These strawberry basil sugar cookies are soft, chewy, and packed with real strawberry flavor. The trick to making them lies in two unique (but easily made at home) ingredients: a basil sugar you grind in the food processor, and freeze-dried strawberries crushed into pieces. The latter gives you bright berry flavor and color throughout this dough for a fresh, delicious cookie.
If you've made my fresh basil buttercream, you already know just how tasty basil can be in dessert. These pack a similar punch but in cookie form.
This recipe evolved out of my soft birthday cake cookies, which also uses melted butter for chewy insides and a no-chill dough to come together quickly.
For more fruit-forward treats like this one, try my strawberry-filled cupcakes, blueberry cupcakes with a basil frosting, or strawberry sandwich cookies!
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⭐ Why You'll Love These Cookies
- Real strawberry flavor, without the added moisture – Freeze-dried strawberries give a concentrated berry taste and pink-red hues to this dough. It's a great ingredient that doesn't bring any sogginess to these cookies in the same way that fresh strawberries could. It's a mainstay in my pink sugar cookies, which are similar to this recipe; their berry flavor also comes from freeze-dried strawberries, just without the basil.
- A homemade basil sugar – The basil sugar is both in the dough and used to roll onto the cookie dough balls to give them added texture, flavor, and color. They make these cookies eye-catching and deliciously basil.
- A showstopper of a cookie – Telling someone you ground your own basil sugar is a flex. Your friends and family will be impressed you made this at home, and it's easy!
📋 Key Ingredients
Find all the ingredients and quantities in the recipe card below, with a few highlights here:
- Freeze-dried strawberries (not fresh) – Fresh strawberries are delicious, but in baked goods, they add a lot of water content. In a cookie, that would alter how the dough spreads and leave you with a pale, cakey result. Freeze-dried strawberries are real strawberries with the water removed. They give strong flavor and color and also give you a dough that behaves predictably. Trader Joe's, Target, and most groceries carry this ingredient. Just note to grab freeze-dried and not soft, chewy "dried" strawberries, which are a different thing entirely.
- Fresh basil – Rinsed and patted very dry, then ground with granulated sugar into basil sugar. A little goes a long way; the soft, herbal sweetness of the basil plays really nicely against the strawberry.
- Unsalted butter, melted and cooled – Melt it and let it sit about 15 minutes so it's not hot when you go to add it to your dough. Melted butter is what gives these their chewy texture.
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.
🌿 How to Make Basil Sugar
Basil sugar is exactly what it sounds like: fresh basil ground together with granulated sugar.
Add your rinsed, patted-dry basil leaves and the granulated sugar to a food processor. Pulse until the basil and sugar look a bit like wet, green sand! Fun, right?
You'll make about ¾ cup of basil sugar in total. Reserve roughly ¼ cup for rolling the dough balls, and use the remaining ½ cup in the dough itself. It replaces the granulated sugar you'd normally cream with the butter.
🍓 Crush the Strawberries
Instead of adding the freeze-dried strawberries to a food processor, you'll crush them. You want pieces, not powder.
Crush them by hand, or seal them in a zip-top bag and press with the bottom of a glass or a rolling pin until you've got a mix of small bits and a little dust.
The hunks of strawberry are what give you the color, bursts of flavor, and texture in each bite of your cookies.
You'll use about an ounce (30 g) total. Fold most of it into the dough, and hang onto roughly a tablespoon of the bigger pieces to press onto the cookie tops.
📖 Step-by-Step Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F, and melt your butter, letting it cool for 15 minutes, as you proceed with the steps below.
Combine wet ingredients. Cream the cooled melted butter, ½ cup basil sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract for 3 minutes.
Make cookie dough. Add the salt, baking soda, baking powder, egg, and egg yolk; mix 45 seconds. Add the flour and mix about a minute until combined.
Fold in freeze-dried strawberries. Switch to a spatula and gently fold in the crushed strawberries (minus the reserved topping) until they're evenly dispersed.
Form dough balls. Scoop dough balls about two-thirds the size of a golf ball, then roll each one in the reserved basil sugar.
Top and bake. Place the dough balls about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets and press a few reserved strawberry pieces onto each top. Bake at 350°F for 10–11 minutes, until the cookies' edges are a light golden brown.
Cool. Let the cookies sit on the sheet about 10-15 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack once they're firm enough to handle.
🤫 Secret to Perfectly Round Cookies
Once the cookies exit the oven, you can literally round out any imperfections to create a circular-shaped cookie.
Set a cookie cutter or the open rim of a glass slightly bigger than the cookie over the top and swirl each one. The warm edges scoot into a clean circle.
❓ Strawberry Basil Sugar Cookie FAQs
I really don't recommend it here. Fresh strawberries add a lot of water, which makes the dough spread too much and bake up pale and cakey.
Freeze-dried strawberries give you actual strawberry-flavor and color with none of that extra moisture.
You could grind the strawberries into a powder, but I suggest crushing instead. This gives you visible pieces to press into your dough, creating a pretty contrast in color with the cookie and texture, too.
Subtle and a little herby-sweet.
While this combo balances the flavors nicely, you could start with a touch less basil in your sugar and increase the amount as you become more comfortable with the recipe. But if you like basil, I think you'll be really happy with these cookies as they are.
Yes. Store it in an airtight container at room temperature and use it within a few days for the brightest basil flavor. Give it a quick stir before measuring so it's not clumpy.
❄️ Storing and Freezing
Room temperature – Keep them in an airtight container for about 3–4 days.
Freezing – They freeze well for up to three months in an airtight container. I layer wax or parchment paper between them as I stack. Let them come to room temperature before serving, or warm gently for just a few seconds in the microwave.
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🍪 More Cookies
You'll find plenty more in my full collection of cookie recipes, with a few other favorites here!
Strawberry Basil Sugar Cookies
- Total Time: 31 minutes
- Yield: 18 cookies 1x
Description
These soft and chewy strawberry basil sugar cookies use a homemade basil sugar and real freeze-dried strawberries. This easy, pretty summer cookie has bright berry flavor and color.
Ingredients
For the basil sugar:
- ¾ cup (180 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (around 20 g) lightly packed fresh basil leaves, rinsed and patted very dry
For the cookies:
- 8 tablespoons (113 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- ½ cup (120 g) basil sugar (from above)
- ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar, firmly packed
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (use half as much if using table salt)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
- 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 oz (30 g) freeze-dried strawberries, crushed into pieces
- Reserved ~¼ cup basil sugar, for rolling
Instructions
- Make the basil sugar. Add the granulated sugar and dry basil leaves to a food processor. Pulse until the basil and sugar look a bit like wet, green sand. Reserve about ¼ cup for rolling; you'll use ½ cup in the dough.
- Crush the freeze-dried strawberries into small pieces by hand, or seal them in a bag and press with a glass or rolling pin. You want pieces, not powder. Set aside about 1 tablespoon of the larger pieces for topping.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Melt the butter and let it cool about 15 minutes, until slightly warm but not hot.
- Cream the cooled butter, ½ cup basil sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract for 3 minutes.
- Add the salt, baking soda, baking powder, egg, and egg yolk. Mix 45 seconds.
- Add the flour and mix about 1 minute, until just combined.
- Switch to a spatula and gently fold in the crushed strawberries (minus the reserved topping) until evenly dispersed.
- Scoop dough into balls about two-thirds the size of a golf ball. Roll each in the reserved basil sugar, place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets, and press a few reserved strawberry pieces onto each top.
- Bake 10–11 minutes, until the edges are light golden and the centers look slightly underdone.
- Let the cookies sit on the sheet 10-15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
Notes
- For accuracy, weigh your ingredients with a kitchen scale.
- Basil sugar can be made ahead; store airtight at room temperature and use within a few days.
- Use freeze-dried strawberries, not soft "dried" strawberries. These are different ingredients and not interchangeable.
- For perfectly round cookies, use a glass rim or cookie cutter around each one right after it comes out of the oven.
- Nutritional values are approximate and may vary based on specific ingredients, brands, and preparation methods. For the most accurate information, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 11 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 158
- Sugar: 14 g
- Sodium: 77 mg
- Fat: 6 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.5 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 24.5 g
- Fiber: 0.6 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 34 mg
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