Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

The other day a friend was getting ready to make strawberry shortcake. Except she was using the small, round sponge cakes in a package. That's not how I remember shortcake. Growing up, shortcake was homemade, dry and crumbly and soaked up the cream from the bowl.

Then I saw this recipe on SweetlySerendipity.com. Real shortbread! In a cookie! So I made them, following the recipe at the link. Heaven, warm from the oven. And later just divine in a bowl with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. You could pour some real cream in the bowl... I did not have enough left over from the recipe. If that sounds good, buy a pint of cream (instead of the cup required for the recipe).

If you like scones, you will love these. I think I will have to try blueberries next.

Photos & Notes: cut strawberries, strawberries in the lemon juice and sugar, the batter, and the dollops of cookie dough. At first the batter will seem like it does not have enough moisture, but follow the recipe. The juicy strawberry mix will hold it together. For scooping the cookies, I used heaping-heaping tablespoonfuls. Then I stuck extra pieces of dough on top if needed. For the sugar topping, use raw (turbinado) sugar or dusting (decorating crystals-type) sugar. Regular sugar will melt and caramelize. I stored the cookies in a big zip-lock overnight - I think it made them too moist and more like cupcakes this morning... so don't recommend that. I prefer the crumbly scone texture.