photo showing strawberry doodle cookies on sheet pan

About These Strawberry Doodle Cookies (a.k.a. Strawberry Snickerdoodles!)

When I first tried Trader Joe’s Strawberry Doodle Cookies, I was convinced they reminded me of the snickerdoodles from my cookbook, Weeknight Baking—in particular, my book contains a raspberry sumac version (very similar to this Strawberry Rose Snickeroodle recipe). So to create this copycat recipe, I used that trusted cookie dough as a starting point and tweaked it based on the ingredients listed by Trader Joe’s.

Along the way, I made a few intentional changes. I substituted some ingredients to make it more accessible for the home baker, and upped the strawberry sugar for even more flavor. The result is a homemade version that stays true to the spirit of the Trader Joe’s favorite while using ingredients that are easier to find and, in my opinion, taste even better.

Looking for a classic snickerdoodle recipe? Check out this Snickerdoodle Recipe Without Cream Of Tartar, one of the most popular recipes on Hummingbird High!

photo comparing the trader joe's strawberry doodle cookie to the hummingbird high homemade strawberry doodle

Let’s Talk Ingredients (Or, Why My Ingredients List Slightly Differs From Trader Joe’s)

  • Butter. Trader Joe’s strawberry doodle cookies uses margarine instead of butter. I tested the recipe below using margarine first, then made another batch with butter. The ones with butter were FAR more delicious—several of my recipe taste testers agreed and unanimously voted in favor of the butter version!

  • Cream of Tartar. Trader Joe’s uses a mix of citric acid, baking powder, and baking soda in their cookies. However, citric acid isn’t available in most supermarkets—but cream of tartar, a less acidic but similar ingredient, often is. That’s why you’ll find cream of tartar in my recipe instead!

    If you want to learn more about how cream of tartar affects snickerdoodles, check out my post explaining the science behind the ingredient.

  • Dried Strawberries. One of the most distinctive features of the Trader Joe’s strawberry doodle cookies are the strawberry pieces studded throughout each cookie (almost like the chocolate chips in chocolate chip cookies. But when I studied the recipe list for the cookies, I noticed that they used “apple pieces” dyed with strawberry powder! But for my copycat recipe, I decided to commit to real dried strawberry pieces. I recommend these dried whole strawberries from Amazon.

  • Freeze-Dried Strawberries. You need freeze-dried strawberries for this recipe—it’s what gives the cookies their distinct pink sugar appearance! In the US, more and more supermarkets are starting to carry freeze-dried fruit. However, you can also buy freeze-dried strawberries online on Amazon.
photo of michelle from hummingbird high holding a strawberry doodle cookie for a closeup

How To Make The Cookies (With Pictures To Help Guide You!)

First Things First: Dice the Dried Strawberries

When I first made this recipe, I was surprised by how long it took to dice the dried strawberries. I found that it was a tough task because they were super sticky and stuck to my knife along the way! Luckily, you don’t need too many for my strawberry doodle cookie recipe—just ¼ cup.

photo showing correct size and shape of diced strawberries for the strawberry doodle cookies
The top plate shows the dried strawberries before they’ve been diced; the bottom plate shows them diced into ¼-inch pieces for the cookie dough. Size is more important than shape—you don’t need perfect cubes!

How To Make The Strawberry Sugar

photo showing the freeze-dried strawberries before pulverizing
Freeze-dried strawberries tend to get soft and soggy the longer they sit. If your freeze-dried strawberries are on the softer side, the food processor will have a hard time pulverizing them. That’s why I recommend pulverizing the freeze-dried strawberries on their own first.
photo showing correct texture of freeze-dried strawberries after being pulverized
Here’s what it should look like after pulverizing them. Most of the strawberries should now be in crumb or dust form, with no piece larger than ⅛-inch pieces! Keep pulsing until the strawberries are mostly powder.
photo showing correct texture of strawberry sugar
Add the sugar and continue to pulse until you end up with a sandy, pink sugar. Be careful not to overdo it or you’ll end up with powdered sugar!
photo showing correct texture of strawberry doodle cookie dough
This is what the strawberry doodle cookie dough looks like after it’s been made. It should be soft and a little sticky; some folks like to chill it to make it easier to scoop, but I’ve never found that to be necessary!
photo showing michelle mixing in the diced strawberry pieces into strawberry doodle cookie dough
I like to mix in the strawberry pieces by hand after the dough has come together in the mixer. Doing so lets me mix in any dry ingredients stuck to the bottom and sides of the bowl.
photo showing the cookie dough with strawberry pieces mixed in
Here’s what the dough looked like after I mixed in the strawberry pieces. They should be evenly distributed throughout the dough, with each dough ball only getting a small number of strawberries each.
photo showing michelle from hummingbird high scooping the dough into cookie dough balls
Each cookie will need to be rolled in the cinnamon sugar snickerdoodle topping before baking. To make things more efficient, I create a “snickerdoodle cookie assembly line” that starts with using a cookie dough scoop to portion the dough into even cookie dough balls.
photo showing michelle from hummingbird high tossing a cookie dough ball in strawberry sugar
Once I form all the cookie dough balls, I roll each one in the bowl with the strawberry sugar topping. Toss and coat every single dough ball completely.
photo of michelle holding up a strawberry doodle cookie dough ball ready for baking
Here’s what a perfectly assembled cookie dough ball looks like. Don’t be shy with the coating—make sure the dough is completely covered in the sugar, or you’ll end up with bald patches on your cookies!
photo showing how to place the cookie dough balls in hopscotch formation on a baking tray
Arrange the cookie dough balls in a “hopscotch” formation on a half sheet pan. Don’t cram more dough balls into the pan because this recipe makes big cookies! This arrangement allows the dough balls to melt with plenty of space between each one.

My Best Recipe Tips To Guarantee Success

  • For the best cookies, use a rubber spatula to scrape down the paddle and the bowl repeatedly. Because this dough has a LOT of butter in it, it has a tendency to really want to stick to the bottom and sides of the bowl when mixing. I like to liberally scrape things down two to three times during the creaming process (once after every minute of creaming), once after every egg addition, and finally, two more times after adding the dry ingredients (the first time after ALL the dry ingredients have JUST been added, the second time after they’ve just been mixed together).

How To Guarantee Perfectly Baked Strawberry Doodle Cookies

  • Bake at a lower temperature. Snickerdoodle cookie recipes—like My Best Snickerdoodle Cookie Recipe—are baked at a higher temperature than most other drop cookie recipes to give them their slightly puffed appearance. However, when I first baked these at 400°F, the strawberry sugar topping burned and lost their color. As a result, the recipe below instructs you to bake them at 350°F. If you find your cookies are coming out brown in color, check your oven temperature!

  • I like to bake the cookies one pan at a time. I find that doing so makes the best cookies, ensuring that none of them have overly burnt bottoms or raw centers. However, to save time, you can bake two sheet pans at a time. Position a rack in the upper-third position of the oven, and a second one in the lower-third position of the oven. Bake a pan on each rack, swapping their positions half way through the Bake Time.

Puffy Cookies? No Problem!

  • One of my biggest gripes about snickerdoodles is that they can come out TOO puffy. These snickerdoodles shouldn’t look like little snow balls! Instead, they should look like sugar cookies with just the slightest height and puff. So if you’re struggling with snickerdoodles that are too puffy, check out my troubleshooting guide on How To Fix Puffy Cookies (And Other Cookie Baking Fails)!
photo showing strawberry doodle cookies on sheet pan
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Get the Recipe: Copycat Trader Joe’s Strawberry Doodle Cookies

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 10 minutes
Total: 40 minutes
Servings: 22 cookies
Author: Michelle Lopez
This Copycat Trader Joe's Strawberry Doodle Cookies recipe shows you how to make the beloved strawberry sugar cookies at home. Made with butter, dried strawberries, freeze-dried strawberries, and cream of tartar, these cookies have soft centers, chewy edges, and plenty of real strawberry flavor.
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Ingredients

For the Strawberry Sugar Topping

  • ¼ cup (0.25 ounces or 7 grams) freeze-dried strawberries
  • ¼ cup (1.75 ounces or 50 grams) granulated sugar

For the Cookie Dough

  • 2 ¾ cups (12.35 ounces or 350 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup (8 ounces or 227 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 ¼ cups (8.75 ounces or 248 grams) granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup tightly packed (1.85 ounces or 52 grams) light OR dark brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • ¼ cup (2 ounces or 57 grams) dried strawberries, diced into ¼-inch pieces

Equipment

  • food processor
  • (3-Tablespoon) cookie dough scoop

Instructions
 

  • First, prep the oven and pans. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper.
  • Make the strawberry sugar topping. Use a food processor to pulse the freeze-dried strawberries into a fine powder. Add the sugar for the topping and pulse 2 to 3 times to combine. Pour into a shallow bowl.
  • Mix the dry ingredients for the cookie dough. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
  • Cream the butter and sugars. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, granulated sugar for the cookie dough, and brown sugar.
    Beat on medium-high until light, fluffy, and doubled in volume, 2 to 3 minutes, using a rubber spatula to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl as necessary.
  • Add the eggs, then the dry ingredients and dried strawberries. Reduce the mixer to low and add the eggs one at a time, adding the next egg only after the previous one has been fully incorporated. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. 
    With the mixer on low, gradually add the dry ingredients and beat until just combined. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl once more, and beat on low for an additional 30 seconds.
    Add the dried strawberries all at once and mix until the fruit is evenly distributed throughout, about 1 minute.
  • Assemble the snickerdoodles. Use a 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop to portion the cookie dough into balls.
    Roll each in the snickerdoodle topping, covering them completely.
    Place the coated cookies at least 3 inches apart on the prepared sheet pans.
  • Bake the snickerdoodles. Bake one pan at a time for 10 minutes, or until the edges have set but the centers are still gooey. The cookies will look puffed when you pull them out of the oven, but will fall and crack into the perfect cookies as they cool.
    Cool the cookies on the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes, or until the edges and bottoms of the cookies have set and feel firm to the touch. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.
  • Serve and store. Serve warm or at room temperature. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container or zip-top bag at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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