Super soft and buttery sugar cookies with cute crackly edges topped with creamy roasted strawberry buttercream and fresh strawberries.
It’s hard to beat a soft sugar cookie topped with fluffy buttercream. It’s one of my all time favorite desserts – a total classic. So how can we make a classic cookie even better? Give it a kick of roasted strawberry flavor. Have you tried roasting strawberries before? It’s super easy – just toss the strawberries in some sugar and pop them in the oven for a few minutes. Roasting the strawberries deepens and intensifies the strawberry flavor and is a fun way to take your favorite strawberry desserts up a notch.
This recipe makes 28 cookies so it’s a great one for a crowd, but can be easily halved if needed. You can also freeze the cookie dough balls before baking for up to three months! Let’s get to it!
How to Make Soft Sugar Cookies with Strawberry Buttercream
Roast the Strawberries
Preheat the oven to 375. Wash and slice the strawberries. Just slice small ones in half and quarter larger ones. Toss them in the sugar and spread them out onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake them at 375 for 10 minutes. Let cool completely. Blend into a smooth puree with a high powdered blender or immersion blender.
Make the Sugar Cookie Dough
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the butter, oil, granulated sugar, and powdered sugar. Cream on medium speed for 5 minutes. The mixture should become very light in color and super soft and fluffy. Add the heavy cream and mix to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Egg whites have a tendency to want to sit at the bottom of the bowl, so make sure you scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure that everything is getting incorporated.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer 1/2 at a time, mixing until just combined. Leaving a few streaks of flour is fine. Then take a rubber spatula and do a final mix just to prevent over mixing and make sure everything is combined. The key to these cookies being super soft is making sure NOT to over mix the dough.
Preheat the oven to 350. Line 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper (or do it in batches) and scoop the cookie dough using a large (3 TBSP) cookie scoop. Roll them into smooth balls in your hands. Leave a little room between the cookies, they will spread slightly when baking, but not too much. Pour about 1/4 C of granulated sugar on a plate or small shallow bowl. Grease the bottom of a glass (I just used a tiny bit of leftover dough from the mixer to do this) and then dip the greased glass into the sugar. Press the glass straight down onto the cookie dough to create a well in the center. The edges should start to crack a little.
Bake the cookies one cookie sheet at a time for 8-9 minutes. The cookies shouldn’t brown, and will still look wet in the center when you remove them from the oven. They will continue to set as they cool on the hot cookie sheet. Let the cookies cool completely.
Make the Roasted Strawberry Buttercream
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter by itself for 10 minutes. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed to make sure all of the butter is getting mixed. Add the salt and vanilla and mix to combine. Add the powdered sugar 1/2 at a time, mixing for 3 minutes after each addition.
Once all the powdered sugar is incorporated, add 2 TBSP of the roasted strawberry puree. Mix to combine. Then, add heavy cream 1 TBSP at a time until you reach your desired consistency. I like a pretty soft buttercream, so I added 3 TBSP of heavy cream.
Assemble the Soft Sugar Cookies with Strawberry Buttercream
Take 2 TBSP of the roasted strawberry buttercream and swirl it onto the well in the center of each cookie. Use a mini spatula or the back of a spoon to create a little swirl by doing a quick swoop along the edge. Garnish with chopped fresh strawberries, optional. These cookies will keep on the counter for up to two days, or a week in the fridge!
Soft Sugar Cookies with Strawberry Buttercream
Description
Super soft and buttery sugar cookies with cute cracked edges topped with fluffy roasted strawberry buttercream and fresh strawberries.
Ingredients
For the Roasted Strawberries
- 1 C Fresh Strawberries
- 2 TBSP Granulated Sugar
For the Sugar Cookies
- 1 C Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 C Canola Oil
- 1 1/4 C Granulated Sugar, +1/4 C, divided
- 3/4 C Powdered Sugar
- 2 TBSP Heavy Cream, at room temperature
- 2 Lg Eggs, at room temperature
- 5 C All Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
- 3/4 tsp Salt
For the Roasted Strawberry Buttercream
- 1 C Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 6 C Powdered Sugar
- 2 TBSP Roasted Strawberry Puree
- 2–4 TBSP Heavy Cream
Instructions
For the Roasted Strawberries
- Slice the strawberries and toss with sugar.
- Spread out on a parchment lined sheet pan and bake at 375 for 10 minutes.
- Cool completely and then puree.
For the Sugar Cookies
- Line three cookie sheets with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350.
- In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment cream the butter, oil, granulated sugar, and powdered sugar for 5 minutes. Scrape the bowl as needed.
- Add the heavy cream, and then the eggs, one at a time.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and cream of tartar.
- Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl 1/2 at a time, mixing JUST until combined.
- Use a large, 3 TBSP cookie scoop to portion out the dough. Place them on the prepared cookie sheets, leaving room in between.
- Roll the cookie dough into balls. Then grease the bottom of a glass and dip in the remaining 1/4 C of sugar. Press the glass onto the cookie dough balls, creating a well in the center and causing the edges to crack a little. Repeat, dunking the glass into the sugar each time.
- Bake the cookies at 350 for 8-9 minutes, then allow to cool on the hot cookie sheet. They will look under done, but will set as they cool.
For the Roasted Strawberry Buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter by itself for 10 minutes, scraping down the bowl halfway through.
- Add the salt and vanilla and mix to combine.
- Add the powdered sugar, 1/2 at a time, mixing for 3 minutes after each addition.
- Mix in 2 TBSP of the roasted strawberry puree.
- Add heavy cream 1 TBSP at a time until you reach your desired consistency.
- Spread 2 TBSP of the buttercream onto the cooled sugar cookies. Use a mini spatula or the back of a spoon to create a swoop on one side, then top with extra roasted strawberry puree or fresh chopped strawberries *optional.
Notes
*Cookies will keep on counter for 2 days or up to a week in the fridge
*Cookie dough can be frozen for up to 3 months. Just freeze the rolled cookie dough balls on a sheet pan, then once frozen, transfer to a freezer safe ziplock.
If you loved these Soft Sugar Cookies with Strawberry Buttercream, be sure to check out my Roasted Strawberry Cheesecake No Churn Ice Cream and my Roasted Strawberry Cheesecake Brownies!
We are OBSESSED. I actually ate so many of these unfrosted because they were that good usually sugar cookies don’t have much appeal on frosted but these are amazing and they have this really fun texture to them that definitely sets them apart from other sugar cookie recipes. I didn’t get a chance to try the roasted strawberry buttercream and used a basic vanilla buttercream instead and it just made these so awesome I’m going to be making them again this weekend cuz I have not stopped thinking about them
Aw yay! I’m so happy you loved these cookies! They roasted strawberry buttercream is delish, but really any buttercream works!
These are such a great base for other flavors too
Hey Lesli! Yes totally agree! So many flavor options!