I’ve been on a bit of a cookie kick lately, which I know isn’t great for me. But because my family is in town, I decided to make some mostly-good-for-you Valentine cookies for everyone to enjoy. And what Valentine’s dessert is better than chocolate covered strawberries? Chocolate covered strawberry cookies!
This morning I created these pretty holiday cookies, which contain pulverized freeze-dried strawberries and are topped with melted vegan chocolate chips. The strawberry powder give them a light pink color, which is perfect for Valentine’s Day.
The strawberry powder gives these shortbread cookies a subtle strawberry flavor that is natural, as opposed to the strawberry flavorings you find in most candies and gelatin desserts. For the dough I altered my shortbread cookie recipe, which worked perfectly!
Instead of melting chocolate chips and making a huge mess trying to spread them onto each cookie, I simply placed the chocolate chips directly on the cookies right when they came out of the oven. Then I took the tip of a dinner knife and smoothed out the melted chocolate chips. Easy!
I also used a small heart cookie cutter to cut a heart window out of the middle of the second half of the cookies, then stacked the window cookies on top of the chocolate-covered solid cookies. Finally, I sprinkled some of the extra strawberry powder onto the exposed chocolate.
My mom was a taste-tester, and she seemed shocked that such a nutritious cookie could taste so good!
Strawberry Chocolate Valentine Cookies
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup almond flour (Bob’s Red Mill)
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 2 T. sweet white sorghum flour
- 1/4 t. fine sea salt
- 1/4 cup freeze-dried strawberries, pulverized, plus more for sprinkling
- 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/4 cup + 1 t. pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup vegan semisweet chocolate chips
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine the flours, salt, and strawberry powder in a bowl. In a separate bowl, stir together the oil and maple syrup. Pour wet into dry and stir to form a dough.
- Press 5 separate dough balls into a 2.5-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter. Do the same with 5 more dough balls, but use a smaller heart-shaped cookie cutter to remove a small heart from the middle of these four cookies.
- Bake all cookies 8-11 minutes, or until the bottom edges of the cookies appear golden.
- When the cookies are still hot, place several chocolate chips on top of the solid hearts, wait for them to melt, then smooth them out with the tip of a dinner knife (see photo). Top the chocolate layers with the window cookies and sprinkle some strawberry powder over the chocolate heart.
- Let the chocolate set, or eat the cookies right away! 🙂
Happy Valentine’s Day! ♥
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