Strawberry Shortcake Cookies Cream Cheese Filling

This post contains helpful tips and tricks! If you’re in a rush, please use the “Jump to Recipe” above!

💭 Why you should make this recipe

Use fresh strawberries or frozen strawberries: If you’ve stopped to ask, “What can I use strawberries for?” this recipe is for you! Easy to make with fresh strawberries in the summer and frozen ones during the rest of the year. Easy to make, ready in under an hour: These cookies are utterly delicious, soft and chewy and super fluffy but they take very little time to make. You can also make and freeze the cookie dough ahead of time if you’d like! Delicious flavor combo. The sweet and tangy taste of fresh strawberries, paired with the buttery and crumbly texture of shortcake, who can resist?

📋 Ingredients and notes

These strawberry shortcake cookies use just nine simple ingredients (not counting the optional filling). This includes all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt (salt is critical to activate the baking powder), granulated and brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, lemon juice and fresh strawberries.

Notes:

You can use fresh or frozen strawberries! I use fresh strawberries in the summer and then use frozen ones the rest of the year. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can swap the dough recipe for your favorite cake mix and then fold strawberries in. This results in cakey strawberry cookies, but they have more strawberry flavor!

Other Variations:

Use extracts: For example, almond extract can add a subtle nutty flavor, or lemon extract can provide a citrusy twist! Add a tangy twist: You can add a tangy twist by incorporating cream cheese into the cookie dough. You can also incorporate some lemon zest or a small amount of lemon juice into the cookie dough for a refreshing citrusy flavor. Dip them in chocolate: After baking the cookies, dip half of each cookie in melted chocolate and allow it to set. This will add a decadent touch and a delightful contrast of flavors.

🍓 Make strawberry cookies from scratch

This recipe is inspired by Otis Spunkmeyer’s strawberry shortcake cookies (loved them when I lived in the Bay Area). That version has white chocolate and cranberries in it. Mine is simpler and highlights the deliciousness of the strawberries in just three steps!

Chop strawberries and soak in lemon juice and sugar

Soaking strawberries in lemon and sugar brings out both the sweet and tart components in the fruit. This makes them a perfect complement to the sweet and fluffy cookies! It also helps keep the strawberries fresh for longer. I strain strawberries after soaking for 10 minutes, and strain again before adding to the dough. You can save the strained liquid too! Just add it to cream cheese for a strawberry-flavored filling! If you wish, you can add some rose water to this to enhance the strawberry flavor with something super complementary.

Next, prepare the dough and fold in strawberries

Mix the all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt and sift them together. Cream butter with both sugars, and add eggs and vanilla extract to make a smooth mix. Then, combine with the dry ingredients to make a flaky dough. Drain strawberries, fold gently into the dough. Then, scoop out medium sized balls and bake them, spaced about 2" apart on a large tray at 350F. For a decadent cookie, you can add strawberry jam or cream cheese filling (see below for notes)

Portion dough and bake!

Using a cookie scoop, portion out the dough into equal pieces (roughly 1.5 tablespoons each) and then place them on a baking sheet, neatly spaced apart from each other. Your strawberry shortcake cookies are ready to be devoured!

🧁 Optional Filling (Jam or Cream Cheese)

The strawberry shortcake cookies, without any fillings, are already absolutely delicious. They are also a tad lighter than the ones with filling. But occasionally, you want a more decadent cookie. So if you want a “filled” cookie, you have two options. You can either use a strawberry jam or a cream cheese filling.

Simple strawberry jam filling

Remove the edges, and chop up 1 lb of strawberries. Add this to a small saucepan, along with 1.5 cups of granulated sugar. Bring to a boil, then add 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice. Continue boiling for 15 minutes, stirring to make sure they don’t stick to the bottom or burn.
Portion the cookie dough into 12 equal sized “dough balls” and then flatten them. Use your thumb to create an indent in the center of each cookie. Add a teaspoon of the jam to the thumbprint area. Bake and enjoy your jam thumbprint strawberry shortcake cookies!

Decadent cream cheese filling

Cream together 4 oz of soft cream cheese with 2 tablespoon of powdered sugar. As soon as you’re done creating the filling, portion them into 12 teaspoon sized dollops on a baking sheet. Throw this in the freezer while you prepare the dough (~10 minutes). Then, you can make a simple thumbprint cookie for an easy fix, or you can stuff the cookie. I’ll warn before you start. “Stuffing” the cookie is a bit messy and takes a while, so if you want a quick, clean, but delicious method, the thumbprint method is the way to go. But hey, if you’re up for an adventure, you won’t regret stuffing the cookie! I was inspired by Sally’s Baking Addiction (specifically, her red velvet cookies) to freeze the filling before stuffing the cookie. Take two small portions of cookie dough (small cookie scoop or about a tablespoon of dough each). Flatten one of them a bit. Take a frozen cream cheese filling ball, and place it in the center of the cookie dough. Cover with the other piece of cookie dough and roll into a nice smooth ball. The key is to do this as quickly as possible. The heat from your hand could start melting the cream cheese, and then it’s a mess. Delicious, but still a mess. Ideally, you want the filling to be cool as it goes into the oven. So, consider popping the finished cookies in the fridge for a few minutes before you pop these stuffed strawberry shortcake cookies into the oven.

Picking the right strawberries

Skip strawberries that are visibly moldy or grossly misshapen (or smell bad). If your strawberries look a bit bruised few days after you buy them, chop off those parts. The Environmental Working Group reported that strawberries contain the most pesticides of any fruit or vegetable, so when possible, please try to buy organic to avoid residues.

Storing and cleaning strawberries

Store your fresh strawberries in the fridge until it’s time to eat them. Wash them first under running water thoroughly before you consume them. Don’t put washed strawberries back into the fridge though - this can cause them to go bad soon. If you sliced an extra strawberry or two while making this recipe, make sure to eat them within two hours. Don’t store those in the fridge more than two days!

🍴 Serving and storage suggestions

I suggest storing these strawberry shortcake cookies in the fridge in an airtight container. This will make sure they stay fresh for longer, maintain the fluffiness and keep the strawberries as fresh as possible. Try to finish them off within a day or two when possible! You can also freeze these cookies, either before or after baking.

To freeze cookies before baking, portion into cookie balls, and place them on a flat baking sheet. Freeze them for at least 1-2 hours. Then, transfer them to a freezer-safe bag or container. Bake according to recipe directions. This can be a bit messier if you have cream cheese filling, so in that case, I suggest flash-freezing, and then storing them in a single layer. To freeze strawberry shortcake cookies after baking, first, allow the cookies to cool completely. Place them in a single layer in a freezer-safe container. Freeze the cookies for up to 3 months.

More delicious cookies

Don’t forget to check out some of my other cookie recipes:

Easy Yellow Cake Mix CookiesDanish Butter CookiesAlmond Flour Peanut Butter CookiesLemon Curd Thumbprint CookiesHoliday Butter CookiesPumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you tried this recipe, don’t forget to comment and rate! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐