Around January 2nd I started seeing Valentines Day goodies all around the web. Thinking that it might be too soon to start spreading the February love, I promptly ignored them and moved on.
But it wasnt that easy. You know this is true if you are addicted to Pinterest like I am. They kept coming. And I kept reading, and they infiltrated my brain. I am now Valentines obsessed. Its January 11th. My apologies in advance for the next month of Valentines treats.
These sweet little treats are chocolate sugar cookies filled with vanilla or chocolate buttercream, then topped with strawberry buttercream.
Basically a sweet overload. Its what I am here for.
As much as I love a fresh and palate pleasing real strawberry buttercream, I knew I wanted to pipe these, so that meant I could not have any chunks in the frosting.
To achieve a smooth as silk frosting I simply adapted my Back to Basics Buttercream… using Strawberry Extract in place of vanilla. Be sure to start with a teaspoon of the extract and taste as you go… I ended up adding two but you can easily use less or more depending on personal taste.
As you can see these started out as Neapolitan. I adore the combination of chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. But I ended up adding some chocolate buttercream to the bottom of the cups instead of the vanilla.
And totally liked those better. You’d think all that frosting would be just way.to.much. But the truth is when combined with the thick chocolate cookie… its nice! Well… I mean, I should clarify. You should claim to like massive amounts of buttercream in your life prior to this baking experiment.
#justsayin
For the cookie I used this recipe. I made the recipe as directed then rolled out small balls. Then place one ball into a prepared muffin pan and press dough into sides of pan evenly. I made regular and mini cookie cups and they both baked in about 8 minutes at 350.
I also noticed that I had to go back and press in the bottom and side a bit to make sure they were hallow inside after they were done cooking. It is best to do this right out of the oven. I used a small juice cup to create a flat bottom and sides, and then allowed the cookie cups to cool to room temperature.
So in closing please jump on the “obsessed with Valentines Day treats” bandwagon with me and lets have a little candlelight single-along. Although, open flames on a bandwagon might not be good.
No matter. We’ll make it work.
Strawberry Buttercream
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 1 bag (2 pounds) confectioners' sugar, about 7-8 cups
- 2 teaspoons strawberry extract
- 4 tablespoons milk
- 1 dash kosher salt
- 1 -2 drops pink food coloring
Instructions
- Put room temperature butter, strawberry extract, and salt into mixer. Add in confectioners' sugar one cup at a time, alternating with the milk until you have used it all.
- Add in food coloring a drop at a time to determine desired color.
- If your frosting is too thick you can certainly add more milk. I found that this is the perfect consistency for me to pipe roses using the 1M or 2D tip.
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Adorable!! Perfect for our Valentines day party at school.
These are precious. To get the fresh strawberry flavor rather than extract could I puree the strawberries to eliminate the “chunky” issue?
Hi Christina! I tried that, and still seemed to have “clogging” issues in the 1D tip I was using. When using a more open start tip like the 1M, it wasnt as much of an issue. 🙂 Thanks!
Thanks Amanda! Makes sense, I had this issue with a Peppermint Buttercream I made at Christmas time. The peppermint candies kept clogging my tip..very annoying 😉
You can, however, mash strawberries and then press the liquid through a fine-mesh sieve, which is a pain. (frozen strawberries are easiest for this; the cell walls have already been broken by the freezing, so they mush easier and let out more liquid than fresh strawberries do; cooking them works, too). Then substitute for some liquid in a liquid-requiring buttercream recipe. I’m only willing to do this sort of strawberry-seed-sieving craziness for wedding cakes.
Raspberries are easier, though; thaw a package of raspberries over a fine-mesh sieve set in a bowl (overnight or whatever), then mash with the bottom of a glass or something else to squash as much liquid through as you can, then boil down the raspberry juice on stove or in microwave to thicken enough that it can be substituted for an extract, so it’s not thinning down your buttercream too much. (or substitute the straight raspberry juice for a liquid in a recipe) I get really tasty (and non-clogging) pink frosting this way. Any raspberry juice left over gets turned into raspberry lemonade. 🙂
Unsweetened, undiluted cranberry juice is even easier (use straight from the Knudsen’s bottle – it’s strong! and colorful!), but it’s about as tangy as straight lemon juice, so the taste will definitely be different. (also, it stains if you spill it. But it’s great for fixing mild UTIs, at least for me, so I keep it around; kinder to the body than an antibiotic and available without a doctor’s visit) I’ve never tried pomegranate juice in frosting, but I suspect it’d be worth testing. Hibiscus tea can also be made really bright, but is also pretty sour. (and obviously, standard cranberry juice cocktails or juices mixed with apple or pear juice aren’t going to be strong enough to swap in for extracts; you need a substance strong enough that you wouldn’t really be excited about drinking it without watering it down.)
Note: I don’t use milk in my buttercreams, and wouldn’t use these with milk-based buttercreams for fear of curdling. But for other buttercreams, they work great!
AWESOME info! Thank you so much!
OMG… so cute! Have to try them….
I am craving chocolate like nothing else… this isn’t helping!
I’ve always been intimated by cupcakes, but this I could do! Look so yummy. 🙂
These look sinful!
These look amazing! And the minute I saw the chocolate layer under the pink…..all I could think of was……I NEED TO DO THIS IN CHERRY!…..with a layer of minced maraschino cherries between the chocolate and cherry flavored buttercreams! Holy Cow! YUM! I’ll let you know how they come out! :o) Thanks a bunch for the inspiration!
These are absolutely gorgeous! Love the strawberry frosting!!
These are just beautiful!!
Not fair. So much buttercream. So little time. Looks way too good!