Classic Shortbread Cookies

Needless to day, butter shortbread cookies are one of my go to holiday cookie recipes because they freeze so well, which means you can prepare these well ahead of the holiday rush and enjoy them even beyond the holidays. I made some small tweaks to this recipe recently and they came out even better than they already are!

One very important note that sometimes people don’t realize until they finish making the dough: you need to refrigerate this dough before baking. So while you don’t get immediate satisfaction from baking the cookies right away, I can promise you they are well worth the wait. At the minimum, I recommend refrigerating 1-2 hours. I like to keep it in the fridge overnight so I don’t have to wait around for it.

Key ingredients

I’ve been making these shortbread cookies for years and years. And while you can limit the ingredients list to just 4 or 5 ingredients, maybe even 3 if you’re trying to break some sort of record, I went the opposite direction and made this a 6-ingredient recipe during my most recent testing. As always, you can skip straight to the recipe card for a full list of ingredients and quantity.

• The most important ingredient is the butter! Since these classic shortbread cookies are so simple, the higher quality butter the better they will taste. For many years, I make these with regular Costco unsalted butter because that’s what I always have on hands. But recently, I started making them with fancy Irish butter, and they are phenomenal.
• Salt – you can likely skip the salt if you use salted butter. I’m just so used to baking with unsalted butter and adding salt separately. But for this recipe, you can go either way.
• Cornstarch – my original recipe did not use cornstarch and many of you have made it and loved it. You can continue to make this recipe without the cornstarch, no modifications needed. But just 2 tablespoons of cornstarch make these shortbread super snappy right out of the oven and I love their texture so much more.

How to shape shortbread cookie dough

Slice and bake method

My preferred method nowadays is to roll the dough into a log about 6″ long and then cut the log into ½” thick slices when I’m ready to bake them. It’s super low effort and streamlined for making ahead. One batch of dough will yield 2 logs or 24 cookies.

Cookie cutter method

For this method, you don’t want to refrigerate the dough too long. An hour is just enough so that it is still soft enough to roll out to about ¼” – ½” thick, then cut it with a cookie cutter. Roll the excess dough up and cut again until you are done.

You’ll need to adjust baking time depending on the size of your cut out cookies. If they are smaller or thinner, they’ll likely need only about 15 minutes in the oven versus 20 minutes. The best way to tell when they’re done is by watching the edges brown.

While this is not my preferred method, it is fun for kids and for different holidays. I like cutting them into Christmas tree shapes or clover leaves for St. Patrick’s Day using my matcha shortbread cookie recipe 👇.

So many variations

Like I said before, once you’ve mastered the classic recipe, you can create so many different shortbread recipes. The possible flavor combinations are endless and are only limited by the ingredients you can source and your imagination!

• Just a simple change like swapping of brown sugar or adding some molasses can give you a whole batch of completely different cookies like these Molasses Shortbread Cookies.
• Another easy one is adding warm spices to make these Spiced Shortbread Christmas Cookies.
• Similar to spices, use citrus peel to infuse a refreshing flavor like these Lemon Shortbread Cookies or these Orange Shortbread Cookies.
• For the more adventurous, adding instant tea or coffee to create unique flavor like these Milk Tea Shortbread Cookies or these Vietnamese Coffee Shortbread Cookies.
• Go tropical with these Coconut Shortbread Cookies.
• Or incorporate dried flower for a floral note like these Lavender Shortbread Cookies.

FAQs and tips