Banish Cookie Boredom With Strawberry and Feta Cookies

Sometimes, erstwhile a caller nutrient comes along, I person a jaded reaction. Especially erstwhile it’s a viral cooky recipe, which is sometimes excessively mediocre to warrant the hype, if I’m keeping it honest. Popular cookies sometimes crumble, and different instrumentality connected a cocoa spot isn’t gonna alert successful this costly ovum economy. It’s nary peculiar cook oregon baker’s fault. Cookie experimentation is astatine a max-out, and it needs a caller question of creativity that, successful today’s times, usually comes from societal media.

Enter a caller nutrient fad: Carolina Galen’s Chocolate Feta Cookies, which were panned and praised by commenters successful adjacent parts, and baked by bloggers each astir the web. Sometimes I get up of my palate and grimace astatine the unknown—knocking it and not trying it, truthful to speak. Instead of doing that, I listened to the dependable successful my caput that said “Shhhh, that’s a superb recipe.”

After all, wherefore would idiosyncratic who adores food beverage boba (me) frown astatine a feta cooky (also me)? Sweet and salty is simply a ineffable duo. Since cocoa and feta didn’t talk to maine similar acheronian roast Assam achromatic beverage with salted food foam and tapioca pearls does, my encephalon started drifting to different feta pairings that could work. Feta and effect is simply a proven cleanable pairing—you tin find it successful a watermelon crockery oregon an apricot tart—so it’s precocious clip the 2 ingredients danced unneurotic successful cooky form. Remembering immoderate truly amusive experiments with freeze-dried strawberries, the lightbulb went off!

Convinced that idiosyncratic had already done this combo, I was shocked to find retired it’s either a marque caller recipe, oregon 1 that has been buried successful crockery SEO owed to a glut of strawberry and feta broadside dishes. I rapidly got to enactment testing, but considering however yummy those 2 flavors are successful different recipes, it was predetermined to beryllium delicious.

After making a fewer versions, the resulting cooky is thing truly special, some visually and successful taste. Embedded successful a elemental sweetener cooky base, the flavors are bold and instrumentality halfway stage, wherever richer cooky bases could overcomplicate things. Strawberry runs warm, and utilizing brownish sweetener oregon browned food mightiness effect successful an “overheating” of flavors, striking a minerally enactment that runs overly hot. Sugar cookie’s food and sweetener ratios person softer aromas, making abstraction for creamy, salty cheese, and sharp, saccharine berries.

All successful all, these sensation similar strawberry cheesecake successful a cookie’s body—luscious and somewhat savory. Freeze-dried strawberry is the summons to aggravated spirit and color, and utilizing a pre-crumbled cattle feta lends a mild, creamy, and somewhat funky spirit that becomes an iconic pairing erstwhile baked up.

For the foodies, the aroma of the warm, just-baked cooky mimics a cleanable margherita pizza—not with an oregano and condiment note, but it’s akin to the axenic sweetness of caller crushed tomatoes and milky mozzarella connected apical of a wood- oregon coal-fired pie. If you don’t wanna freak retired the food squeamish, spell with the much approachable examination to cheesecake.

Before you drawback the bowl, present are immoderate important tips:

• Crunch up the strawberries other good for maximum spirit and minimal changes to cooky texture.
• Don’t adjacent deliberation astir utilizing caller strawberries oregon jam; they adhd excessively overmuch moisture.
• Overbaking is not your friend—the strawberry volition brownish instantly if you instrumentality it excessively far.

Strawberry Feta Cookies (makes 28 medium-sized cookies)

Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ cups flour spooned and leveled
• 1 cupful sugar, positive astir ¼ cupful much for dusting
• ½ spoon baking pulverization
• ½ spoon baking soda
• ¼ spoon salt
• 5 ounces frost dried strawberries, packaging unopened
• 4 ounces crumbled feta
• 1 spoon vanilla extract
• 1 ample egg, country somesthesia
• ½ cupful food (one stick), country somesthesia

Squish the unopened container of frost dried strawberries, until it becomes a good powder. (Alternatively, you tin usage a nutrient processor.)

Sift the adust ingredients together, but sugar, past disturbance successful 4 ounces of strawberry powder.

Mix the remaining strawberries with ¼ cupful granulated achromatic sweetener and acceptable aside.

Cream food and sweetener with an electrical mixer until airy and fluffy.

Add the ovum and vanilla, past acceptable it to the lowest velocity and dilatory adhd the adust ingredients until conscionable mixed.

Get brave and fold successful the crumbled feta, taking attraction to not overmix oregon disturbance excessively much.

Chill successful the vessel for 30 minutes.

Roll oregon scoop into 1 1/2-inch balls, flip successful the remaining pinkish sugar, and past chill the dough again for 30 minutes.

Bake for 12 minutes astatine 350°F connected a expanse of parchment oregon silicone baking mat, but support a adjacent oculus during the past 2 minutes, to debar browning the strawberry dust, and rotate halfway done the baking clip if your oven isn’t known for adjacent heat.

Let the cookies chill for 5 minutes connected the tray, past decorativeness connected a rack, which is not a frivolous step; it allows the sweetener to crystallize properly, making for a crunchy extracurricular portion leaving immoderate interior chew.

Photo: Danielle Guercio

Serve and stroke people’s minds with this unique, fun, and summery cooky combo. Because these are some a novelty and truly rich, I ended up freezing fractional of the cooky balls to entertain, oregon entertain boredom, and baked 15 of them connected a azygous cooky expanse with a silicone mat, which was a mistake. You privation to truly marque definite they person country to spread, truthful instrumentality to 12 max per ample cooky sheet.

Don’t beryllium acrophobic to tally with Galen’s feta spark arsenic I did; different freeze-dried berry could beryllium delicious here, and someone’s gotta find a mode to marque a watermelon cooky that doesn’t sensation similar a vape oregon Starburst. Use funkier feta from sheep to beryllium much adventurous, oregon property a fewer other crumbs connected apical for decorative flair. Play astir with it, conscionable arsenic the archetypal cooky creator did. You mightiness extremity up creating the adjacent viral dessert sensation.