strawberry white chocolate chip cookies

Have you seen the new Beauty and the Beast yet?

OHMAHGAAAAAAAASH.

It's so good. Go see it. NOW.

Also, swoon over Dan Stevens' beautiful baritone with me. Just open that up in a second window and listen while you read.

We can criticize the music, but the two leads aren't trained singers and they don't sound like trained singers. It's refreshing. My only complaint about the singing is Emma Watson's breath control, what coach helped her develop a style where every phrase is 2 bars long?

Since I'm so good at giving recommendations, second recommendation? MAKE THESE COOKIES.

They're kinda like the best thing to come out of my kitchen in awhile. And that's saying something.

I was visiting my parentals and my mom pulled out some fundraiser cookie dough from the freezer. The kind? Strawberry Shortcake [from Otis Spunkmeyer to be specific] and they were good. So I was inspired to make my own...that were equally as good or better. (-;

AND HOLY COW. I don't know how similar these are to the original that I ate one time eight weeks ago, but they are YUMMY.

These cookies are a brown sugar base with the brown sugar flavors deepened with a bit of molasses. You could leave the molasses out, but you don't want to. Trust.

Break the freeze dried strawberries up into pieces about the size of the chocolate chips. As you break them, some will crumble, but it doesn't matter as long as you're over a bowl. All those little pieces are going to add even more strawberry flavor!

I like these as a larger cookie with a 3 tablespoon scoop. This recipe will make 2-3 dozen cookies.

Strawberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 sticks butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp molasses
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 (1.2 oz) package freeze dried strawberries [OR 2 (4 oz) packages dried strawberries], broken or cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 350. In a mixing bowl combine the butter and brown sugar. Then add the egg, vanilla, and molasses. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to your butter mixture. It's gonna be THICK! Mix in the white chocolate chips and the freeze dried strawberries with a wooden spoon and a lot of elbow grease. Scoop the dough onto your lined cookie sheets [parchment or silicone liners] and place in the oven for 11-14 minutes depending on how crisp you want the edges. Tip: let the cookies sit on the warm cookie sheets for at least 5 minutes before you take them off to cool.



The strawberry rundown:

I'm about 92.6% certain the original cookies had a strawberry flavored dried cranberry as the strawberry.
a) you can't find those anywhere and
b) if I'm making a strawberry cookie, I want some dang strawberries in it!

Eventually I found the two options of dried strawberries or freeze dried strawberries.

The dried strawberries are a dehydrated strawberry with a chewy texture similar to a prune or raisin. The freeze dried strawberry is a crunchy, tart berry that most people have tried in their Special K Red Berries cereal.

In my first round of these cookies, I made a double batch with half of each of these varieties. My ever-so-helpful co-workers gave their opinions. I tried them myself. I knew we were all going to like the dried strawberries [the ones I could only find at Target for $3.99 a bag, WHO IS GOING TO BAKE COOKIES WITH AN $8 INGREDIENT??] and I was feeling sad because no one was ever going to make these dadgum cookies.

I WAS WRONG.

The freeze dried strawberries were a winner. They impart more strawberry flavor. They are still slightly chewy as they regain some moisture from the cookie. They're 100% strawberry, no sugar added [because that's important in a cookie (-;]. They're available everywhere for less than $4. I purchased my bag at Aldi after seeing them at Kroger, Target, Meijer, and Marsh. Check by the nuts or the raisins.