Strawberry Crunch Shortcake Cookies

Your favorite strawberry crunch ice cream bar turned into a cookie! The cookie is perfectly moist with the most delicious cream cheese frosting and topped with a strawberry crunch we all know and love. If you like strawberry, you will LOVE these strawberry shortcake cookies for sure!

Does anyone else remember those Good Humor Strawberry Crunch Ice Cream Bars? They were strawberry and vanilla ice cream bars covered in these crunchy pink and white cake bits. I remember always getting them from the ice cream truck in the park after begging my dad for cash. Today we turn them into cookies and they’re just too nostalgic!

The Strawberry Crunch

The most iconic part of the ice cream bars is the strawberry crunch that is not sold anywhere and had always been a mystery to me how to make it until now. I once made it using crumbled Nilla Wafers, chessman cookies, and freeze dried strawberries. It was absolutely delicious and very easy but nothin like the real deal. I found this video on Youtube and tested it out myself and it was absolutely perfect, like the real deal.

You only need four ingredients:

• instant vanilla pudding mix
• strawberry jello mix
• all purpose flour
• unsalted butter

To one bowl, add the vanilla pudding mix, all purpose flour, and unsalted butter. Combine until a thick paste/dough forms again.

To the second bowl, add strawberry jello mix, all purpose flour and unsalted butter. Combine until a thick paste/dough forms again.

Mix the two together a bit and then flatten into a thin layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Pop in the oven to bake for a few minutes, just until the edges turn golden.

Once out of the oven, allow it to cool completely. You can pop it in the freezer to speed up the process. I just crumble it up with my hands so less dishes for me and I also like thicker crunch pieces. You can also use a food processor. And that’s it! If you have any leftover strawberry crunch after this recipe, store in an air-tight container in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for longer.

The Frosting

Cream cheese frosting is by far the best kind of frosting and this is the recipe I always use whenever making cakes, cupcakes, and cookies. The cream cheese helps balance the sweetness out so well and it complements the strawberry flavor in the cookies so well.

Here is what you will need:

• cream cheese
• unsalted butter
• powdered sugar
• vanilla extract

Just four ingredients! Now the key to any perfect frosting is you have to use room temperature ingredients. If the cream cheese and butter are not at room temperature, the frosting will turn out chunky instead of smooth.

Add all the ingredients to a mixing bowl and beat until light, fluffy, and completely smooth. You can use a hand mixer or a paddle attachment and stand mixer. Just store in the fridge until ready to use after the cookies bake and chill.

The Cookies

The easiest part of this recipe is the cookies surprisingly! You can always make strawberry cookies from scratch but my favorite way to make them so they have a very strong strawberry flavor is using cake mix. YES, you read that right. You can turn any box of cake mix into cookies with these measurements.

• 1 box strawberry cake mix (15 ounces)
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

Mix all the ingredients together with a rubber spatula until a dough forms and that’s literally it! I like to use an ice cream scoop to measure out my cookies so they’re all evenly portioned out. You can also use a 1/4 measuring cup or eye it.

In the oven they go to bake for about 8 to 11 minutes and when they come out of the oven, I love this little trick I shared on TikTok for getting cookies perfectly circular. Then just allow them to cool to room temperature. You can pop them in the fridge to speed up the process.

After the cookies have cooled, you can frost them and add the strawberry crunch on top. To frost, just fill a piping bag with the frosting and cut the tip off. Pipe the frosting in a left to right motion across the cookie or swirl it in a circle. If you’d like the cookie to be less sweet, just spread a very thin layer on the cookie using a rubber spatula or spoon instead.

Allow the cookies to sit in the fridge for the frosting to firm up and then you can enjoy!

If you tried this recipe and loved it, drop by down below and let me know how you liked it with a rating and comment! Feel free to also leave a question there about this recipe and I’ll get right back to it.

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