Strawberry Mint Shortbread Cookies

This is a soft shortbread cookie that isn’t overly sweet with a light cream cheese buttercream, fresh strawberries and mint to cut some of the sweetness.

The strawberries can easily be switched to another fruit you may have on hand, like blueberries or raspberries and you can easily omit the mint if you wish.

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A post shared by Kyra (@itsalwaysthyme) on May 27, 2020 at 4:27pm PDT

Start by preparing your dough in a stand mixer. Beat your butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then start adding eggs one at a time. Slowly mix in sour cream and almond flavoring with the dry ingredients. The dough will be slightly sticky, but I like to start out that way otherwise it will get more tough and dry the more you add flour when rolling out.

Gently flour your surface and rolling pin and roll out around 1/4″ or however thick or thin you want them. (they will puff up a bit)

Use any cookie cutter you wish to use and begin pressing it into the dough and releasing it. Place on a sprayed or parchment covered baking sheet.

When you bake these cookies, you pretty much want to underbake them. They DO NOT take very long. 5-6 minutes. If you bake them longer, they will become dry and not as soft.

While your cookies are cooling, begin your cream cheese buttercream. The key to an amazing butter cream is sifted powdered sugar, heavy cream, and a pinch of salt. You want to give the frosting time to beat for several minutes to give air and lightness to the buttercream. It’s so good you may need a spoonful before starting on your cookies. 😉

These cookies need to be served immediately or frosted and kept in an airtight container until ready to be topped and served.

If you make these, take a picture and tag me on Instagram @itsalwaysthyme, I would LOVE to see them or comment here below on my post! 🙂

Strawberry Mint Shortbread Cookies

a yummy treat that suits any occasion during the summertime. The fresh mint gives a pop of brightness to the sweet but tangy cream cheese frosting.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 3 dozen

Ingredients

  

• ½ cup of salted butter, softened
• 1 ¼ cups of granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup of sour cream
• 2 tsp. almond flavoring
• 3-3 ¼ cups of all purpose flour + more for rolling out
• 1 ½ tsp. of baking powder
• ½ tsp. of baking soda
• ½ tsp. of salt
• 1 heaping cup of fresh mint, chopped and divided
• fresh strawberries, sliced or diced
• sanding or coarse sugar

Cream cheese Buttercream

• 4 oz. of cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup of salted butter, soft but slightly cool
• 4-5 cups of powdered sugar, sifted
• 2 T. heavy whipping cream
• ¾ tsp. of clear vanilla
• pinch of salt

Instructions

 

Make and bake the shortbread cookies:

• Start by beating butter and sugar together for several minutes until light and fluffy.

  Gradually add eggs one at a time and combine well.
• Combine the dry ingredients and ½ cup of fresh mint together and rotate with the sourcream and almond extract gently until dough is formed. (do not beat it.)

  The dough should be a little sticky and that is ok. You will need to add additional flour your surface when rolling out so it will be fine!
• Preheat your oven to 350° and grease baking sheets or line them with parchemnt paper.
• Cut your dough into quarters and start rolling the first one out. Lightly flour your surface and rolling pin and roll your dough until its about ¼" thick.

  Use whatever cookie cutter you wish and begin cutting out your cookies.
• Place on baking sheet and bake for 5-6 minutes. You will want them slightly underbaked to keep them soft and light. Let them sit on the baking sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Begin making your cream cheese butter cream:

• Beat your cream cheese and butter together very well (3 minutes) until it is incorporated.

  Gradually add the sifted powdered sugar and the rest of the ingredients until the frosting starts to come together.

  Scrape down the sides of the bowl several times.

  Begin to beat the buttercream for 3-4 minutes. (you will see the difference in texture and color once it is done.)

  Taste and judge if it needs a bit more powdered sugar or heavy cream. If so add a little more and beat for another minute.

Begin frosting the cookies:

• Next slice strawberries and chop the mint.

  Start frosting your cookies with the buttercream and topping with sliced strawbrries, chopped mint, and some sanding sugar for sparkle.

  Serve cookies immediately otherwise the juice from the strawberries will start to bleed. 

  If you want to make them ahead of time, frost the cookies and keep in an airtight container until needed, then assemble.

Notes

You can easily use other berries or fruit to this cookie.

When you sift the powdered sugar, measure it first before sifting.

Keyword berries, cookie, frosting, mint, shortbread, strawberry