Mix the Strawberry Shortbread Cookie Dough

Crush the freeze dried strawberries with a mortar and pestle, in a food processor or by placing them in a sealed plastic bag and gently rolling and pounding them with a rolling pin. Keep crushing them until they become a fine powder. Then sift the strawberry powder through a fine mesh sieve to remove any large seeds.

Measure flour, 6 tablespoons strawberry powder and salt into a mixing bowl and whisk together.

Add the butter, sugar and vanilla to the bowl of a stand mixer. With the paddle attachment, blend together on a medium high speed for about 2-3 minutes, just until smooth. Be sure to stop your mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times so you are sure to incorporate all of the sugar into the butter.

With the mixer on a low stir, slowly add the dry ingredients until fully incorporated. You don’t want to over-mix here, only mix until the dough has just come together. The dough should be rough with large crumbles.

Shape Strawberry Shortbread Cookie Dough

Turn out the dough onto a clean surface. Gather the dough together into a disk by gently patting, not kneading the dough, and pat to flatten the top. Once you have a round disk shape, use a knife or a bench knife to cut directly in half. Use your hands to gather each of the dough halves into a rough log shape, then roll each into a smooth log until it is about 1 1⁄2” in diameter, between 7"-8" long.

Transfer each dough log to a sheet of parchment paper. To shape into the triangle, use your hands to gently press the dough together into a peak along the top. Pinch the dough together at the top to create a point, and squeeze the sides between your hands to encourage the dough into a rounded log with one triangular tipped edge. Rotate the dough onto one flat side and gentle smooth and press. Then flip the dough onto the other flat side, smooth and press. You should have a log with a shape that resembles a guitar pick, with two flat sides and one rounded side.

Once you are happy with the triangle shape, place the log centered along the long edge of a sheet of parchment paper. Flip the dough triangle towards the the bottom edge, one side at a time to wrap the dough log entirely in the parchment sheet.

Then twist each end of the paper into pigtails in opposite directions (one towards you and one away from you) to form a locking mechanism. Smooth out the sides with your hands. Repeat with second dough.

Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour or longer. This allows the dough to set up and hold its shape nicely when baking. *You can also freeze the dough at this point. Just remember to defrost it overnight in the fridge or at room temperature for about at least a half hour before slicing and baking. If the dough is too cold or frozen, it may crack and crumble when slicing.

Bake Strawberry Shortbread Cookies

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Remove dough logs from the fridge and unroll on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, slice the logs into 1⁄2” thick cookies. You should get about 12-14 cookies per log. Optionally freeze the cookies on a lined baking sheet for 15-20 minutes, this helps them maintain their shape as they bake.

To bake, arrange cookies on parchment paper lined baking sheet with about 1" of space on all sides, evenly spaced. Bake for 12-14 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the bake. They should come out with a golden ring around the edge and be firm to the touch.

Allow to cool either on the trays or transfer to a cooling rack.

Chocolate Dip & Decorate

Melt chocolate using the double boiler method by bringing a medium saucepan of water to a simmer over medium-high heat. Set a heatproof bowl over the top and add the chocolate. Stir constantly with a spatula until the chocolate melts and is totally smooth. Be sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the simmering water.

Dip the tip of each triangle shaped shortbread cookie into the melted chocolate, covering about half of the cookie. Allow the excess chocolate to drip off before placing the cookies on a parchment paper lined baking sheet or cooling rack. Sprinkle more crushed strawberries onto the chocolate it's still tacky. Allow the chocolate at least 1 hour to set completely.