These pink sugar cookies are soft, chewy, and get their flavor from real strawberries. And the dough comes together without chilling, rolling, or cutting out shapes. The cookies have chewy centers and a subtle strawberry flavor from freeze-dried strawberry powder. A touch of brown sugar keeps them soft, and while they're most definitely pretty in pink, their flavor proves they're more than just their looks!
Break out this recipe for Valentine's Day, baby showers, birthdays, or any occasion that calls for something pink and celebratory.
The cookies are fun and colorful but also taste great, thanks to the freeze-dried strawberry powder in them. Freeze-dried fruit is a great baking ingredient because it doesn't add moisture but brings a lot of concentrated flavor. It's the same trick behind the glaze on my popular mini strawberry Bundt cakes.
If you want more cookies like these, my strawberry sandwich cookies also use freeze-dried strawberries, and my brown butter sugar cookies share a very similar no-chill dough and texture. For another fun take on this kind of cookie, my birthday cake cookies made from scratch have that same chewiness and lots of rainbow sprinkles.
Jump to:
- 📋 Recipe Notes and Ingredients
- What Sets These Pink Sugar Cookies Apart
- 💖 Quick Recipe Video
- No-Chill Cookie Dough
- 📖 Step-by-Step Recipe Instructions
- Best Results: Baking in Grams
- 💡 Pro Tip for Perfectly Round Cookies
- ❓FAQ and Troubleshooting
- Storing these Pink Sugar Cookies
- More Colorful Recipes
- Pink Sugar Cookies
📋 Recipe Notes and Ingredients
The recipe card contains all the steps and ingredients, but below are a few key items that bring flavor and color to these delicious cookies.
- Pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste – You don’t need expensive vanilla extract for good flavor. So the extract from your local grocery store is perfectly fine for this recipe. I never taste much difference between pricier extracts and more basic ones.
- Freeze dried strawberries – I love adding freeze dried strawberries to baked goods because of the concentrated, intense flavor they bring. In this recipe, be sure to grind them into a fine powder before incorporating them into your dough. For something similar, you may also like my strawberry basil sugar cookies, which get a kick of flavor (and bright colors) from crushed pieces of freeze dried strawberries. 🍓
- Brown sugar - While many sugar cookie recipes use granulated sugar as their only form of sugar, this one uses a touch of brown sugar, too. This ingredient gives a chewy, soft texture.
- Pink or red food coloring - While the freeze dried strawberries will give your cookies a very faint natural food coloring, the gel is absolutely necessary to achieve a true pink color (see below for a comparison). Wilton, Americolor, and Chef Master food gel are my favorite brands. You'll add this ingredient into your mixing bowl with the hot melted butter in the first step, as heat intensifies the vibrancy and gives a classic pink shade.
What Sets These Pink Sugar Cookies Apart
These cookies get their pink color from food gel, not frosting, and their flavor from freeze-dried strawberries rather than artificial extracts.
The dough doesn’t require chilling, and the finished cookies stay soft and chewy with a classic sugar cookie texture, not cakey or crisp.
💖 Quick Recipe Video
No-Chill Cookie Dough
Some cookie recipes call for resting your cookie dough before baking it for best results.
Here, though, you don't need to chill or rest the dough ahead of baking these soft sugar cookies.
You can learn more about the merits of resting your dough in this post from Bon Appétit. The bottom line is that if a recipe does ask you to rest your dough, do it.
📖 Step-by-Step Recipe Instructions
Step 1: Cream Butter, Sugars, and Food Coloring. As your oven is preheating to 350°F, cream together melted unsalted butter, vanilla extract, pink food coloring (if using), and sugars for 3 minutes. Do this in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment on medium-high speed.
Step 2: Add Dry Ingredients and Egg. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add salt, baking powder, baking soda, half of the eggs, freeze-dried strawberries, and half of the flour. Mix for about 45 seconds on medium speed.
Step 3: Continue Mixing. Stop the mixer and add the second egg, strawberries, and flour. Mix again for 30 seconds. Adjust food coloring if needed.
Step 4: Shape the Dough. Using a cookie or ice cream scoop, form the cookie dough balls about ⅔ the size of a golf ball. Place each ball of dough 2 inches apart on an ungreased aluminum cookie sheet.
Step 5: Bake. Bake cookies for 13-14 minutes, until the edges are set but the centers remain soft and chewy.
Step 6: Cool and Serve. Let your pink sugar cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Enjoy once firm enough to handle.
Best Results: Baking in Grams
If you’re not already, use a kitchen scale for accuracy in baking.
While I include cups and grams in my recipe cards, weighing your ingredients and writing or following a recipe using a standard metric like grams ensures consistency.
I highly recommend investing $30 or less in a kitchen scale.
💡 Pro Tip for Perfectly Round Cookies
As soon as these pretty cookies exit the oven, you can also help shape and round them if you'd like.
Use the open side of a glass — or a cookie cutter — slightly bigger than the cookies to gently slide them into a more circular shape.
❓FAQ and Troubleshooting
Cookies can spread if the dough is too moist, without enough dry ingredients to hold it together. It can also spread due to an excessive amount of baking soda. If you follow the steps in this recipe, though, you won't have that issue. In general, adding a bit of baking powder or flour to a cookie's dough can help prevent them from spreading as much.
If a recipe calls for a chilled sugar cookie, meaning you need to refrigerate the dough before baking it, do it! That step is not part of this recipe, though.
Absolutely!
These cookies work well as-is or dressed up for themed events like Valentine’s Day, baby showers, or birthday parties.
You can roll the dough in sanding sugar (like what I did below!) before baking or drizzle with glaze after cooling, or serve them with a theme for special occasions.
The freeze-dried strawberries tint the dough a soft, natural blush on their own, but it's extremely subtle. A little extra strawberry powder deepens it ever so slightly, though it stays muted.
For the bright pink in these photos, a few drops of gel is necessary. Once it's stirred into the warm, melted butter, it will disperse throughout the dough.
Because the butter is melted rather than softened, cold eggs straight from the fridge bring the dough back to a workable temperature and keep it from over-spreading when baked.
Storing these Pink Sugar Cookies
Room temperature - These cookies will stay fresh at room temperature (around 70°F) for 3-4 days.
Refrigerating - Between days of serving them, I recommend freezing these vs. refrigerating.
Bring them out in small quantities at a time if you plan to share them over the course of more than 3 days.
Freezing - They also freeze well for up to three months in an airtight container.
I add wax or parchment paper between the layers as I stack them.
To enjoy, let them come to room temperature before serving. You may also gently warm them for a few seconds on low speed in the microwave.
Freezing the dough - This is another great option; feel free to prep and store the dough for these pink sugar cookies in your freezer. Bring them directly from the freezer and place on baking sheets in a preheated oven, baking them for a couple of minutes longer because they're frozen.
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More Colorful Recipes
Pink Sugar Cookies
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies 1x
Description
These soft and chewy pink sugar cookies are easy to bake with no chilling required and get their flavor from freeze-dried strawberries. They're perfect for Valentine's Day or another special occasion, like a baby shower or birthday.
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons (170 grams) unsalted butter, melted
- ¾ cup (180 grams) white sugar
- ¼ cup (45 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 large cold eggs (straight from the fridge)
- 1 oz/30 grams freeze dried strawberry powder
- 2 ½ cups (300 grams) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- Optional: Pink food gel coloring (Cookies will not be pink without it)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Cream butter, vanilla extract, 7-8 drops pink food gel, and sugars together in your mixing bowl for 3 minutes.
- Stop the mixer and add salt, baking powder, and baking soda as well as half of your eggs, freeze dried strawberries, and flour. Mix for about 45 seconds on medium speed before stopping the mixer to add the remaining egg, freeze dried strawberries, and flour, beating again for 30 seconds. Here, add another drop or two of food gel if cookies aren’t as pink as you would like.
- Scoop small (⅔ the size of a golf ball) round portions of your cookie dough onto ungreased aluminum baking sheets, with about 2 inches between each of them. Bake for 13-14 minutes. Transfer them to cooling racks after they’ve sat on the baking sheets 5 or so minutes outside of the oven and are firm enough to handle.
Notes
- Pink food coloring is necessary for making these cookies a true pink shade. Without it, their color will be extremely faint.
- The nutritional values are approximate and can vary based on the specific brands and measurements of ingredients.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 145 kcal
- Sugar: 10.3 g
- Sodium: 121 mg
- Fat: 6.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.0 g
- Carbohydrates: 21.1 g
- Fiber: 0.7 g
- Protein: 1.1 g
Barbie Fanatic
Oh my gosh, these pink sugar cookies are like a dream come true for a Barbie lover like me! The color is just perfect and reminds me of Barbie's iconic style. I baked these for a Barbie-themed party and everyone was in awe. The taste was as delightful as the appearance. The texture was soft with the right amount of sweetness. I also used some Barbie-themed cookie cutters to make them even more fun. This recipe is definitely a keeper for any Barbie fandom events. Thanks for sharing, Susan
Susan
Oh, love this! What a fun way to celebrate Barbie. So glad these cookies could be fun and useful to share for such a sweet event!