Strawberry Sugar Cookies

I love dessert in general as my friends and family will tell you, I have a major sweet tooth. While I don't eat sweets as often as I used to for health reasons, I still enjoy smaller amounts of sweets a few times a week and them in smaller portions or in lower calorie ways that I like. I believe in practicing moderation with food in general. Eating healthy is easier for me when I eat foods I like, eat a wide variety of foods, and can still have treats and indulgences. Here is a recipe for cookies I made today using fresh strawberries and a lower fat sugar cookie dough. Not super healthy, but not as bad as some other cookie recipes out there. They taste a lot like homemade strawberry shortcake, but in cookie form.

Strawberry Sugar Cookies - makes about 12 larger cookies

Ingredients:

• 5 tbsp butter, softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar, unpacked
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 6 strawberries sliced into halves, lengthwise
• 1 1/2 TBSP of sugar to sprinkle on cookies (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Using a mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Then add egg and vanilla into the bowl, mixing well.
3. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually stir flour mixture into the mixing bowl until dough forms.
4. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray and form 12 cookie balls on the cookie sheet. Each cookie ball should be about 2 TBSP of cookie dough.
5. Press a slice into each cookie, this will flatten the cookie into a flatter, round shape.
6. Sprinkle each cookie with 1/8 tsp of sugar. Cookies should look like this before heading to the oven:

7. Cook in oven for about 8-12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.
8. Remove cookies from pan onto a cooling rack or a large plate. Should be ready to eat once they cool for at least 15-30 minutes. Enjoy!