Shortbread cookies couldn’t be simpler. Butter, sugar, powdered sugar, salt, a few eggs, and some flour. Shortbread cookies are great anytime, but they’re lovely decorated in sugar for the holidays. I like to add these to a tray with Grandma’s Sugar Cookies.
Shortbread Cookies Recipe
This delicious shortbread recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking From My Home to Yours. Dorie calls them sables, I call them buttery and delicious.
Ingredients you will need:
- Dry ingredients: all-purpose flour
- Wet ingredients: unsalted butter, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, salt, egg yolks
- Decorations: nonpareils, colored sugar
Helpful baking tools:
- Stand mixer
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Rubber spatula
- Insulated baking sheets
- Silicone baking mat
- Wire cooling racks
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Baking Tips:
- Mix just until the flour disappears into the dough and the dough looks uniformly moist.
- If most of the flour is incorporated but you’ve still got some in the bottom of the bowl, use a rubber spatula to work the rest of the flour into the dough.
- The dough will not clean the sides of the bowl, nor will it come together in a ball — and it shouldn’t. You want to work the dough as little as possible.
- Pinch it, and it will feel a little like Play-Doh.
How to Make Shortbread Cookies
We aren’t going to preheat the oven right away because the cookie dough should be refrigerated for about 3 hours before baking. You can go ahead and line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper to get ready.
- Beat the butter at medium speed until smooth and very creamy. Add the sugars and salt and beat until well blended, about 1 minute.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in 2 of the egg yolks.
- Turn off the mixer. Pour in the flour, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek — if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple more times; if not, remove the towel.
- Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough and the dough looks uniformly moist. You’re aiming for is a soft, moist, clumpy (rather than smooth) dough. Pinch it, and it will feel a little like Play-Doh.
- Scrape the dough out onto a smooth work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each piece into a smooth log about 9 inches long. Wrap the logs well and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours, preferably longer.
- GETTING READY TO BAKE: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Remove a log of dough from the refrigerator. Whisk the remaining egg yolk until it is smooth, and brush some of the yolk all over the sides of the dough — this is the glue — then sprinkle the entire surface of the log with decorating sugar.
- Trim the ends of the roll if they’re ragged, and slice the log into 1/3-inch-thick cookies. Place the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving an inch of space between them.
- Bake one sheet at a time for 17 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest a minute or two before carefully lifting them onto a rack to cool to room temperature.
I love a simple recipe, and these shortbread cookies totally fit the bill. They are great for Christmas cookie exchanges, but don’t bury this recipe. It’s good all year round!
More Cookie Recipes
- Butter Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Thumbprint Cookies
- Neapolitan Cookies
- Cherry Pie Cookies
- Danish Butter Cookies
- Fluffernutter Cookies
Shortbread Cookies
We love this simple shortbread cookie recipe. Great for Christmas cookie exchanges, but don't bury this recipe. It's good all year round!
IMPORTANT - There are often Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Print It Rate ItServings: 50 cookies
3 hours 35 minutes
Calories: 64
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup confectioners' sugar sifted
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 large egg yolks divided
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- course sugar or nonpareils optional
Things You'll Need
Before You Begin
- Mix just until the flour disappears into the dough and the dough looks uniformly moist.
- If most of the flour is incorporated but you've still got some in the bottom of the bowl, use a rubber spatula to work the rest of the flour into the dough.
- The dough will not clean the sides of the bowl, nor will it come together in a ball -- and it shouldn't. You want to work the dough as little as possible.
- Pinch it, and it will feel a little like Play-Doh.
Instructions
- Beat the butter at medium speed until smooth and very creamy. Add the sugars and salt and beat until well blended, about 1 minute. The mixture should be smooth and velvety, not fluffy and airy. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in 2 of the egg yolks, again beating until the mixture is homogeneous.
- Turn off the mixer. Pour in the flour, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and the counter from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek -- if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple more times; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough and the dough looks uniformly moist. (If most of the flour is incorporated but you've still got some in the bottom of the bowl, use a rubber spatula to work the rest of the flour into the dough.) The dough will not clean the sides of the bowl, nor will it come together in a ball -- and it shouldn't. You want to work the dough as little as possible. What you're aiming for is a soft, moist, clumpy (rather than smooth) dough. Pinch it, and it will feel a little like Play-Doh.
- Scrape the dough out onto a smooth work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each piece into a smooth log about 9 inches long: it's easiest to work on a piece of plastic wrap and use the plastic to help form the log. Wrap the logs well and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours, preferably longer.
- GETTING READY TO BAKE: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
- Remove a log of dough from the refrigerator, unwrap it and place it on a piece of parchment or wax paper. Whisk the remaining egg yolk until it is smooth, and brush some of the yolk all over the sides of the dough -- this is the glue -- then sprinkle the entire surface of the log with decorating sugar.
- Trim the ends of the roll if they're ragged, and slice the log into 1/3-inch-thick cookies. Place the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving an inch of space between them.
- Bake one sheet at a time for 17 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet at the midway point. When properly baked, the cookies will be light brown on the bottom, lightly golden around the edges and pale on top; they may feel tender when you touch the top gently, and that's fine. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest a minute or two before carefully lifting them onto a rack with a wide metal spatula to cool to room temperature.
- Repeat with the remaining log of dough, making sure the baking sheets are cool before you bake the second batch.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 64cal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 21mg | Sodium: 24mg | Potassium: 8mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 128IU | Calcium: 3mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this Recipe? Pin it for Later!Follow on Pinterest @AmandasCookin or tag #AmandasCookin!
This post originally appeared here on Dec 8, 2009.
Amanda Davis
President at Amanda's Creative Studio, Inc.
Amanda Davis is the entrepreneurial mom of four grown children and four step children. She and her husband, Chef Antoine, love to cook together creating recipes for this blog. Amanda also make kid's crafts and creates decorative items for her home. She is a crafting expert and guru in the kitchen and has appeared online and in print publications many times over the years. She is also a craft book author five times over and product developer as well as the owner of FunFamilyCrafts.com. You can find her on social media by using the buttons to the left!
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Nutmeg Nanny says
Your plate is beautiful:) I love flea markets. I'm always finding some little type of gem. I also love all the colors on the cookies. It makes them very festive.
Teanna says
Look at those colors! And that plate! Gorgeous job!
Mags says
Such festive looking cookies! And yes, LOVE the new plate.
jose manuel says
Que galletas más bonitas. Gracias.
Maria says
Your cookies are so pretty! Love them!
spike. says
love love love. love the colors, love the plate!
Megan says
Yes – time is flying by this season, isn't it? I did colored sugar too – but only red. I think they look cool all dressed up like that!
Fallon says
I loved the sugar on the outside! I'm slowly putting together a setup of holiday baking and this is going on the list. I really like how simple and delicious these are!
Lauryn says
Your cookies look amazing! Thats what I wanted mine to look like!! :( And I LOVE that plate! Its an early Holiday present to yourself!
Tia says
Wow, the yellow sprinkles actually look really nice! I wouldn't have thought to use yellow, but they really add a nice color to the platter.
Debbie says
They look delicious! I made these last year for Christmas and they are so easy to make and taste great!
chocolatechic says
They are lovely.
I didn't use an egg yolk for 'glue'.
myfamousrecipe says
I was pressed for time this week, too; it was a huge relief to see an easy recipe for this week's TWD. Great rainbow colors on the sugar!
Megan says
I love your plate. I tried to see the picture in the google group but it would pull up. It's beautiful!!! So are those cookies!
Flourchild says
Your milk plates are darling! Your cookies look so good and shiny with all that sugar! I enjoyed this recipe too and was happy to have all the ingredients on hand! I hope you find your milk glass cake platter!
Pamela says
I love the plates! The open work on that one plate is so pretty and a perfect place to show off your starlet cookies! I'm envious of your colored sugar collection! Nice job.
Tiffiny Felix says
Don't you hate being so busy? I wish we all had more time to just play in the kitchen ;) The cookies are very cute…I love the different colos around the outside :)
Katrina says
Loves your plates. I also love your colored sugars on the very-round cookies! I can't for the life of me make a nice round log. I supposed I've made up for that with chocolate! ;)
tastyeatsathome says
I love the plates too! And these cookies do look pretty – without the added time to individually decorate each one!
Romaine says
Love the plates. I like to poke around in antique stores too.
Also good to see how the cookies would look with different colors of sugar. Very festive.