Buttery Shortbread Cookies Recipe - Cooking Classy (2024)

Published November 28, 2020. Updated November 28, 2023

An easy Buttery Shortbread Cookies recipe! It’s everything you love about the elegant shortbread treat: light sweetness, textured crispiness on the outside, and perfectly tender inside. They’re made with only FIVE ingredients and optional (but highly recommended) chocolate!

Looking to make those pretty swirly-shaped cookies? Try my butter cookies recipe.

Shortbread – The Perfect Christmas Cookie

These are such simple, humble cookies with rich and tempting flavors. They are delicious classics on their own, but they are also very easy to customize (see variations ideas below).

All that butter does the trick in this Scottish-style shortbread. A lot of the best foods start out with a generous dose of butter, don’t they?

Not only does quality butter bring an abundance of rich flavor, but it also gives them their distinctive crumbly and flaky texture.

Sure, you have lots of options to buy store-bought shortbread this time of year… but homemade buttery shortbread cookies are a game changer. They are fresher, cheaper, have a better butter flavor and a more tender texture. You’ll definitely be able to taste the difference with homemade shortbread.

Plus, these travel and ship well so they are great for holiday gifting or Christmas cookie swaps. Tis the season for cookies, so let’s get baking!

Buttery Shortbread Cookie Recipe Ingredients

• Unsalted butter: Salted butter can be used too (cookies will just be lightly saltier), just omit the salt in the recipe.
• Granulated sugar: If you want cookies a little sweeter you can increase sugar to 2/3 cup.
• Salt: Just use standard fine table salt.
• Vanilla extract: Use real vanilla for the best shortbread.
• All-purpose flour: I like to use unbleached all purpose flour. I’ve really converted to baking mostly with that this year. It has a better flavor than bleached and I wonder about the chemical bleaching process of bleached flour. If bleached is all you have, it will work.

How to Make Buttery Shortbread Cookies Dough

Stand Mixer

• Mix cold diced butter, sugar and salt in an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until combined.
• Blend in vanilla and mix well.
• Add flour and mix until fully combined. It will seem dry at first but it will come together as you keep mixing.
• Compress dough together.

Food Processor

• In a large food processor pulse flour, sugar and salt.
• Add butter and blitz a few times then dot over with vanilla.
• Pulse until it comes together.

By Hand

• Whisk together flour, sugar and salt in a bowl.
• Add butter, dot vanilla over and rub mixture with fingertips until there are small crumbles.
• Knead mixture until evenly blended and dough comes together well.
• Chill dough to make it easier to work with before slicing if needed.

Shaping and Baking Buttery Shortbread Cookies

Roll dough and slice with knife: This method is what I’ve used here. You’ll roll the dough out into a 1/3-inch thick rectangle on a floured surface. Trim away uneven edges, then cut dough into rectangles (or squares). Transfer to baking sheets and chill until firm, then bake in 350 degree oven 13 – 16 minutes.

Roll dough and cut with cookie cutters: Roll dough as directed then instead of cutting into squares or rectangles cut into desired shapes (re-roll scraps), chill and bake as directed.

Shape dough into logs and slice: This option simplifies things a little because you don’t have to roll dough out. Rather you can roll dough into 2 log shapes (press firm so there aren’t holes inside). Slice 1/3-inch thick then refrigerate and bake as directed.

Pressing dough into a pan: This is the simplest method. Rather than shaping beforehand just press dough into a 9 by 9-inch baking pan. Bake 325 about 35 minutes then cut into squares while warm.

How to Store Buttery Shortbread Cookies

• Let cookies cool completely on wire rack.
• Then store in an airtight container.
• Cookies can be stacked.

Shelf Life

• Shortbread should keep up to 3 weeks at room temperature.
• Or freeze up to 3 months.

Variations

• Try with other extracts such as almond, coconut, maple, coffee, rum extract etc.
• Add citrus zest. Lemon or orange is delicious.
• Mix in finely chopped nuts.
• Add mini chocolate chips.
• Season with spices such as cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice.
• Blend in sprinkles, like I did here.
• Sprinkle with coarse sugar before baking.
• Decorate with royal icing (like the Christmas tree design above).
• Prick the cookies with a fork for a classic shortbread appearance.
• Dip in white chocolate or milk chocolate instead of semi-sweet. Finish with festive sprinkles.

Helpful Tips

• Using cold butter in the recipe skips the need to chill dough 1 – 2 hours beforehand. I highly recommend this to save time, also using butter makes dough easier to work with and cookies spread less.
• Mix long enough to fully incorporate ingredients.
• Work to roll dough an even thickness for even baking.
• Bake on ungreased cookie sheets so cookies spread less (don’t worry with all the butter in them they don’t stick).
• Bake one sheet at a time for even cooking, keep other sheet chilled (again so cookies spread less).

More Classic Cookie Favorites to Try

• Butter Cookies
• Mexican Wedding Cookies
• Stained Glass Cookies
• Shortbread Bites
• Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies