had never baked anything with strawberries until yesterday, I really like the way it turns out, not too sweet, I bet these cookies are amazing!
I agree! I can’t wait to hear more about this coffee cake! Yum!
Monet, it will take me quite a while to blog on mine, so here is the recipe:
http://www.food.com/recipe/strawberry-coffee-cake-67733
everyone raved about it in our department… it is not too sweet, very delicious
Yes to roasted strawberries! These thumbprints look scrumptious.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Angie
Roasting strawberries? It’s genius and something I’ve never tried before. My only problem will be not eating them off the pan so I can actually get to the cookie making stage 🙂
So true! I almost abandoned the recipe and just ate them over ice cream 🙂
Don’t be scared of strawberries girl, I cook, bake and eat them raw like crazy. Aren’t strawberries amazing? And your cookies look amazing! I’ll try them when I can eat a solid food again 😀 Big hug to three of you <3
They are so good, aren’t they? xoxo
There is nothing better than strawberries in the summer.
You should store your strawberries in the refrigerator – they’ll last much longer, up to a week. But these cookies! Oh my, they look heavenly!
Hi Laura! Oh I do! The mushiness tends to happen when I try to bake with them. Thank you for your kind words 😉
Looks and sounds delish! I love the idea of using coconut sugar for some added nuttiness. Yum!
These sound so good! I’m not afraid of baking with strawberries!! These are totally up my alley 🙂
so brilliant!!! I can almost smell how wonderful these must have smelled! (and tasted! :P)
This is a lovely idea if you don’t want to have the extra sugar from jam! Love the cake stand by the way 😀
These look phenomenal! I know what you mean about baking strawberries. I’ve been there haha
I have such a love/hate relationship with baking with strawberries! It can be so hit and miss. These cookies look perfect though 🙂
Monet,
Your thumbprints Look like pure heaven to me! Strawberries are my favorite fruit, but I never thought to roast them, Pure genius! I will be making these soon!
Have a great weekend with Lucy and Ryan!
I’m actually an enormous fan of buying flats upon flats of strawberries–but you’re right, I almost never get around to baking with them if I don’t freeze them all up right away. The idea of fresh thumbprint cookies sounds really amazing, though! And I especially love the fact that you’ve roasted the strawberries, too. Grade-A scrumptious!
ooh these sound great!
What a beautiful cookie! The roasting of the strawberries simply adds that layer of flavor. My hubby would adore these!!!
I love the simplicity and beauty of these strawberry thumbprint cookies! Such a perfect use for ripened strawberries in the summertime! 🙂
Roasted strawberries are so good and I love that you made thumbprint cookies with them. These look amazing!
Monet, a wonderful cookie to bake in summertime when strawberries are at their best and so abundantly available!
Have a great weekend with Ryan and Lucy!
Roasting the strawberries first is a great idea. Your cookies are so pretty!
I love thumbprint cookies! And since strawberries are my very FAV summer fruit, I’m thinking I need at least 2 dozen of these!
Yes! I have totally been there with strawberries! Roasting them looks like the perfect solution, and these cookies are beauts – little cups of strawberry love. <3
What a great idea filling a thumbprint cookie with roasted strawberries instead of jam! Best filling ever — these cookies look delicious!
These thumbprint cookies look amazing!! Love the idea of roasting the strawberries.. 🙂
I love strawberries but I don’t think I have ever tried to bake with them before! I’m glad you figured out a way for them to stay bright and beautiful! These cookies look so soft and amazing!
another great recipe monet! these look delicious.. dont think you can ever go wrong with strawberries. i am so craving one right now!
I love making (and eating) thumbprint cookies – these look so sweet! Love the addition of roasted strawberry – so fancy!
I always buy way too many fresh local strawberries because I get so excited that it’s in season, so many that i can’t eat them all before they start rotting. I’m an idiot for not freezing or baking with them earlier! These thumbprint cookies look delightfully delicious, Monet. I LOVE that you roasted them first to draw out the moisture and intensify the flavour – brilliant move, lady!
That is a great tip, thank you!
I love that you started with fresh strawberries. These look like the best thumbprint cookies I have ever seen.
I am completely addicted to roasted strawberries after trying them earlier this year, I bet these gorgeous cookies are far to easy to eat by the handful!