Strawberry Cookies - Joie De Vivre

So I’m not sure if I am the only person who until a few weeks ago was completely unaware of a global phenomenon very proudly entitled World Nutella Day. Right, so there is a BEVY (to say the least) of recipes using nutella, and seeing as my baking skills were constantly challenging me after my successful Vanilla Bean frosted Chocolate Cupcakes and the moderately successful Cinnamon Swirls, here’s my attempt at nutella centered strawberry cookies. As you will sharply notice, I switched from a few nutella ones to this gorgeous Balinese strawberry and banana jam, and it was a great deal better! (Yes, I do realize that the recipe was centered on nutella, but cest la vie! In my defense, I most graciously baked a cake using the cupcake recipe mentioned above and instead of vanilla bean frosting and smothered the cake with a creamy and rich nutella icing. Yum!

So back to the strawberry cookies- SS was away for the weekend so I decided to indulge my free time into baking him a patisserie by the time he returned. My mum and I insist on making strawberry pulp out of fresh strawberries when in height of their season, sugar it (which acts as a wonderful preservative) and freeze it into plastic containers to help ourselves to during the off season strawberry cravings! So this recipe fell right into my lap as though sent from a messenger above to satisfy just those cravings, but in a new found unbelievably comforting kind of way.

Firstly, remove the strawberry pulp from the freezer to thaw, or make a cup of thick strawberry pulp by freezing the fresh strawberries for an hour, blending them with a few tbs of sugar. Next, mix the dry ingredients together, 1 ½ cups of flour with ¼tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt. Then cream 4 tbs of unsalted butter and 7 tbs of granulated sugar with a hand held blender. Whisk in the strawberry and the insides of one vanilla pod. Mix in the dry ingredients and use your hands to make proper dough with the batter. Once properly mixed, cover with cling film and pop into fridge to sit for at least an hour before you try and shape the cookies.

I found the dough very sticky the second it got out of the fridge, so I oiled my hands and only made a few cookies at a time, returning the dough to the fridge to prevent it from sweating. Preheat the oven to 175*c, line the baking tray with baking paper, and make 1 inch rounds with your hands, and then place on the baking tray and press down with the back of a ½ tbs/1tsp measure spoon for accuracy and neatness in all the glorious pink cookies. Once all done, bake in the oven for about 10 minutes or until it browns a bit at the bottom. Remove and place of a cooling wire rack and once cool, pour in the nutella/choice of jam. I wonder if vanilla butter cream would work? Hmmm, next time!

One small piece of advice (other than: dig in!), mine went soft-ish after the first day. Make sure to keep in an airtight container at room temperature and it should last you a few days if not attacked by any innocent bystander.