Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

I joined the very fun "Cookie Carnival" and this was the recipe of the month for June. Kate is the blogger-extraordinaire at the clean plate club and hosts the cookie carnival every month. This is a Martha Stewart recipe and they tasted yummy, very sweet, and more like a fancy biscuit rather than a cookie cookie. The strawberries were the star of the show!

Ingredients

Makes about 3 dozen

• 12 ounces strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4-inch dice (2 cups)
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (I actually used a splenda blend)
  
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• Sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 7 tablespoons granulated sugar in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, or rub in with your fingers, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in strawberry mixture.
2. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing evenly apart. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, and bake until golden brown, 24 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool. Cookies are best served immediately, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day.

*notes. I used my regular cookie scoop and maybe got 30 cookies out of the batch. I set the timer for 10 minutes, thinking I would rotate the sheets halfway through baking. Lo and behold, they were done! The bottoms were golden brown and they were very ready to be taken out of the oven. So baker beware, these babies bake up quickly! And they really are best served immediately, slightly warm or barely at room temperature. The next day, not so fantastic. But they are very tasty and if you are looking for more strawberry baking recipes, this is a must try.