Lemon Ginger Blueberry Cookies

I played around with several blueberry cookie recipes before ending up with this one.  Pureeing the blueberries turned the dough blueish green, even after baking and cooling, but the blueberry flavor was lost.  So, I took another approach.  I looked into flavors that would compliment the blueberries: ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon are a few.  I went with ginger and lemon.  Both have a freshness in flavor that reminds me of summer and would pair perfectly with the berries.  They were delicious right out of the oven.  The sweetness of the ginger came through, almost overshadowing the blueberries, but in a good way.  Next time I try this recipe I think I’ll use more blueberries (1 1/2 cups instead of 1) and fresh lemon juice (I only had the bottled stuff on hand).

Cookie Recipe #2: Lemon Ginger Blueberry Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tbs lemon juice
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tsp. ginger
1 cup fresh blueberries (mixed with 1 tbs flour)

Blend butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add egg and lemon juice, mix well.   Combine flour, baking soda and ginger then add to mixture.  Fold in blueberries.

Use a teaspoon to drop cookie dough on sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees F for 5-6 minutes.

Why did my strawberry cookies turn blue??

I had an idea to bake strawberry cookies dyed pink by nothing other than the natural juices of the berries.  All but a few of the recipes I found online use food coloring or jello mixes.  So I took bits and pieces from a strawberry cookie recipe and a strawberry cake recipe (both recipe designers had achieved pinkness without the use of artificial coloring) and blended the strawberry parts with my favorite butter cookie recipe.  At first I thought I too had achieved success.  The cookies had a slightly unappetizing tint of gray but were mostly pink.  To my dismay, less than 1 hour after I had placed the cookies on the rack to cool the entire batch had turned blue.  My patchwork recipe was an epic fail!  Why did my strawberry cookies turn blue??  With some more experimentation I may bake a perfectly pink batch, but for now I think I’ll focus on my next project – fresh blueberry cookies.

Recipe #1: Blue Strawberry-Flavored Cookies

Slice 1 cup of fresh strawberries.  Sprinkle strawberries with 1 tsp of granulated sugar and let drain in strainer over a bowl for 1 hour.  Save the juice.*

Blend strawberries with 1 tbsp lemon juice and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla until smooth.

Combine strawberry mixture with 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened, and 1 cup packed brown sugar.  Mix well.

Add 1 egg. Mix well.

Add dry ingredients: 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda.

Then add 1/2 cup white chocolate chips.

Bake at 375 degrees for 4-5 minutes.

*I later used the leftover strawberry juice as flavoring for a basic butter cream frosting (powder sugar and butter). So simple, but so good and a tasty addition to these cookies.