These raspberry sugar cookies are like common cut-out sugar cookies, however with two main upgrades within the dough: tangy cream cheese and freeze-dried raspberries. Naturally coloured, these fairly pink cookies are lovely proper out of the oven, however be happy to garnish with melted chocolate or another really useful toppings. You’ll love these for Valentine’s Day or any event the place you crave a enjoyable, berry-flavored cookie.
I initially printed this recipe in 2021 and have since added new images and useful success suggestions.
Have you ever ever baked my common sugar cookies earlier than? They’re a standard sugar cookie with tender facilities and barely crisp edges—positively a favourite round right here, particularly once I make Valentine’s Day cookies, Easter cookies, and Christmas sugar cookies (identical dough recipe). A recipe with year-round versatility!
It’s considered one of my most-used recipes, proper together with chocolate chip cookies and pie crust. I even have a printed recipe for cream cheese cut-out cookies with Nutella glaze, which takes sugar cookies to the subsequent degree. The cream cheese offers a creamy-like texture and slight tang in every chunk. I would even desire them over common sugar cookies!
I took the identical cream cheese sugar cookie dough and experimented with freeze-dried raspberries. The end result was an additional tender berry-flavored cookie with essentially the most beautiful (and pure!) pink/magenta coloration.
Inform Me About These Raspberry Sugar Cookies
- Texture: Cream cheese makes the dough further tender and creamy, which I like in so many cookie recipes, like apricot cream cheese thumbprints and maple walnut tassies.
- Taste: In case you’re ever craving FLAVOR in your sugar cookies, begin right here. We’ve got a slight tang from the cream cheese, however many of the taste comes from raspberries. I recognize that we’re utilizing actual berries which were freeze-dried, not synthetic raspberry flavoring. Almond extract is totally elective, but it surely provides one other degree of taste.
- Ease: Cookie cutter sugar cookies, of any selection and taste, aren’t fairly as simple as drop cookies. Nonetheless, when you’re comfy utilizing a rolling pin and cookie cutters, the method received’t appear arduous. This recipe requires an additional step but it surely’s fairly easy: grind the freeze-dried berries into powder earlier than utilizing.
- Time: The cookie dough comes collectively rapidly. Roll it out, then chill it within the fridge for at the very least 2 hours. With out chilling, the cookies will fully lose their form. After that, reduce the dough into shapes, then bake. Put aside a couple of hours to finish this recipe.
Freeze-Dried Raspberries Are the Secret
I like utilizing freeze-dried berries in frostings. Have you ever tried this strawberry buttercream earlier than? Once you grind freeze-dried strawberries right into a powder, you may simply use it in frosting. Freeze-dried berry powder—or “mud”—is ideal as a result of it’s not moist and, due to this fact, doesn’t mess with the consistency of frosting. Actual berry taste with out compromising texture. We additionally apply it to the coating of chocolate raspberry crinkle cookies. And, because it seems, you are able to do the identical factor with sugar cookie dough, so long as you don’t go overboard with amount. 2 cups (about 56g) of freeze-dried raspberries grinds down into 1/2 cup of powder, which is the right quantity for this sugar cookie dough.
- The place to purchase freeze-dried raspberries: I normally discover them in my common grocery retailer within the dried fruit aisle. Preserve your eyes peeled—they’re extra widespread than you suppose. Dealer Joe’s and Goal carry them too. You may as well buy them on-line and here’s a model we’ve examined earlier than. (They’re much cheaper in shops if you will discover them!) You want 2 cups, which is a bit more than one normal 1.2-ounce bag.
- Can I do that with one other sort of freeze-dried fruit? Sure, completely. I’ve examined this sugar cookie dough with freeze-dried strawberries, blueberries, and mango. The mango taste wasn’t as intense because the berries, although. Use the identical quantity—1/2 cup of the bottom powder.
- Can I do that with common dried fruit or frozen fruit? No, don’t use chewy/gummy dried fruit and don’t use frozen fruit. You want freeze-dried raspberries, that are raspberries with all the moisture eliminated—that manner they’ll grind right into a powder.
Overview: Making Raspberry Sugar Cookies
- Grind freeze-dried raspberries into powder.
- Make sugar cookie dough. The recipe directions beneath embrace creaming the butter and cream cheese collectively earlier than including sugar. You additionally want 1 egg and vanilla extract. Almond extract is elective, however a tasty addition you probably have some available. The dry substances embrace flour, the raspberry powder, baking powder, and salt.
- Divide into 2 items.
- Roll out cookie dough. Roll each bit of dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Have further flour available as a result of the dough is sticky.
- Chill rolled-out dough for at the very least 2 hours.
- Lower into shapes. Re-roll all of your scraps—you’ll be stunned what number of cookies you get from this quantity of dough. I like these heart-shaped cookie cutters, however you should use no matter form you’d like.
- Bake & cool. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets earlier than adorning.
The Trick Is the Order of Steps
Discover how I roll out the dough BEFORE chilling it within the fridge? Let me clarify why. To stop the cookies from over-spreading, the cookie dough should chill within the fridge. Roll out the dough proper after you put together it, then chill the rolled-out dough. (At this level the dough is simply too tender to chop into shapes.) Don’t chill the cookie dough after which attempt to roll it out as a result of will probably be too chilly and tough to work with. Divide the dough in half earlier than rolling it out as a result of smaller sections of dough are merely extra manageable.
I observe this identical order of steps when making brown sugar cut-out cookies.
After chilling, reduce into shapes, prepare on lined baking sheets, bake, after which cool.
Ornament & Topping Concepts
I like utilizing royal icing on common sugar cookies. That icing would positively work right here (and right here’s my how you can enhance sugar cookies tutorial if you wish to achieve this!), however I didn’t need the tangy raspberry and cream cheese flavors to be overpowered by super-sweet icing. So as an alternative I dipped them in melted darkish chocolate and drizzled with melted white chocolate. So easy, so scrumptious. Listed here are some choices:
Garnish the chocolate or icing with sprinkles or leftover freeze-dried raspberry powder:
Raspberry Sugar Cookies
Prep Time: 2 hours, half-hour
Prepare dinner Time: 13 minutes
Complete Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes
Yield: 36 3-inch cookies
Class: Desserts
Methodology: Baking
Delicacies: American
Description
Floor freeze-dried raspberries add coloration and taste to this cream cheese sugar cookie dough. You possibly can depart the cookies plain, however we love them garnished with melted chocolate.
Non-obligatory Chocolate Topping
Directions
- Utilizing a blender or meals processor, course of the freeze-dried raspberries right into a powder. You’ll have round 1/2 cup. Be at liberty to grind further and use as garnish in step 9.
- Whisk the raspberry powder, flour, baking powder, and salt collectively in a big bowl. Put aside.
- In a big bowl utilizing a hand-held or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and cream cheese collectively on medium-high pace till fully clean and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the granulated sugar and beat till combination is fluffy and mixed, about 1 minute. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract (if utilizing), and beat on excessive pace till mixed, about 1 minute. Scrape down the perimeters and up the underside of the bowl and beat once more as wanted to mix.
- Add the dry substances to the moist substances and blend on low pace till mixed. Dough shall be very tender and creamy.
- Generously flour your palms and rolling pin. Divide the dough into 2 equal items. Roll every portion out on a evenly floured piece of parchment paper or silicone baking mat to about 1/4-inch thickness. The rolled-out dough could be any form, so long as it’s evenly 1/4 inch thick.
- Frivolously mud one of many rolled-out dough parts with flour. Place a chunk of parchment on prime. (This prevents sticking.) Place the second rolled-out dough on prime. Cowl with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then refrigerate for at the very least 2 hours and as much as 2 days.
- As soon as chilled, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line massive baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Fastidiously take away the highest dough piece from the fridge. If it’s sticking to the parchment, run your hand underneath it to assist take away it. Utilizing a cookie cutter, reduce the dough into shapes. (I like these coronary heart cookie cutters.) Re-roll the remaining dough and proceed slicing till all is used. Repeat with second piece of dough. Be aware: It doesn’t appear to be plenty of dough, however you get plenty of cookies from the dough scraps you re-roll.
- Organize cookies on baking sheets 3 inches aside. Bake for 12–13 minutes till very evenly browned across the edges. In case your oven has scorching spots, rotate the baking sheet(s) midway by means of bake time. Permit cookies to chill on the baking sheet for five minutes, then switch to a cooling rack to chill fully earlier than adorning.
- For elective chocolate adorning: Soften the chopped chocolate in a double boiler, or use the microwave. Microwave in 20-second increments, stirring after every till fully melted. Dip cooled cookies within the melted chocolate and/or drizzle with melted chocolate, then place again onto the lined baking sheets. I dipped the pictured cookies in melted semi-sweet chocolate after which drizzled melted white chocolate on prime. If desired, sprinkle with further freeze-dried raspberry powder (or sprinkles). Permit chocolate to set within the fridge (about 20–half-hour) or at room temperature.
- Cookies keep recent tightly coated at room temperature for as much as 3 days or within the fridge for as much as 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Directions: Plain or adorned sugar cookies freeze nicely for as much as 3 months. Look ahead to the chocolate/icing to set fully earlier than layering between sheets of parchment paper in a freezer-friendly container. Thaw within the fridge or at room temperature. You may as well freeze the cookie dough for as much as 3 months earlier than rolling it out. Put together the dough by means of step 4, divide in half, flatten each halves into discs as we do with pie crust, wrap every disc in plastic wrap, then freeze. Thaw the discs within the fridge, then carry to room temperature for about 1 hour. Roll out the dough as directed in step 5, then chill rolled-out dough within the fridge for 45 minutes to 1 hour earlier than slicing into shapes and baking. See this submit on how you can freeze cookie dough for a video tutorial.
- Particular Instruments (affiliate hyperlinks): Meals Processor | Electrical Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Rolling Pin or Adjustable Rolling Pin | Coronary heart Cookie Cutter | Freeze-Dried Raspberries | Cooling Rack | Double Boiler (elective)
- Cream Cheese: Wish to miss the cream cheese? Use this common sugar cookies recipe and add 1/2 cup of the raspberry powder to that cookie dough. Whisk it in with the dry substances, simply as you do right here.
- Freeze-dried raspberries: I at all times discover them in my common grocery retailer within the dried fruit aisle. Dealer Joe’s and Goal carry them, too. You may as well buy them on-line and here’s a model we’ve examined earlier than. (They’re much cheaper in shops if you will discover them!) You want 2 cups, which is a bit more than an ordinary 1.2-ounce bag.
- Can I do that with one other sort of freeze-dried fruit? Sure, completely. I’ve examined this sugar cookie dough with freeze-dried strawberries, blueberries, and mango. The freeze-dried raspberries gave essentially the most potent taste. Use the identical quantity—1/2 cup of the bottom powder.
- Can I do that with common dried fruit or frozen fruit? No, don’t use chewy/gummy dried fruit and don’t use frozen fruit. You want freeze-dried raspberries, that are raspberries with all the moisture eliminated—that manner they’ll grind right into a powder.
- Different Toppings: See Ornament & Topping Concepts in weblog submit above.
- You should definitely try my prime 5 cookie baking success suggestions AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking instruments.
