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Thinner shortbread cookies (no baking soda or powder) flavored with strawberry gelatin powder and then "painted" with food coloring in water. Unbaked cookie balls are rolled in a mixture of red, pink & Sparkling sugar ~ flattened ~ then a green leaf is piped on after they're cool. Melted dark chocolate is drizzled over them with more of the colored sugars. Only about 2 dozen 3" cookies from the recipe ~ just enough for a special touch to Holiday and Valentine's baskets (but the recipe can easily be doubled).
DARK CHOCOLATE Drizzled STRAWBERRY Sugared SHORTBREAD COOKIES
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened.......................1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon..............................................................1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 heaping TB strawberry gelatin powder
1-1/4 cups flour ..................................................................1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
dark chocolate for melting (wafers, bar or chocolate chips ~ about 1/2 cup)
red Food Coloring (and a little dish with water)
some red & pink colored sugar + Sparkling sugar ~ mixed in a little dish
Green decorator icing (plastic tube with leaf tip)
***
Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Put the colored sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
Mix butter, spices and sugar in mixer bowl until well combined. Beat in flour, strawberry jello powder, and vanilla extract until mixture is smooth and holds together (may take a few minutes). (If the jello powder didn't make it red enough, you can add a drop or 2 of red food coloring.) It should clump around the paddle.
I take it out and knead it a little ~ then roll it into a thick, even log about 12" long. Cut the log into 1" pieces and roll them into tight balls with your hands. Put 6 on each cookie sheet and even out the sizes (they WILL spread while baking). (If they seem to big, steal a little from each cookie ball and you may get enough for 1 or 2 more.) Then roll them in the combined colored & Sparkling sugar and put them back on the cookie sheet. I use the flat bottom of a measuring cup to flatten them down quite a bit. With your fingers, pinch together one side of each cookie (to resemble the bottom of the strawberry) ~ with a chopstick or side of a straw, lay it down to create a little hollow at the top of the strawberry (where you'll pipe the leaf later).
Bake 9-11 minutes, or until they feel very slightly "getting firm" to the touch. Cool on the pan about 5 minutes, then remove to rack or paper to cool. While they were still warm, I put about 1-2 drops of red drop into the little bowl and used a tiny paintbrush (cheap kid's paintbrush) to shade the strawberries a little darker around the "hole" on top and along one side and bottom. Then, when they are totally cool, pipe on a green stem at the top with the decorator icing. Drizzle the melted dark chocolate across the bottom half and really load it with the colored & Sparkling sugar again. Let cool & harden before storing.
Makes about 1 dozen
DARK CHOCOLATE Drizzled STRAWBERRY Sugared SHORTBREAD COOKIES
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened.......................1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon..............................................................1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 heaping TB strawberry gelatin powder
1-1/4 cups flour ..................................................................1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
dark chocolate for melting (wafers, bar or chocolate chips ~ about 1/2 cup)
red Food Coloring (and a little dish with water)
some red & pink colored sugar + Sparkling sugar ~ mixed in a little dish
Green decorator icing (plastic tube with leaf tip)
***
Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Put the colored sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
Mix butter, spices and sugar in mixer bowl until well combined. Beat in flour, strawberry jello powder, and vanilla extract until mixture is smooth and holds together (may take a few minutes). (If the jello powder didn't make it red enough, you can add a drop or 2 of red food coloring.) It should clump around the paddle.
I take it out and knead it a little ~ then roll it into a thick, even log about 12" long. Cut the log into 1" pieces and roll them into tight balls with your hands. Put 6 on each cookie sheet and even out the sizes (they WILL spread while baking). (If they seem to big, steal a little from each cookie ball and you may get enough for 1 or 2 more.) Then roll them in the combined colored & Sparkling sugar and put them back on the cookie sheet. I use the flat bottom of a measuring cup to flatten them down quite a bit. With your fingers, pinch together one side of each cookie (to resemble the bottom of the strawberry) ~ with a chopstick or side of a straw, lay it down to create a little hollow at the top of the strawberry (where you'll pipe the leaf later).
Bake 9-11 minutes, or until they feel very slightly "getting firm" to the touch. Cool on the pan about 5 minutes, then remove to rack or paper to cool. While they were still warm, I put about 1-2 drops of red drop into the little bowl and used a tiny paintbrush (cheap kid's paintbrush) to shade the strawberries a little darker around the "hole" on top and along one side and bottom. Then, when they are totally cool, pipe on a green stem at the top with the decorator icing. Drizzle the melted dark chocolate across the bottom half and really load it with the colored & Sparkling sugar again. Let cool & harden before storing.
Makes about 1 dozen
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