marilynpeight
These Amish Sugar cookies with fresh strawberry frosting are simply the best!! I love anything strawberry, but I especially love desserts made with fresh local strawberries during strawberry season. These soft and cake-like Amish sugar cookies are made with a fresh strawberry buttercream that uses fresh strawberries instead of freeze dried strawberries. These delicious cookies with a soft texture are perfect for any summer event, especially baby showers, birthday parties and potlucks. If you love all things strawberry like I do, then you may also enjoy our favorite Amish Strawberry Shortcake, Frozen Strawberry Mint Lemonade or Strawberry Filled Vanilla Cupcakes.
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Amish Sugar Cookies with Fresh Strawberry Frosting
Equipment
- baking sheets (linked below)
- Parchment paper (linked below)
- Mixing bowls (linked below)
- hand mixer (linked below)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar packed
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs room temp.
- 1 cup buttermilk *see note
- 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour leveled
For the Fresh Strawberry Frosting:
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 dashes of salt
- 5-5 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
- 1 cup strawberry puree from fresh strawberries well ripened for more pink color
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350:
- Blend enough hulled and sliced strawberries to make 1 cup of strawberry puree. If needed you can add a splash of water to get the strawberries to blend down. Once the puree is smooth and no lumps remain, place one cup of puree into a small saucepan and bring to a light boil. Cook and stir the puree for 5-10 minutes (more or less) until reduced to about half cup, and the mixture is thickened. *see note. Refrigerate the puree for an hour or two until completely chilled.
- Cream butter, shortening and sugars together until smooth and well combined. Add room temperature eggs, buttermilk and extract. Whisk (or mix with a hand mixer) the wet ingredients until well combined.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and then stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until the flour is completely incorporated and no lumps remain. The sugar cookie dough should be smooth and silky, and should be a cross between cake batter and chocolate chip cookie dough.
- Drop the sugar cookies (with a spoon or ice cream scoop) onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, until the center of the cookies are set and the cookies have lightly browned on the edges.
Frosting:
- Using a hand mixer, combine the softened butter with vanilla extract and salt. Add 5 cups of the confectioner's sugar and mix in until only pea sized lumps remain. Add the 1/2 cup of chilled strawberry puree and mix only until well combined into the frosting. If needed, additional confectioner's sugar can be added to get the frosting stiffer. If the frosting is too stiff, you can add a tablespoon or so of milk or cream. Do not over-mix the frosting once the strawberry puree is added, to avoid separation.
- Frost the cooled cookies with a spatula or piping bag fitted with a small piping tip and then enjoy!
Notes
Equipment needed for these Amish sugar cookies with strawberry frosting:
- Baking sheets Nordic ware baking sheets are my personal favorites for baking these sugar cookies on. They get a nice an even bake with Nordic ware sheets (not an ad).
- Parchment paper For these Amish sugar cookies, parchment paper is highly recommended to make the removal from the pan much easier.
- Mixing bowls I like to use a large stainless steel mixing bowl for mixing up the sugar cookie dough and a medium sized mixing bowl for mixing up the strawberry frosting in.
- Hand mixer Growing up in the old order Amish we mixed up our frostings by hand since we didn’t have electricity. I must say, mixing a batch of frosting with a hand mixer makes it so much easier and also makes the frosting more smooth and fluffy!
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Ingredients needed for the Amish sugar cookies: Baking soda, sugar, vanilla extract, brown sugar, buttermilk, vegetable shortening, baking powder, eggs, butter and all purpose flour.
Ingredients needed for the Fresh Strawberry Frosting: Butter, fresh strawberries, confectioner’s sugar, vanilla extract and salt.
Note*
Using well ripened strawberries gives the frosting a deeper color, which is why I recommend using fresh local strawberries with a deep red color if possible.
Step 1: Blend the strawberries to a smooth puree, then cook and stir in a small saucepan until the liquid is reduced to half the amount and has thickened.
Note*
Be sure to keep stirring the strawberry puree to prevent it from burning. Keep cooking the puree until it is nice and thick, then be sure to chill completely before adding it to the frosting. Buttercream frosting will not hold up well if too much liquid is added or if exposed to warm temperatures from the puree or cookies.
Steps 2-3: Cream the butter, shortening and sugars together until smooth and well combined, then whisk in the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla extract (the buttermilk may curdle a bit, but will smooth out when the flour is added). Mix well, then mix in the dry ingredients until the dough is silky and thick enough to hold its shape on a cookie sheet.
Step 4: Drop the cookie dough onto parchment lined baking sheets, using an ice cream scoop or a tablespoon. Keep the cookies several inches apart, because they spread out a bit while baking.
Frosting Step 1 : Combine the softened butter with vanilla extract and a dash or two of salt. Add confectioner’s sugar and mix until only pea sized lumps remain. Add the cooled and thickened strawberry puree.
Note*
Only add 5 cups of confectioner’s to start, then add a little more later if needed. Be careful not to over-mix the frosting once the puree is added, because the acid from the strawberries can cause separation in the buttercream.
Frosting Step 1 continued: Mix until the frosting takes shape and is thick enough to spread onto the cookies. If needed, additional confectioner’s sugar can be added, or a splash of milk can be added if the frosting is too stiff.
Note* Shown above is half a batch of frosting, which didn’t quite cover half a batch of sugar cookies when using the piping method. But, there was plenty of strawberry frosting when I spread the frosting onto the cookies with a spatula. If you wish to make these cookies more symmetrical for a party or hosting event, you can make an extra 1/2 batch of frosting to pipe onto the Amish sugar cookies.
Frosting Step 2: Pipe or spread the frosting onto the cooled sugar cookies and enjoy! I used a 21 Wilton tip.
Storage:
You may wish to keep these cookies refrigerated if storing for more than a day or two, but they can also be frozen for up to three months. Store the cookies with parchment paper between the layers to keep the cookies from sticking to the frosting.
Feel free to pin the recipe for later and tag me on Instagram to show off your own creation of this recipe. Thank you for your support!
Could you use frozen strawberries in this recipe?
Yes, according to a recipe I found on another blog post by Sugar Spun Run you can use frozen or fresh strawberries, just be sure to drain and thaw before cooking, then cook until they produce a thicker consistency.