Banish Boredom With Strawberry and Feta Cookies

Sometimes when a new food comes along, I have a satiated reaction. Especially when it’s a viral cookie recipe that is sometimes too mediocre to warrant the hype, to be honest. Popular cookies sometimes crumble, and another chocolate chip option won’t take off in this expensive egg economy. This is not the fault of any particular chef or baker. Cookie experimentation has peaked and needs a new wave of creativity that usually comes from social media these days.

Enter a recent gastronomic fad: Carolina Galen’s chocolate feta cookie , which has been criticized and praised in equal measure by commentators and baked by bloggers all over the web. Sometimes I get ahead of taste and grimace in front of the unknown, so to speak, I knock and do not try. Instead, I listened to the voice in my head that said, “Shh, this is a brilliant recipe.”

After all, why would someone who loves boba cheese tea (me) disapprove of feta cookies (me too)? Sweet and salty – a sacred duet. Since chocolate and feta didn’t speak to me like dark roast Assam black tea with salted cheese crema and tapioca pearls, my brain began to switch to other feta combinations that might work. Feta and fruit are a tried-and-true perfect combination – you can find it in watermelon salad or apricot pie – so it’s time to dance the two ingredients together in cookie shape. Remembering some really fun experiments with freeze-dried strawberries, the light bulb exploded!

Convinced that someone had already made this combo, I was shocked to learn that it was either a brand new recipe, or one that had been buried in the salad search engine optimization due to an excess of strawberry and feta garnishes. I quickly set about testing, but given how delicious the two flavors are in other recipes, this was destined to be delicious.

After making several versions, the cookies turned out to be really special, both visually and in taste. Embedded in a simple sugar cookie base, the flavors are bold and take center stage, while richer cookie bases can overly complicate things. Strawberries get hot, and using brown sugar or brown butter can cause the flavor to “overheat”, creating a mineral note that gets too hot. The ratio of butter to sweetener in sugar cookies has a milder flavor, making room for creamy, salty cheese and tangy sweet berries.

In general, they taste like strawberry cheesecake in the body of a cookie – juicy and slightly savory. Freeze-dried strawberries are the ticket to intense flavor and color, and the use of pre-crushed cow feta gives a soft, creamy and slightly offbeat flavor that becomes iconic when baked.

For gourmets, the aroma of warm, freshly baked biscuits mimics the perfect Margherita pizza—not with hints of oregano and sauce, but it’s like the sheer sweetness of freshly crushed tomatoes and milky mozzarella over wood or charcoal. – fried pie. If you don’t want to go crazy with the squeamishness of cheese, use the more accessible cheesecake comparison.

Before you grab a bowl, here are some important tips:

• Grind strawberries very finely for maximum flavor and minimum change in cookie texture.
• Don’t even think about using fresh strawberries or jam; they add too much moisture.
• Overcooking is not your friend – strawberries will brown immediately if you go too far.

Strawberry Feta Cookies (Makes 28 Medium Cookies)

Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ cups flour, spooned out and smoothed
• 1 cup sugar, plus about ¼ cup more for sprinkling
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 5 oz freeze-dried strawberries, unopened package
• 4 ounces crumbled feta
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• ½ cup butter (one stick), room temperature

Crush the closed bag of freeze-dried strawberries until it turns into a fine powder. (Alternatively, you can use a food processor.)

Sift dry ingredients together, except sugar, then add 4 oz strawberry powder.

Mix remaining strawberries with ¼ cup white sugar and set aside.

Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla, then set the speed to the lowest setting and slowly add the dry ingredients until just combined.

Take courage and add the crumbled feta, being careful not to stir or stir.

Cool in a bowl for 30 minutes.

Roll or roll into 1 1/2″ diameter balls, add the remaining pink sugar and refrigerate the dough again for 30 minutes.

Bake for 12 minutes at 350°F on a sheet of parchment or a silicone baking mat, but watch the last 2 minutes carefully so the strawberry dust doesn’t brown and flip midway through baking if your oven is unknown. for even heating.

Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack, which is not a frivolous move; this allows the sugar to crystallize properly, making it crispy on the outside while leaving some chewy on the inside.

Serve and surprise people with this unique, fun and summery cookie set. Because it’s both novelty and really rich, I ended up freezing half of the cookie balls for fun or to entertain boredom and baked 15 of them on one baking sheet with a silicone mat, which was a mistake. You really want to make sure they have room to spread, so stick with a maximum of 12 per large baking sheet.

Don’t be afraid to run with a spark of feta galen like I did; another freeze-dried berry might be delicious here, and someone has to find a way to make a watermelon cookie that doesn’t taste like vape or Starburst. Use fancier sheep feta to be more adventurous, or sprinkle a few extra crumbs on top for decoration. Experiment with it like the original cookie creator did. You may end up creating the next viral dessert sensation.