Crisp crumbly strawberry heart shortbread biscuits made with freeze-dried strawberries. These cute biscuits are perfect as a snack at any time of year or as a Valentine's gift. My kids also love them in their lunch boxes or as an after school snack.
These strawberry flavoured shortbread biscuits have a delicate strawberry flavour and a light crisp texture. I used quite a small heart-shaped cutter
These strawberry heart shortbread biscuits are perfect to take into work, to carry around in your bag as a snack or to give as a gift. But they are especially good to put in the biscuit tin at home, which is where mine are right now! Or at least they were when I last looked.
I made these shortbread cookies using freeze-dried strawberries which are a great way of flavouring shortbread. I first used freeze-dried berries in some lovely blondies and I knew that freeze-dried berries would be just as good in a shortbread biscuit.
A biscuit idea for Valentine's Day?
Shortbread is lovely at any time of year but make strawberry flavoured shortbread and it's the perfect romantic bake. Apart from chocolate, berries have to be the next most popular Valentine's ingredient. This fruity flavoured shortbread is very hard to resist!
So, what are you waiting for? If you need a Valentine's day baking project, get on it!
What ingredients do you need for these?
To make these strawberry flavoured biscuits I used:
- Butter - I use unsalted and add just a little salt but you can use salted butter too.
- Caster sugar
- Flour - I use a mixture of plain flour and cornflour. It gives the biscuits a lovely light texture.
- Salt - This is optional and the biscuits don't taste salty but I do think it helps with the flavour.
- Strawberry flavouring - I have used both liquid strawberry flavouring and freeze-dried fruit powder to bump up the strawberry flavour. Both work well so it depends what you prefer. You can even miss it out and just add the freeze-dried strawberry pieces.
- Freeze-dried strawberry pieces.
How do you make these strawberry flavoured shortbread biscuits?
I make these biscuits in the same way that I make my regular shortbread biscuits. I just add in the freeze-dried strawberry pieces and the freeze-dried strawberry powder if I'm using it.
Before starting I line a couple of baking trays with non stick baking paper so the biscuits don't stick in the oven.
To make the process easier I use the food processor to mix the butter and sugar together and then I blitz in the flour, cornflour and salt. Once they are combined I just need to quickly bring the dough together on the work surface with my hands, adding in the freeze-dried strawberry pieces.
At this point you can put the dough in the fridge to rest before rolling out the biscuits. Or, you can roll out the biscuits and then put the biscuits in the fridge to rest before baking them. It is best if the biscuits are cold when they go in the oven so they keep their shape and don't spread as much.
They will bake quickly in the oven if they are small like these ones. I find 12-15 minutes at 160C is enough.
How do you flavour the shortbread?
I use freeze-dried strawberry pieces to flavour these shortbread biscuits as they are the ultimate romantic berry.
To use freeze-dried berries, you just add the pieces to the shortbread biscuit dough. It's as simple as that! So, if you do have a favourite shortbread recipe, just add some freeze-dried berries. You don't need to alter the rest of the recipe in any way.
To add a little extra flavour you can add a little strawberry flavouring or some freeze-dried powdered fruit. I think it enhances the taste just a little. However, this is totally optional and you can leave it out. Don't feel you have to buy strawberry flavouring or two kinds of freeze-dried strawberries just to make these!
Can you adapt these strawberry heart shortbread biscuits?
Yes of course! To begin with, they don't need to be heart shaped. Any shape will do!
If you don't need to use freeze-dried strawberries. Try another freeze-dried fruit.
If you don't have cornflour, use all plain flour.
If you want to change the colour, add some gel food colouring to make them a romantic pink or red.
Can you decorate them?
Yes, why not drizzle them with white, milk or dark chocolate? Or dip one side in chocolate?
How long do these shortbread biscuits keep for?
These strawberry heart shortbread cookies keep really well in an airtight container. They will stay fine for at least a month although they never last that long in our house!
Can you make your own powdered freeze-dried fruit?
If you just have freeze-dried fruit pieces and want to make them into a powder you can blitz the fruit pieces in a blender or food processor.
Can children make these biscuits?
Yes, these biscuits are great for making with your kids. The children and I make homemade shortbread biscuits all the time in our house. We make them for fun: kneading, squashing, squeezing and moulding the dough, just like play dough.
We manage to get about half of it on the baking trays ready for the oven and the rest gets swept up from underneath the table and thrown in the bin. It's not a good idea to overwork biscuit dough but I've given up and we still enjoy the biscuits.
Sometimes though, not very often, just very very occasionally, I sneakily make biscuits all by myself. I follow the rules and try to make something a little bit special, just like when I made these 5 little ducks went swimming one day biscuits!
Are you looking for more valentine's Recipes?
These heart shaped treats are the perfect way to spoil your loved ones this Valentines day. Or any day. After all, you don't just have to make these biscuits for Valentine's day or even for a special day.
Recipe
Strawberry Shortbread Hearts
Ingredients
- 225 g unsalted butter softened
- 110 g caster sugar
- 225 g plain flour
- 110 g cornflour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon strawberry flavouring
- 7 g freeze-dried strawberry pieces
Instructions
- Cover 4 baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
- Put the sugar and butter in a food processor. Blitz until thoroughly combined.
- Put the dry ingredients in another bowl and stir together then add to the food processor along with the strawberry flavouring. Blitz again until a dough just starts to form and then add the freeze-dried strawberry pieces.
- Blitz again then turn out onto a work surface. Bring together to form a dough. Roll out to a thickness of about 5 millimetres and use a cookie cutter to cut out the shapes you want. Place them onto the baking trays.
- Put the baking trays into the fridge for half an hour to chill.
- Preheat the oven to 160C
- Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes.
- Let the biscuits cool on the trays for a couple of minutes then transfer to wire racks to finish cooling.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Keep in touch
Do let me know if you make these strawberry heart biscuits or any of my other recipes. I love to get feedback from readers.
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Beth
Oh, I love your use of the freeze dried strawberries! Shortbread are my favorite and I can't wait to give these a try!
Corina Blum
Shortbread is our favourite too - It's always a hit with the kids and easy to adapt by adding chocolate chips or freeze-dried fruit like in these ones. I hope you like them if you get to make them!
Ramona
These look soo delicious and cute, perfect for Valentines. Will give them a try, my daughter would love to make these cuties.
Corina Blum
They are great to make with kids. My children want to make biscuits this weekend although we will probably make plain ones!
Amanda Wren-Grimwood
These are so pretty with the pink showing through so perfect for Valentine's or gifts. They look really crisp and buttery too!
Corina Blum
Yes, they are really crisp and buttery. I will have to make some more for this year but I'm thinking of trying a different flavour!
Amanda
So cute for Valentine's Day! Love strawberry desserts too 🙂
Corina Blum
Thanks! We all love cookies in our house so I think I'm going to make some more of these soon.
Jeannette (Jay Joy)
I know you tried the freeze-dried strawberry but I am drooling over what the raspberry would have tasted like! These will be so fun for Valentine's Day!
Corina Blum
I would love to try them with freeze-dried raspberries too! Maybe I'll do that when it actually is Valentine's Day!
jenny paulin
These are so beautiful Corina .I am rubbish at baking biscuits so I def have biscuit making envy right now. Thank you for joining in with #Bakeoftheweek x
Corina Blum
Thanks Jenny! I love making biscuits as they make such easy snacks for the children! x
Flex
Cornia,
I gave this recipe to my wife and she made them.They are so nice.We ate them during our tea time.My children love tea biscuit cookies and now they love strawberry shortbread cookies too.Only thing is we didn't have a heart-shaped cutter to get the shapes nicely.
Corina
Thank you so much for letting me know the recipe worked so well for you. It's always lovely to hear when people have actually tried my recipes and I'm sure they would be just as good even without the heart-shaped cutter!
Helen Costello
These are so pretty and look like such a good crumbly bake! I love how they have held their shape. Thanks for joining in with #BakeoftheWeek - great to have you on board.
Corina
Thanks Helen! I think putting the dough in the fridge before baking them helped them keep their shapes. Normally I chill the dough then roll it out but this time I did it the other way round and it worked really well.
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain
How delicious do they sound Corina - crumbly shortbread biscuits with freezedried strawberry pieces - I'll take two to go please 🙂
Angela x
Corina
They are really yummy and I'm planning to make a batch with freeze dried raspberry pieces in soon as well! x
Harleen Quinzel
Strawberry is fine but I find it too smooth.I love to celebrate my valentine's day with ginger biscuit cookies-my favorite.That gives a nice feeling to me
Corina
They sound lovely too!
Michelle Frank | Flipped-Out Food
I love that you bake with your kids. Mine couldn't be less interested, but they DO appreciate the results! These heart-shaped beauties are too cute: I can't wait to make up a batch and portion them out in little V-Day bags.
Corina
Yes, my kids love baking but it doesn't always go according to plan. They want to do things their way and just mix everything together all at once but luckily there's not much that can go wrong with these! These would be great in little v-day bags - lovely idea.
Erren
These biscuits are so sweet and perfect for Valentine's Day!
Corina
Thank you! So pleased you like them Erren
Sara | wheyproteinindia
Perfect colours for Valentine’s Day but also perfect for me as I’ve been a strawberry fan for as long as I can remember. Looking forward to this Valentine's Day 🙂
Corina
Thanks! Strawberry flavoured things are great for Valentine's day aren't they?
Baked to Imperfection
These are so gorgeous, I love the little specs of red strawberry running throughout. They look so yummy and would make a perfect Valentines gift to your loved ones or just yourself 🙂 Chonnie xx #CookBlogShare
Corina
Thanks Connie! The funny thing is my little boy was very suspicious of the little red bit and didn't want to try them even though the rest of us loved them.
Everyday Sarah Jane
These are such a cute treat! One that everyone would love! I especially like that you've added strawberries - yum!
Corina
Oh yes, we love strawberries and strawberry flavoured things!
Bintu - Recipes From A Pantry
So sweet and simple to make too. I bet they are delicious dipped in melted chocolate too
Corina
ooh yes, that would be a great idea for next time!
hijackedbytwins
What lovely little biscuits! The hubby would love a batch making, pinning to try later! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Corina
So pleased you like these and hope you enjoy them if you get chance to make them!
Debbie
So pretty!!! Love these and sounds like a nice straight forward recipe. The thought of the freeze dried strawberries is making my tongue tingle....great addition!!
Corina
Aww thank you! I do love nice easy recipes!
Eb Gargano / easypeasyfoodie.com
Oh wow - these are so gorgeous! I love the comment about how sometimes you sneakily bake things by yourself!! I am the same - although I love baking with the kids, I really love baking by myself - it's so nice to be able to do everything by myself, with no arguments and almost no mess - plus I get to lick the bowl out 😉 Thanks for linking up to #CookBlogShare 🙂 Eb x
Corina
I'm pleased to know I'm not the only one who sneakily bakes without the kids sometimes! x