Flower Shaped Strawberry Lemon Sandwich Cookies

Mini sized, flower shaped strawberry lemon sandwich cookies, made from buttery strawberry shortbread cookies, filled with fluffy lemon buttercream. They’re as pretty and dainty looking as French macarons, but with none of the finicky-ness. These pretty spring cookies are as delicious as they are lovely to look at, and perfect for Easter or Mother’s Day.

You might also love these high altitude recipes for strawberry coconut cake, homemade strawberry pop tarts with sprinkles, and mini strawberry shortcakes.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Bite Sized. These mini flower shaped shortbread cookies are about two bites each, since the cutters are only 1 1/2 inches in diameter. They’re the perfect small size for when you just want a little something sweet.

No Spread Cookie Recipe. I based these strawberry lemon shortbread cookies on my original vanilla shortbread cookie recipe, which doesn’t spread at all, and holds its shape perfectly when it bakes. This means the dough will perfectly preserve the pattern that’s imprinted on top of the cookies, making it a wonderful recipe for embossed or stamped cookies.

Perfect for Spring. If you’re looking for a pretty treat to make for an Easter celebration, Mother’s Day, or a spring baby shower, these strawberry lemon sandwich cookies would make a lovely addition to the dessert table.

As Pretty as Macarons. If making homemade French macarons has you frustrated – and who hasn’t wanted to pull their hair out after multiple failed batches of macarons – then try a different kind of sandwich cookie. These cookies look just as elegant, but they’re so easy to make, and pretty much foolproof.

High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.

Tools and Equipment

• Food Processor or Pastry Cutter. To make the dough quickly and easily, I prefer a food processor. But you can also use a pastry cutter, if that’s all you have.
• Rolling Pin, Bench Scraper and Cookie Cutters. See the FAQs section further down in today’s post for suggested cookie cutters. In the next photo, you’ll see the plunger style cookie cutters and pie crust cutters that I used for my strawberry lemon sandwich cookies. They’re quite small, compared to the 2 1/2 inch round fluted cutter that I often use for cutout shortbread and sugar cookies.
• Electric Mixer. To make the lemon buttercream filling, you’ll need an electric mixer, either stand or hand held.
• Disposable 12 Inch Piping Bag + Tip #32. For piping the buttercream between the cookies.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

Strawberry Cookies

• All-Purpose Flour. Provides structure and strength to the cookie dough.
• Powdered Sugar. Sweetens the cookies, while the fine texture of the powdered sugar makes a softer cookie than granulated sugar.
• Freeze Dried Strawberries. Crushed into a powder, the freeze dried strawberries add strawberry flavor and a subtle pink color. You can also enhance the pink color with a little drop of red or pink food coloring, but this is optional. While you can usually find freeze-dried strawberries at Target, you can also buy freeze dried strawberries on Amazon, as well as freeze dried strawberry powder. The powder has a less expensive price per ounce, if you don’t mind that the strawberries are already crushed.
• Salt. Coarse Kosher salt balances the sweetness.
• Unsalted Butter. Adds flavor, moisture, richness and fat. As the water in the butter evaporates, the steam creates tiny flaky layers for a very tender cookie.
• Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
• Milk. Without any eggs in the dough, I add a splash of milk, which moistens the dough and binds it together without adding any leavening, like an egg would do.

Strawberry cookies with lemon frosting make a delicious combination of flavors. Other flavor ideas for the buttercream are orange, vanilla bean, or strawberry. See my buttercream post for recipes.

Lemon Buttercream

• Butter. Use unsalted or salted butter, whichever you prefer.
• Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the buttercream.
• Meringue Powder. Adds stability.
• Lemon Zest. You’ll need freshly grated lemon zest, or you can just add some lemon extract or lemon paste. Do not add lemon juice, which can curdle and break the buttercream.

Instructions

Make the Cookie Dough

• In your food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar, freeze dried strawberries and salt, until combined.
• With the processor running, drop in the pieces of butter, one at at time, pulsing a few times until the butter is evenly distributed, and the dough is moistened and crumbly. Add the vanilla and the food coloring, and pulse a few times.

• Add the milk, then process until the dough starts to stick together.
• Dump the dough out onto a clean counter and use your hands to finish bringing the dough together, kneading in any stray bits of flour. The dough should be soft, smooth and supple.
• Shape the dough into a flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
• Prepare two baking sheets by lining them with sheets of parchment paper.

Roll and Cut the Cookies

• On a lightly floured surface, place the disk of dough, and dust the top of the dough with flour, too. Roll out to an even thickness of between 1/8 – 1/4 inch thick. Use mini flower shaped cookie cutters to cut as many cookies as you can, placing the cut cookies 1 inch apart on the parchment lined baking sheets. Using 1 1/2 inch mini cutters, you’ll get about 74 small cookies (32 filled mini sandwich cookies).
• Gather up the scraps of dough, roll them out again, and continue cutting as many cookies as you can.
• Place the baking sheets with the cut cookies in the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes. Chilling the cut cookies helps to ensure they don’t spread and hold their shape perfectly while baking.

Bake the Cookies

• Preheat the oven to 350F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Bake the chilled cookies on the center oven rack for about 8 minutes. The tops should be a very pale golden with no dark browning, and you should see tiny flaky layers around the edges. If you (very carefully) turn a cookie over with a spatula, the bottom should have light golden browning, with no appearance of raw or wet dough. The bake time will completely depend on the width and thickness of your cut cookies. Larger/thicker cookies will take longer to bake. Be sure your cookies are fully baked.
• Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the pan, then very gently transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Shortbread cookies are delicate when warm, so handle with care. The cookies will initially be slightly crisp around the edges, but they soften as they’re stored and will remain wonderfully soft and buttery.
• Let your cookies cool completely before frosting and decorating. You can bake the cookies in advance, store in an airtight container, and freeze for 3-6 months until you’re ready to fill them.

Make the Buttercream

• With an electric mixer (stand or hand held), beat the butter for 1 minute on medium speed until smooth.
• Add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and lemon zest/extract. Beat for several minutes on medium speed until light and fluffy.

Fill the Cookies

• Fit a 12 inch disposable piping bag with tip #32, or another small/medium star tip.
• Turn half the cookies over, so the bottoms are facing up. Pipe the buttercream onto the cookies, then top with a second cookie and press down gently so you have a sandwich cookie.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!

Frequently Asked Questions

How should I store strawberry lemon sandwich cookies?

Store the filled cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.

Where can I find freeze dried strawberries?

You can almost always find freeze-dried strawberries at Target, on the aisle with the nuts and dried fruit. My local King Soopers also sometimes carries them on the candy aisle. You can also buy freeze dried strawberries on Amazon, as well as freeze dried strawberry powder. The powder has a less expensive price per ounce, if you don’t mind that the strawberries are already crushed.

Where did you get your cookie cutters?

I’ve been collecting cookie cutters for years, so I have a variety of these mini cookie cutters with plungers. Some of them also came in sets of pie crust cutters. Unfortunately, I can’t source the exact ones that I have, so I can only recommend some others I’ve found. Be sure to look for cookie cutters that make an imprint on top of the dough, with a plunger or stamp that embosses the dough with a design.

This Flower Cookie Cutter Set has some really pretty designs that would look lovely with today’s flower shaped shortbread cookies.

You can get the Strawberry Cookie Cutter in this set.

And I just adore these Bee and Honeycomb Cutters. They would make the cutest stamped cookies.

Why did my cookies puff up in the oven?

While these strawberry lemon sandwich cookies don’t spread, they can sometimes puff or bubble up on top. This could be the result of overworking the dough, and it can also happen simply because of the butter content. As the moisture in the butter evaporates in the oven, it creates steam, which can cause air pockets to form in the cookies.

Your cookies are not ruined, though. When you take them out of the oven, if there are any areas that puffed up, simply use the flat bottom of a spatula to gently pat the tops of the cookies and press out the air. The cookies will flatten right back down.

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