· Date Modified
Jump to Recipe
These vegan strawberry crunch cookies are soft with slightly chewy edges and a delicious strawberry flavor. They’re inspired by the nostalgic strawberry shortcake ice cream bars and are complete with a homemade iconic strawberry crunch crumble on top!
Jump To: show
📝 Why You’ll Love These Strawberry Crunch Cookies:
- Taste: Just the right amount of sweetness with strawberry flavor throughout.
- Texture: Perfectly soft centers with slightly chewy edges and a crunchy strawberry shortcake crumble on top.
- Difficulty: Easy!
- Time: About 30 minutes.
- Why We Love These Homemade Strawberry Crunch Cookies: With strawberry season in full swing, I’ve been dreaming up new ways to highlight one of my favorite fruits. I’ve previously made a delicious vegan strawberry crunch cake as well as vegan strawberry crunch donuts (in my e-book), so it was about time to make strawberry crunch cookies! And they certainly don’t disappoint… bursting with bright berry flavor. I love dolloping a bit of coconut whipped cream on top to transform them into strawberry shortcake cookies
Ingredients:
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
These from scratch cookies don’t use any strawberry cake mix, but are instead made with the some of the following ingredients:
- Vegan Butter: I used salted Earth Balance Buttery Sticks that are softened to room temperature for this recipe. But you can use your favorite dairy free butter of choice. Vegan butter can also be subbed 1:1 for dairy butter.
- Freeze Dried Strawberries: These are essential for giving the cookies the best strawberry flavor! I don’t recommend substituting them for fresh strawberries as fresh berries have too much moisture and can lead to cakey cookies. These pink cookies get their lovely color from the freeze-dried strawberries incorporated into both the dough and final baked form.
- Vanilla Sandwich Cookies: We use these to make the homemade strawberry crunch crumble (no strawberry jello needed). This crumble is what makes these cookies so similar to the classic strawberry crunch ice cream bars. You can use Golden Oreos or another sandwich cookie of choice.
- Sugar: This recipe uses white cane sugar. However, you could try substituting about half with light brown sugar for a fudgier texture.
- Ground Flaxseed: We’re using ground flax with a bit of water to make a flax egg. This vegan egg substitute helps soften the cookie and helps it hold it’s shape.
Helpful Equipment
Here are a few tools that will make creating this recipe extra easy:
- Food Processor: To blend the freeze dried strawberries and make the strawberry crumble
- Large Bowl: For making the cookie dough
- Baking Sheet: For baking the strawberry cookies
- Parchment Paper: For baking & easy clean up
- Wire Rack: For cooling the cookies
Step-by-Step Instructions
🍓 *Ingredient Quantities are in the Recipe Card Below!*
STEP 1: Cream together the softened vegan butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
STEP 2: Add the strawberry powder, strawberry jam, vanilla extract and thickened flax egg. Mix them in until well combined.
STEP 3: Add the dry ingredients on top of the wet ingredients. Use a fork to sift the dry ingredients together, then stir into the wet until a soft dough forms.
📌 TIP: If the dough seems too sticky to roll into balls, chill it for 10 minutes.
STEP 4: Scoop and roll the dough into 10-12 equal balls.
STEP 5: Make the strawberry crunch crumble and roll the dough balls in it to fully coat the outside. You can also sprinkle more strawberry crumble on top of the cookies.
STEP 6: Place the coated dough balls on the prepared cookie sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake for 13-14 minutes.
📌 TIP: The cookies will puff up while baking but will deflate and have chewy edges once removed from the oven and cooled.
Serving & Storage
A few of the best summer treats growing up were strawberry shortcake and Good Humor’s popular strawberry crunch ice cream bars. This recipe transforms both of these summer classics into a cookie form!
To make these cookies even more like strawberry shortcake, you can dollop about a tablespoon of coconut whipped cream on top and serve them with halved fresh strawberries (like in the photos).
This really makes them the perfect treat for a hot summer day! But they’re also so good year-round and would even make a delicious treat for Valentine’s Day because of their pink color.
If you’re not a fan of whipped cream, the cookies can also be topped with a drizzle of vanilla icing (recipe is in the card below).
You can store the baked cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for 3-4 days. After that, I recommend freezing them to help lock in moisture.
Helpful Tips For The BEST Strawberry Crunch Cookies
❶ Use a Digital Scale: For the best results, I always recommend using a kitchen scale to measure ingredients for baking recipes. If you don’t have a scale, I recommend spooning the flour from the bag into a measuring cup and leveling off the top with a knife. This helps prevent over-measuring the flour which can lead to cakey cookies.
❷ Softened, Room Temperature Vegan Butter: Let your vegan butter soften for a few hours prior to making these cookies. Softened butter, instead of melted butter, helps create the perfect soft texture.
❸ Chill the Cookie Dough If Needed: If the cookie dough is super sticky, you can chill it for about 10 minutes before rolling it into dough balls.
❹ Shape the Baked Cookies: If the cookies spread while baking, you can use a circular cookie cutter or a large circular glass to shape the cookies into perfect circles.
More Vegan cookies:
- The BEST Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Lemon Sugar Cookies
- Vegan Banana Bread Cookies
- Soft and Fudgy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Cherry Shortbread Cookies
- Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies
Did you make these Vegan strawberry crunch cookies?
I’d love to know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating and comment below!
Vegan Strawberry Crunch Cookies
These are the best strawberry crunch cookies with a soft center, slightly chewy edges and a strawberry shortcake crumble on top!
No ratings yet
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 14 minutes minutes
Servings: 12 cookies
Calories: 186kcal
Author: Emily
Ingredients
Soft Strawberry Sugar Cookies:
- ½ cup vegan butter - 114g, softened at room temp- I used Earth Balance Salted Buttery Sticks
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp granulated cane sugar - 125g
- ¼ cup blended freeze dried strawberries - 24g – about 1 cup when whole
- ¼ cup strawberry jam or preserves - 72g
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract - 8g
- 1 tbsp ground flaxseed - plus 2 tbsp water, to make a flax egg
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour - 180g, spooned into a measuring cup from the bag & leveled off (don’t pack the flour down- see notes for more tips on measuring flour)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ⅛ tsp sea salt
Strawberry Crunch Crumble:
- 5 vegan vanilla sandwich cookies
- 2 tbsp whole freeze-dried strawberries
Optional Icing:
- ¼ cup powdered sugar - 30g
- ½ -1 tsp dairy free milk
- ⅛ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Prep:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a food processor or blender, process the 1 cup of whole freeze-dried strawberries into a fine powder. Set aside the amount you'll need for the cookies.
¼ cup blended freeze dried strawberries
Make the strawberry crunch crumble by blending the vanilla sandwich cookies with additional freeze-dried strawberries. Pour into a shallow bowl and set aside.
5 vegan vanilla sandwich cookies, 2 tbsp whole freeze-dried strawberries
Make a flax egg by combining ground flaxseed with 2 tbsp water. Set aside to thicken for 5 minutes.
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
Make the Strawberry Cookie Dough:
In a large bowl, cream together the softened vegan butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
½ cup vegan butter, ½ cup + 2 tbsp granulated cane sugar
Add the blended strawberry powder, strawberry jam, vanilla extract and thickened flax egg, mixing until well combined.
¼ cup blended freeze dried strawberries, ¼ cup strawberry jam or preserves, 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract, 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
Add the dry ingredients on top of the wet ingredients. Use a fork to sift the dry ingredients together, then stir into the wet until a soft dough forms. If the dough seems too sticky, chill it for 10 minutes.
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour, ½ tsp baking soda, ½ tsp baking powder, ⅛ tsp sea salt
Scoop and roll the dough into 10-12 equal balls. Then, roll in the strawberry crunch crumble to fully coat the outside.
Place the coated dough balls on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart.
Bake for 13-14 minutes until golden brown around the edges.
Allow the baked cookies to cool on the tray for 2-3 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once the cookies are cooled, you can ice them if desired. Mix together the icing ingredients and drizzle on top of the cooled cookies.
¼ cup powdered sugar, ½ -1 tsp dairy free milk, ⅛ tsp vanilla extract
Notes
- Use a Digital Scale: For the best results, I always recommend using a kitchen scale to measure ingredients for baking recipes. If you don’t have a scale, I recommend spooning the flour from the bag into a measuring cup and leveling off the top with a knife. This helps prevent over measuring the flour which can lead to cakey cookies.
- Shape the Baked Cookies: If the cookies spread while baking, you can use a circular cookie cutter or a large circular glass to shape the cookies into perfect circles.
- The cookies will puff up while baking but will deflate and have chewy edges once removed from the oven and cooled.
Nutrition
Calories: 186kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 2g
Tried this recipe?Mention @tyberrymuch or tag #tyberrymuch!
Want to Save this Recipe for Later? Pin it to Pinterest!
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this post might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my blog so I can continue to provide you with free content each week!
