For reasons that can’t be explained, every time I’ve gone to Trader Joe’s/Target since the borders re-opened in 2022, I’ve added MULTIPLE bags of freeze-dried fruit to my cart. I have no idea why I keep doing this and it needs to stop. I used one bag last summer to make these Neapolitan Cookies, and then another earlier this year to make these Strawberry Nutella Swirl Cupcakes, and am still drowning in bags.

In an effort to make a dent in my collection, I made the Neapolitan Cookies again, but this time with an all-fruit twist. I saw this variation on Lani Bakes ages ago, and it was lodged in my brain as the perfect summer cookie. It has three distinct fruity components: Strawberry, Mango and Lime. I used my freeze-dried fruit collection for the strawberry and mango, and then just a bunch of lime zest for that part.

I’m not a fruity dessert person BUT these did taste pretty good and I loved the way they looked. It was fun to test my friends and co-workers to see if they could tell what each component was. The strawberry and lime were easy, but the mango was the mystery flavour that took people a few tries to identify.

Current freeze-dried fruit inventory: 2 x Strawberry, 2 x Raspberry, 1 x Mango, 1 x Mixed Berry. Let me go find some more ways to use these up!

Neapolitan Cookies

Source: Sarah Kieffer via Hummingbird High

Ingredients

  • 24 grams freeze-dried strawberries
  • 24 grams freeze-dried mango
  • 2 limes, zested
  • 1 cup butter, room temperature
  • 1 3/4 cups (350 g) sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 1/2 cups plus 1 tbsp (364 g) flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp kosher salt
  • pink, orange + green gel food colouring

+ sugar for rolling

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Use a food processor to grind the freeze-dried strawberries into a fine powder. Set aside, then repeat with the freeze-dried mangos.
  3. In a big bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
  4. Add the egg and egg yolk, one at a time, until fully incorporated, then mix in the vanilla.
  5. Add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix in until just combined.
  6. Divide the dough into three equal portions (weighing about 333 g each) in medium bowls.
  7. Add the strawberries to one bowl with a bit of pink food colouring, and mix until fully combined. Add the mangoes to another bowl with a bit of orange food colouring and mix until fully combined. Add the lime zest and a bit of green food colouring to the last bowl and mix until fully combined.
  8. Portion each of the three doughs (strawberry, mango and lime) into equal size pieces (as best you can – a cookie dough scoop helps here) and roll into balls.
  9. To form the cookies, take a strawberry, mango and lime ball and press them gently together (think of a peace sign) and into a rounded shape. Roll the cookie dough balls in sugar.
  10. Place cookies at least 3″ apart on the cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes until the edges have set but the centres are still gooey (I baked mine for closer to 13 minutes).