Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with a sheet of parchment and set aside.

In a blender or food processor, add the sugar and freeze-dried strawberries. Blend until the freeze-dried berries are ground up, a few teeny bits of freeze-dried strawberries are ok.

In a medium bowl, add the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk together until combined.

In a bowl of a stand-up mixer (or you could use a large bowl with an electric- hand mixer), add the sugar/strawberry mixture and oil. Beat until light and sort of fluffy, about 1 minute. With the machine running on low speed, add one egg at a time. And then add the vanilla extract, and red food coloring gel (if using). Mix until combined.

Add the flour mixture and mix just until no flour speckles appear and the dough is cohesive, about 30 seconds to a minute.

Sift the powdered sugar into a small to medium bowl. This will smooth out any pesky lumps that are in the powdered sugar.

Using a cookie scoop, scoop out balls of dough, rolling them in between your palms until balls form. Roll them in the sifted powdered sugar.

The powdered sugar layer should be thick. Don't shake off any excess! Transfer the dough ball to the lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough, spacing the cookies about 2 inches a part.

Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, until they appear crackily and puffed up. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheets for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.