Strawberry Cookie Bars (Tertiy Pirog)
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I love testing and eating new cookies. I especially love cookies made with any kind of fruit. These are called “Tertiy Pirog” meaning grated pastry since the final layer of the cookie bars is grated over the top. This recipe was shared with me in a comment on my blog by one of my readers. The recipe was left anonymously so if it was you and you’r reading this, thank you!! My hubby really liked these cookies. They will have you reaching for a tall glass of milk. Enjoy!
Ingredients for Tertiy Pirog:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened at room temp
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg, room temp
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp white vinegar
2 cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour *measured correctly
1 cup jam or thick preserves (I used strawberry spread from Costco)
Powdered sugar for dusting, optional
How to Make Strawberry Cookie Bars:
1. Using a stand mixer, cream together 1 stick of butter with 1/2 cup sugar and 1 egg.
2. Stir together 1/2 tsp baking soda with 1/2 tsp vinegar. Once it fizzes, pour over your batter and mix until well combined.
3. Blend in 2 cups + 2 Tbsp flour. P.S. I measured flour by fluffing it up with a spoon then spooning it into the measuring cup and scraping off the top for exact measurements.
*Watch our easy video tutorial on how to measure correctly
4. Freeze 1/3 of the dough for 45 min to 1 hr. Place remaining 2/3 of dough onto a large sheet of parchment paper, sprinkle lightly with flour and roll into a 9×13″ rectangle. Transfer rolled dough with parchment paper onto a jelly roll pan (rimmed cookie sheet; I used a 10×15″). Cover rolled dough with plastic wrap and leave at room temp until remaining dough is ready for grating.
5. Spread 1 cup of strawberry preserves over the top (or your favorite preserves – pick one with a little bit of sour/tartness). Grate the frozen piece of dough evenly over the top of your preserves. Bake at 350 for 25 min or until top is golden. When cooled, dust with powdered sugar if desired and cut into square cookies.
Strawberry Cookie Bars (Tertiy Pirog)
Ingredients
- 1 stick, 1/2 cup butter, softened at room temp
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg, room temp
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp white vinegar
- 2 cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 cup jam or thick preserves, I used strawberry spread from Costco
- Powdered sugar for dusting, optional
Instructions
- Cream together 1 stick of butter with 1/2 cup sugar and 1 egg.
- Stir together 1/2 tsp baking soda with 1/2 tsp vinegar. Once it fizzes, pour over your batter and mix until well combined.
- Blend in 2 cups + 2 Tbsp flour. P.S. I measured flour by fluffing it up with a spoon then spooning it into the measuring cup and scraping off the top for exact measurements.
- Freeze 1/3 of the dough for 45 min to 1 hr. Place remaining 2/3 of dough onto a large sheet of parchment paper, sprinkle lightly with flour and roll into a 9x13" rectangle. Transfer rolled dough with parchment paper onto a jelly roll pan (rimmed cookie sheet; I used a 10x15"). Cover rolled dough with plastic wrap and leave at room temp until remaining dough is ready for grating.
- Spread 1 cup of strawberry preserves over the top (or your favorite preserves - pick one with a little bit of sour/tartness). Grate the frozen piece of dough evenly over the top of your preserves. Bake at 350 for 25 min or until top is golden. When cooled, dust with powdered sugar if desired and cut into square cookies.
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
I love your videos! I even mimic you when I have guests over who watch me prepare your recipes. Your are so entertaining. Thanks!
Thank you for your compliment, I appreciate you!
Thank you so much for your recepie blog!! I come to your site for dinner ideas, sweets and baking tips very often, pretty much every day. I really appreciate the fact that you have so many recepies with easy and detailed steps to follow. Please, keep it up!!!
Aww! Thank you for that wonderful compliment, Emma!
I made these as part of Thanksgiving this year. Doubled the recipe so it would fill a half-sheet pan and filled it with a layer of cream cheese danish filling and a then some cranberry-apple butter. Got lots of raves and the toddler cried when it was all gone. 😋 Thanks for another great one.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Jcs!
The bars are good but they reminded me so much of packaged fruit bars. Definitely above average, enjoyable but not the best I have tasted. It needs some pizzaz.
The result is true to description, the dough turns out nice and crumbly on the bottom and crispy on top (grated dough).
I didn’t wait for the entire 45-60 mins for the dough to freeze, probably just 20 but it was harden enough by then.
Overall, I would recommend this recipe for a quick, hassle-free bake.
Made filling with 5 med. Granny Smith Apples,1/3 cup sugar, 2tsp cinnamon, 1/4 cup flour, 1 Tbsp lemon juice.
That sounds delicious Raya! Thanks for sharing with other readers!
The best! Just made to try out before church Lenten fish fry this Friday. So excited to bake more later in the week!!! I was given your website by our Priest wife – she said she is always happy with what she makes from your site.
I’m glad you love the recipe Cathy! Thanks so much for following and sharing your great review!
I tried these lastnight and ofcorse amazing! So easy to make too! I think I am going to try and use grape jelly next time ! I bet that will be good too!
I’m glad you love them! Thanks for sharing your great review Kateryna!
I made these today, but not sure why my dough turned out super sticky were I couldn’t even roll it. I had to put a bunch more flour and use my hands to form it. I did use a hand mixer maybe that’s why? Any idea?
Hi Julie, it sounds like it might be a variance in how the flour was measured – or sometimes if you use a different kind of flour than American All-purpose flour, the amount called for would be different because different kinds of flours have varying amounts of gluten. I hope that helps! I don’t think it would have been the hand mixer – although I would suggest folding the flour in using a spatula if using a hand mixer to combine the butter/sugar/egg mixture.
I want to try this but I am wanting to make this with unbleached organic flour ? Have you tried it ?
Hi Kateryna, I think that would work fine 🙂 I have been using unbleached organic flour in pretty much all of my baking and I find it substitutes straight across in nearly every recipe without issues (sometimes when you are replacing Canadian flour, you need to add a little more American flour, but in this recipe, it doesn’t make a difference).
Already made these 2 days in a row! Made them the other night and they were gone pretty quickly, my 2 kids (who are super duper picky and won’t eat practically any cakes/cookies/jellos) loved them!! My husband (who is also picky) absolutely loved these. So I had to make them again last night, and this time made double the portion. They remind me of a cookie my mom used to make, but I think mom made them with a sweet cheese filling. Thanks Natasha!
You’re welcome Alina! That is the best when kids love what we moms make. That’s so great!
Hi Natasha. This pirog look amazing! I have a question though, can margarine be used instead of butter and will it be same proportion? Thank you!
Hi Tanya, I haven’t tested it that way so I can’t really say. If you try it out, let me know how it works out 🙂 Sorry I can’t be more helpful!
I am doing the same pirog with margarine or butter for years. Always making double size and experimenting with different filings. Proportions are the same for butter or margarine. Hope this helps
One of my favorite recipe on ur site. I love it, super easy . I also break the extra dough that goes into the freezer into smaller ball makes it easier to freeze and I don’t have to waist time on waiting 4 them to freeze, they freeze much faster being split in to 3-4 smaller sizes . Thank u Natasha.
Thanks for sharing that great tip!
We made those with raspberry preserves. Very tasty!
Thank you Dasha, I’m glad you liked them 😁
Hi Natasha, I made these bars yesterday for my 2 year old son and hubby, wowwwww these are addicting!!! Perfect with tea mmmm 🙂 I have 3 pieces left over from yesterday that’s it 😉 I love that it doesn’t have so much butter or overly sweet..PERFECT, thank you again!
Hi Mariana, I’m so happy you all enjoyed the recipe! 🙂
The Strawberry cookie bars is very delicious and easy to make. I aslo add a little bit of nutmeg, vanilla extract and cinnamon. It came out very good.
MMM I love the idea of adding nutmeg. Thanks for sharing your great review! 🙂
Hi natasha,
Does this dough freeze well? Can I freeze the dough for several days ahead and make the bars the day I need from frozen dough, have you tried that?
Thanks.
Hi Elena, I haven’t tried but I have frozen them temporarily to chill them faster and it worked fine, so I think it would work to freeze them, just cover with plastic wrap before putting them in the freezer.
Hey Natasha! I always want to try your baking recipes but your directions always request a stand mixer or bread maker… and I literally have a whisk, wooden spoon, and hand mixer.
It would be nice if you could explain the creaming and egg fluffing processes without today’s modern kitchen aids.
I have the same troubles with cooking shows…I have seldom been in kitchens with kitchen aids and stand mixers and dough hooks and whisk hooks and help it’s so confusing!!!
Anyway Thankyou for all your recipies. My husband is russian and he has been much happier since finding your blog.
HI Saadi, You can use a hand mixer for this, but you’ll want to switch to a spatula once you add in the flour since the dough will be too thick for an electric hand mixer. I hope that helps 🙂
Thanks for your super quick response! I baked the cookies tonight and I have to be honest they aren’t my favorite recipe and I didn’t get any oohs or aahs from my husband who has a tremendous sweet tooth for cookies and loves just about any kind! I used apricot preserves and nuts but I felt like it needs something else, maybe cinnamon or vanilla in the dough. Not sure if I will make them again.
Hi Natasha, this recipe looks great and I plan to try it in the next couple of days. Have you tried to press the bottom dough into the rimmed ccokie sheet instead of rolling it out? I do that for a shortbread recipe that I make and Its easy to do, I’m also going to make your Strawberry Layer Cake this weekend for my mom’s bday, it looks fantastic and I love your decorations! Thanks!!
Dona, I have not tried that method, but its a good idea and thank you for sharing that with me :).
Natasha, how will it work if I double the recipe? Should I double baking soda/ vinegar amount also? Thank you!
Double everything 🙂
These are very delicious! I made some yesterday with peach preserves. Our family loved them! This recipe is a keeper!!
Thank you so much Irene for the great review 🙂
Made these two days in the row! Made them once with unbleached flour and once with bleached flour- both times cookies were delish! Second time sprinkled some finely chopped walnuts on the jam- oh…. Soooo good! Thank you , Natasha for this awesome recipe! We used to call these cookies ” кучерявый Ванька”…not sure why, but thats how i remeber threse cookies… 🙂
I love how Slavic foods have the most interesting names; some are pretty funny! Like Ptichye moloko (birds milk) – something that might make Americans run in the other direction when they first hear about it. lol. We are creative people I tell you what! 🙂 I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe and thanks for sharing how you made them!
Yes, very true:-) that’s why i try to avoid translating the names of certain foods… Lol
Made these twice already. They are so easy, and so good. I spread half strawberry, half peach jam and put chopped walnuts on top. My co-workers loved them. Thank you.
I love the idea of doing two types of jam and adding walnuts. YUM!! 🙂
How well do these keep? I’m having a party and like to do as much ahead of time as I can. Can I make these the day before and maybe keep them in the fridge?
Yes you can make them a day ahead and even keep them at room temperature.
These bars are so gorgeous, I love the strawberry filling!
Thank you so much Laura 🙂
i made these with raspberry preserves today. i just had trouble grating the dough. i kept it in the freezer for a little over a hour. but by the time i finished grating it, it was defrosting and sticking together. so i had to roll it all out and cut little pieces out of it. phew. but it still turned out amazing! love these!
It might take longer depending on if you shaped it into a little log or kept it in a ball and depending on where you put it into the freezer. It helps to use an oven glove to keep your hands off the dough so it doesn’t soften as quickly. I’m so glad you liked the cookies though 🙂
These cookie bars look incredibly delicious! Definitely craving a bite of one right now.. thanks for the awesome recipe Natasha!
Thank you so much for the compliment 🙂 I hope you love these!
Natasha these are dangerously yummy:)) first time I made these I ate the whole batch myself:/
I’m so happy you like them 🙂
How did I miss this post?! Tertiy pirog is one of my faves! My mum and I made it all the time when I was growing up. It tastes wonderfully and requires just a few ingredients! I have a couple of variations on my blog-filled with tvorog/cream cheese and fresh apricots. 🙂
I love that you turned it into a cake! It looks wonderful!
Thesenlook delicious. Nimnmaking them for my hubby today. Cant wait to taste them.
Happy birthday to your hubby! I hope you both enjoy the cookies 🙂
Rhey were delicious! I made them with plum jam. Thank you for these wonderful recipes!
I’m so happy to hear that you liked the cookies 🙂 Someone else mentioned plum jam with these. Sounds wonderful!
Made these today with homemade plum jam(recipe I got from your website). These cookies are Yummy and easy to make. My rolled out dough wasn’t as perfect as yours but I just cut the side and pasted:) Thank you!
I’m so happy you liked the cookies and even used the jam recipe! That’s awesome! 🙂
Natasha,
Is the consistency of this dough like shortbread? It looks like a really tasty recipe, but I’m not a fan of shortbread. 🙂 So I’m trying to see if it’s worth trying or not. 🙂
It’s somewhat similar but softer.
Natasha! I made these last night and was amazed at how easy it was, and everyone in the house loved them! 🙂 Thanks for sharing such a wonderful recipe 🙂
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for a great review 🙂
Wonderful idea, very easy to make ! They look delicious!
Thank you 🙂
Simple to make, but so delicious little cookies. I get that jam from Costco all the time, taste like home made. Your photos look very nice too! 🙂
Thank you Valya, they were eaten very fast :).
I love your strawberry cookie bars! They remind me of my childhood, as my mum used to make them every Sunday. It’s time to make them!
Did your Mom make them the same way? What a cool memory!
I’m making something similar, perhabs very similar, but twice as much dough at once. The only thing I do differently is I divide dough into 4 pieces and freeze all of them. Then I grate two for the bottom, spread the jam, and grate remaining two for the top. You will love the texture of the cookies when it’s all been grated! Looks pretty cool too! The reason I divide it into 4 portions is for the dough not to get too soft too early while you work with it.
Love your pictures, amazing job, Natasha!!
That is very creative! Thanks for sharing your method 🙂
My grandmother used to make something like this with cranberry preserves. Nice acid bite. She called it кудрявый пирог – curly cake. Thanks for that memory! Wonder how to adapt it o coconut oil (dairy restrictions) and maybe ww/almond flour combination…
Let me know how those adaptations work out 🙂 cranberry sounds perfect!
My mom used to do tertuy Perog all the time. Ina Garten has a differen version on her website that is also really good.
I’ll definitely check it out. Thanks for the tip!!
This recipe looks simple and delicious! Does the amount of flour change if I use Canadian flower?
Hi Olga, I think that would work fine. Sometimes when you are replacing Canadian flour, you need to add a little more American flour, but in this recipe, it doesn’t make a difference.
How interesting! I’ve never thought of grating dough over the top of cookies but it looks delicious. And so fun that the recipe came from a reader too!
I love it when readers write in with their favorites. Those often become my favorites too!
How easy and how tasty!
They really were! 🙂