Strawberry Lemonade Cookies
If you’re looking for a dessert that tastes like the classic summertime sipper, these Strawberry Lemonade Cookies are for you. These sweet and tart baked goods highlight the vibrant flavors of both strawberries and lemons. This stuffed cookie recipe has gooey strawberry center. Topped with a light lemon strawberry icing, these extra large cookies are great for sharing all spring and summer long.
2025 Update: This Strawberry Lemon Cookie recipe was initially developed for an Earth Day picnic in 2016. The cookies were vegan. This year, I have updated the recipe and have added dairy and eggs back in, so they are no longer vegan. The recipe has been rewritten to include weighted measurements for the best cookies, and the post has new images and a ton more tips and tricks. I hope you love them.
Strawberry lemonade is one of my all-time favorite sippers for the summer months, and I took inspiration from it and turned it into a cookie.
These cookies have a light strawberry and lemon dough and are filled with a frozen disc of strawberry preserves to really bring home that strawberry flavor.
Finish ’em with a drizzle of strawberry icing, and they are springtime perfection.
Why I love this recipe:
Honestly, what’s not to love about a cookie that’s inspired by the classic lemonade flavor?
These cookies are the perfect combination of flavors and textures. They’re crispy, chewy, gooey, sweet with a pop of tartness.
I will say that the original recipe was fluffier and lighter than this one, but I honestly like this better because they have a better, stronger strawberry flavor.
And yes, we’re using a handful of ingredients that you might already have in your kitchen. (There are one or two that you might not, and I’ve got links for you below.)
Here are some more things I love about this:
- The strawberry flavor is on point when paired with the acidic lemon zest and juice. Since strawberry is a light flavor, I wanted to punch it up as much as possible, which is why we use dried strawberries and preserves.
- You don’t need boxed cake mix, lemon extract or strawberry extract to make them. We rely on fruit to give us those vibrant flavors. (So you won’t find any artificial flavor OR red food coloring here, either.)
- These are drop cookies. You do not need a rolling pin to roll and shape the final cookies!
Please note that these aren’t a cookie that you can simply mix up, drop onto a sheet pan and bake off quickly.
No, no. These take a little more time and effort, thanks in part to the preserves, which really add that punch of fresh strawberry flavor without requiring actual strawberries for the batter or icing.
Also, shout out to my hair dresser, Christine, for suggesting using preserves to “stuff” these cookies. The end result is absolutely magical, even if it takes a little time and finesse.
More spring cookie recipes to try: Fig Pinwheel Cookies | Lemon Crinkle Cookies | Easy Lemon Bars | Orange Raspberry Shortbread Cookies
What you need to make this recipe:
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- Large baking sheet or sheet pan
- Jelly roll pan (or another small cookie sheet)
- Parchment paper or baking mat
- Wax paper
- Large mixing bowl (plus 1-2 smaller bowls)
- An electric mixer, like a hand mixer or a stand mixer
- Kitchen scale
- Measuring cups and measuring spoons
- 1-tablespoon cookie scoop
- 4-tablespoon cookie scoop
Let’s talk ingredients!
In addition to the tools above, you’re going to need some ingredients to make this recipe, too! Chances are, you might already have some of them in your fridge or pantry. Scroll down to the recipe card for the full measurements and instructions.
In addition to these tools, here’s what you need to get at the grocery store:
- Unsalted butter — softened butter is the start for a lot of delicious sweet treats. You need an entire stick. Remove it from the refrigerator about 30-45 minutes before you plan to mix the cookie dough so it’s at the optimal temperature.
- Granulated sugar — sometimes referred to as white sugar, this is our sweetener for the cookies themselves. We’ll also use a little bit of this to roll the cookie dough balls in to give them a crackly sugar crust.
- Lemon — we need this for its zest, as well as the juice.
- Egg — a large egg is what you’re looking for.
- Pure vanilla extract — this helps all the ingredients come together and sing. Use the best you can get your hands on.
- All-purpose flour — this is sometimes referred to as AP flour. I keep unbleached flour in my kitchen, but the regular kind works, too. I have not attempted this recipe with a gluten-free flour blend and do not recommend it at this time.
- Freeze-dried strawberry powder — while you can purchase freeze-dried strawberries and grind them down in a food processor, there are bags of the pulverized strawberry powder available. Invest in one of those for this recipe… it makes life a lot easier and also ensures that the strawberry powder is fine enough. This gives us that fresh strawberry flavor without having to rely on fresh strawberries, which water down baked goods.
- Leaveners — we use a combination of baking soda and baking powder to make these cookies rise. Be sure yours are fresh!
- Kosher salt — medium grain kosher salt is all I use in my kitchen these days. (Diamond Crystal is my favorite brand.) You can use a similarly sized sea salt, if you have that on hand.
- Strawberry preserves — these give us more strawberry flavor in both the cookies and the icing. Use your favorite brand. (Mine is Bonne Maman.)
- Powdered sugar — also known as confectioners sugar, this is the sugar we add to our icing drizzle.
How to make Strawberry Lemon Cookies
FIRST THING’S FIRST
This is not a fast recipe. There are steps that require chilling and freezing. Plan accordingly, or that will going to make this cookie recipe a lot harder.
Scoop nine 1-tablespoon dollops of strawberry preserves onto a wax paper-lined small sheet pan. Pop this in the freezer at least an hour before you plan to make the cookie dough. It will not freeze, but it will get extremely cold and congeal a little more than it does at room temperature or cold out of the fridge.
Pour the sugar into a large bowl. Zest the lemon directly on top of it. Stir to combine and until fragrant.
Add the room temperature butter to the sugar-lemon zest mixture. Cream with a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light yellow, about 2-3 minutes.
Break the egg into the bowl, and add that along with the vanilla extract and lemon juice to the wet ingredients. Mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, freeze-dried strawberries, baking soda, baking powder and salt. This flour mixture are the dry ingredients. Whisk to combine.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients while mixing, and mix until just combined.
Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large sheet pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
Mix the additional sugar and strawberry powder to make the strawberry sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.
Use a ¼ cup cookie scoop to scoop the dough. Hollow it out to leave a little space for the jam. Fill with a tablespoon of the frozen preserves, then gently seal up.
Immediately roll to coat in the strawberry sugar.
Transfer the dough balls onto the prepared baking sheets. Give them ample space so they can spread as they bake. (You will not be able to fit more than 4 of these on a regular-sized sheet pan.)
Do this quickly because you want everything to remain as cold as possible. It gets tougher to work with the dough and preserves the warmer they are.
Bake cookies for 28-30 minutes, or until they have firmed up and are a light golden brown on the exterior.
How will I know when they’re done?
These cookies are hard to gauge because they have a molten strawberry center.
When you take the sheet pan out of the oven, give it a gentle shake. These cookies have more jiggle than a traditional cookie because of the jam, but you will be able to discern if the center is is fully baked based on how jiggly they are and how firm the edges of the cookies appear.
Let the cookies cool on the sheet pans before you transfer them to a wire cooling rack. Be very careful when doing this, as the jam can burst out of the bottom.
While the cookies cool, whisk together the powdered sugar and strawberry preserves until smooth. (You can also do this in a food processor so it’s completely smooth.) Set aside.
Once the cookies are cool, drizzle with the strawberry icing, and enjoy!
How to store:
Store the completely cooled cookies in an airtight container for 1-2 days maximum in the refrigerator.
Erin’s Easy Entertaining Tips
Freshly baked cookies are such a delight to share for any occasion, including Earth Day, which this cookie recipe was developed for years ago.
These Lemon Strawberry Cookies are such a delight.
Here are some things I would if I were making them to share:
- Let guests decorate their cookies. My girls had a ball drizzling the easy frosting on top of the cookies.
- Make the cookie dough in advance. Chill it, scoop it and fill it, then pop those cookie dough balls in the fridge (covered with plastic wrap) until it’s time to bake, which will be as you’re hosting guests OR before they arrive at your home.
- Make extra. This recipe makes 9 massive cookies. I do not recommend making them smaller, so if you need more, I would make the recipe twice (instead of doubling it.)
Quick tips and tricks to the best cookies
- Give them the time the recipe specifies. The cookies (and filling) will fall apart if you do not. It will be delicious, but you’ll be eating it with a fork.
- Let them cool on the pan before transferring them to a wire rack. These cookies have a tendency to fall apart if they’re still gooey when you try to transfer them.
- Ice them… or don’t. This is an extra step that I love for the color and extra pop of sweetness. Our friends who taste tested this recipe were torn on the icing and said it was unnecessary.
- Don’t skip the key ingredients of powdered strawberries, lemon zest and freshly squeezed lemon juice. They give these gorgeous cookies the perfect balance of flavors and texture.
Here’s how to make these gorgeous cookies. Happy baking!
Stuffed Strawberry Lemonade Cookies
Ingredients
- 9 tablespoons strawberry preserves
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 lemon zested
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened strawberry powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
Strawberry Sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened strawberry powder
Lemon Strawberry Icing
- ½ cup powdered sugar (2 oz.)
- 1 tablespoon strawberry preserves
- 1 ½ teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- A pinch of kosher salt
Equipment
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Instructions
- Dollop the preserves onto a parchment or wax paper-lined sheet pan using a 1-tablespoon scoop. Place in the freezer before making the cookie dough. (Depending on the sugar/fruit content of your preserves, this will not freeze them solid, but will make the preserves significantly easier to work with.)
- Measure the sugar into a large bowl. Zest the lemon directly on top of it, and stir until fragrant.
- Add the butter to the sugar mixture. Cream together with a hand or stand mixer until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the egg, vanilla extract and lemon juice. Blend until combined, about 1-2 minutes.
- Sift together the flour, freeze-dried strawberries, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix until just combined.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large sheet pans with parchment paper or baking mats, and set aside.
- Use a ¼ cup cookie scoop to scoop the dough. While in the scooper, hollow it out to leave space for the jam with your thumb or a rounded kitchen tool, being mindful of the edges and bottom. (If they are too thin, the cookie could burst while baking.) Fill with a tablespoon of frozen preserves, then gently seal up and immediately roll in the strawberry sugar and transfer to the prepared sheet pan.
- Bake for 28-30 minutes, or until cookies have are a dark golden brown and have firmed up on the edges.
- Let the cookies cool on the sheet pans for a while before transferring to a cooling rack to let cool completely.
- While the cookies cool, whisk (or food process) together the powdered sugar, strawberry puree and lemon juice until smooth. Set aside (or transfer into a piping bag.)
- Once the cookies are completely cooled, drizzle with the icing, and enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
About the Author:
Erin Parker is a Southern gal living in Texas with her husband and two daughters. She started The Speckled Palate to share what she was cooking as a newlywed… and over the years, it’s evolved to capture her love for hosting. Specifically, the EASIEST, lowest key entertaining because everyone deserves to see their people and connect over good food. Learn more about her…
Yummy 🙂 Want a picnic like this, with dozens of cookies 🙂
Yummy 🙂 Want a picnic like this, with dozens of cookies 🙂