Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cookies

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Chocolate covered strawberry cookies pair tender chocolate cookies with bright strawberry filling and fudgy ganache. They are the perfect cookies for Valentine’s Day (though you’ll catch me enjoying them year-round)! Recipe includes a how-to video!

Chocolate covered strawberry cookies with the center cookie cut in half to show a strawberry frosting center.

Strawberry Chocolate Cookies

Inspired by chocolate covered strawberries, these chocolate covered strawberry cookies are the *perfect* cookie to make this Valentine’s Day! Featuring soft, tender chocolatey cookies with a bright, fresh strawberry buttercream center and firm, fudgy chocolate ganache. Yum!

We’re using the same chocolate cookie base that I used in my recent devil’s food cookies, so you can expect a rich and tender crumb. It pairs so well with the fresh strawberry filling!

Speaking of the filling, I wanted a bright, vibrant, natural strawberry center with fresh strawberry flavor, and the easiest and tastiest way to make this happen was with freeze dried strawberries. The end result is similar to a strawberry buttercream, but with a brighter flavor.

Three chocolate cookie halves stacked on top of each other to show their strawberry buttercream centers.

Why I Love This Recipe

Texture: the combination of smooth frosting, chewy cookie, and fudgy ganache is a texture-lover’s dream! They remind me a bit of my buckeye cookies, but instead of spreading the frosting on top, we’re using it as a filling.
Flavor: Rich, Dutch chocolate cookies really benefit from the freshness of the strawberry filling. The freeze dried strawberries, which are real strawberries that have been preserved into a crispy treat, provide a truly amazing flavor! And since you can buy them year, these cookies will taste great no matter the season (unlike my strawberry tart, which most definitely tastes best with ripe summer berries.
Ease: Yes, there are three separate parts to this recipe, but none of them are complicated or challenging. Using freeze dried strawberries means we can avoid chopping and cooking down fresh berries; in fact, there’s no stovetop needed here at all.
No food coloring or artificial flavors! I avoid these where I can, and luckily the color and flavor of the strawberry filling here is 100% natural. So that’s a win for me!

These indulgent gourmet cookies are a bit more effort than my classic Valentine cookies, but the flavor and appearance is well worth it. Especially if you want to spoil your Valentine this year!

What You Need

This is just an overview of the key ingredients in today’s recipe; for a full detailed list, keep scrolling.

Overhead view of ingredients including freeze fried strawberries, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and more.

Freeze dried strawberries. You must use freeze dried strawberries here; dried/dehydrated strawberries simply won’t work the same. I typically find these in my grocery store in the same aisle as dried fruit. I love using them for my strawberry cookies and Neapolitan cookies to get a lovely strawberry flavor and color without added moisture or the need to cook down fresh berries.
Cake flour. This makes for the most tender, gourmet cookie crumb. I highly recommend grabbing a box at the store to keep on hand (I use it in many of my gourmet cookie recipes!). If you want to use all-purpose flour, you can, but your results won’t be quite as good. I provide substitution instructions in the recipe notes below.
Dutch cocoa powder. I found Dutch cocoa provided the best flavor to contrast with the strawberry filling here, so stick with that for best results!
Neutral oil. This might seem like a strange addition to a cookie recipe, but it makes the cookies super tender and moist, almost like a chocolate cake! I prefer avocado oil, but vegetable or canola oil will work too.
Semi-sweet chocolate. You can use chips, a chopped baking bar, or couverture chocolate (my preference). We’ll melt this down with some heavy cream (or whipping cream/double cream) to make our fudgy ganache topping.

SAM’S TIP: Dutch cocoa powder and natural cocoa powder are NOT the same thing! I talk more about the differences between the two in my post on natural vs. Dutch process cocoa.

Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!

How to Make Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cookies

Collage of four photos showing a chocolate cookie dough being prepared and covered.

Make the dough

Cream the butter and sugars with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Stir in the eggs, oil, and vanilla until incorporated, then set aside.
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, then gradually add them to the butter mixture until incorporated.
Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula (we don’t want any dry pockets of flour!), then cover and chill the dough in the fridge.

Two photos showing a strawberry buttercream filling being prepared and scooped into balls.

Make the filling

Beat the butter until creamy, then stir in the strawberry powder and salt on low speed.
Stir in the powdered sugar, then scoop and drop by level 1-tablespoons (I use a cookie scoop for this) onto a wax paper lined plate or baking sheet. Place in the freezer for at least 15 minutes.

Four photos showing chocolate cookies being stuffed with strawberry buttercream before baking and being covered with ganache once cooled.

Assemble

Stuff the cookies by rolling a 3-tablespoon scoop of dough into a smooth ball, then press a frozen frosting dollop into the center. Roll the dough around the frosting until it is completely covered (and centered–this is important!). Repeat with remaining dough and frosting.
Bake for 11-12 minutes on parchment lined sheets and let cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. The centers may seem a bit underdone when you remove the cookies from the oven–that’s totally fine!
Make the ganache by heating the chocolate and cream until melted and smooth; you can do this on the stovetop or in the microwave. Let cool for a few minutes before using.
Spread ganache over the cooled cookies and let set up before enjoying.

SAM’S TIP: Don’t over-bake, or your cookies will be dry. It can be hard to tell when chocolate cookies are done baking since they are so dark, but I usually like to look for the edges to be set. It is okay if the centers are still underdone! They’ll finish cooking outside the oven and will solidify even more once the frosting filling cools down.

Overhead view of chocolate covered strawberry cookies with one cookie cut in half to show a strawberry frosting center.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did my filling leak out?

This usually happens when the filling isn’t totally concealed OR if it wasn’t quite centered in the cookie. I demonstrate how I do this in the video below, if you are concerned about this or having trouble.

Note, once you have this technique down, I have SO many other stuffed cookie recipes: cheesecake stuffed cookies, cookie butter snickerdoodles, chocolate lava cookies, brown sugar pop tart cookies, and more!

Can I add chocolate chips?

I don’t see why not! You can add up to a cup of chocolate chips to the dough before chilling. I usually stick with semi-sweet chocolate chips in my cookies and think mini chocolate chips would be best, but I do think white or milk chocolate chips would work nicely in these chocolate covered strawberry cookies too.

Can I use fresh strawberries?

I don’t recommend substituting fresh strawberries for the freeze dried strawberries here, but if you wanted to use them to make a strawberry jam type filling (like the filling for my strawberry pop tart cookies), I think that would work. Just know that if you do this, you’re not going to get the same pop of color.