Jo Cooks

Pretty Darn Delicious Recipes

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Recipes
  • Cookbook
  • Blog
  • CHC
  • ABOUT JO
You are here: Home / Recipes / Classic Shortbread Cookies

Classic Shortbread Cookies

December 14, 2018 by Joanna Cismaru 196 Comments

Pin252.17K
Share1.51K
Tweet5
Email
Share
Yum2.72K
256.40K Shares
Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe

Classic Shortbread Cookies made with only takes 3 ingredients, mouthwatering, buttery and melt in your mouth delicious. A classic holiday cookie, made two ways!

A stack of Classic Shortbread Cookies

Let the baking begin!

I love this time of year. I get to bake lots of cookies and share it with all my friends and family. Baking around the holidays is so nostalgic for me. I love to bake in my kitchen as I listen to Christmas music. Sometimes the same song over and over, because I have a handful of Christmas songs that I absolutely love or simply watch Christmas movies.

I got this recipe years ago from a friend of mine who got it from her mom, so I know this recipe works as it’s been made over and over again over the years. I, myself, make every single year around the holidays, multiple times and it’s one of my family’s favorite cookie recipes now.

SHORTBREAD COOKIES

These shortbread cookies are simply the best around. Your house will smell incredible, I couldn’t wait till they came out of the oven, just desperately needed to put one in my mouth as soon as possible.

These cookies are great with a glass of milk, and I personally love them with my coffee in the morning. That’s my kind of breakfast, a yummy cookie and a good cup of joe.

Two different versions of Classic Shortbread Cookies in the pan

But let’s face it, who can have just one cookie? You need to have at least a couple cookies, and I usually do.

HOW TO MAKE SHORTBREAD COOKIES

This simple recipe for classic shortbread cookies calls for only 3 ingredients my friends, only 3 ingredients and you get to have the most delectable, buttery and sweet shortbread cookie you’ll ever have in your life. We’re talking butter, sugar and flour, that’s all!

And if you’re really brave, unlike me right now, dip them in some melted chocolate, that’s my husband’s way of eating them. Are you with me?

Or, simply drizzle some caramel sauce, or chocolate sauce, or a light dusting of powdered sugar. And dip, dip in your coffee, or tea, or even hot cocoa. I think I need to go downstairs, I have an appointment with my cookies.

Help me!

A stack of 6 Classic Shortbread Cookies.

CAN YOU FREEZE SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Yes, absolutely! These cookies freeze incredibly well. To freeze, place shortbread cookies in an airtight container and place in the freezer for up to 3 months.

CRAVING MORE COOKIES? TRY THESE:

  • Lemon Shortbread Cookies
  • Chocolate Sugar Cookies
  • Thumbprint Cookies
  • Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
  • Chocolate Pecan Pie Cookies

Classic Shortbread Cookies

Classic Shortbread Cookies made with only takes 3 ingredients, mouthwatering, buttery and melt in your mouth delicious. A classic holiday cookie, made two ways!
4.75 from 56 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: christmas cookies, shortbread cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 36
Calories: 118kcal
Author: Joanna Cismaru

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups butter salted and softened at room temperature (3 sticks or 12 oz)
  • 1 cup icing sugar same as confectioner sugar or powdered sugar (4.4 oz)
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour (13.2 oz)
US Customary - Metric
love what you see?Follow @jocooks on Pinterest!

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 325 F degrees. 
  • Add the butter to a large bowl and blend it until smooth using an electric mixer set at medium speed for about 30 seconds. 
  • Add the icing sugar and continue mixing until well incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and combine thoroughly. 
  • Add flour and mix at low speed until well blended. The mixture will be crumbled and soft. 
  • Pat dough into an ungreased cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper, with the parchment paper hanging off the sides to make it easy to lift out the cookies. Alternatively you can roll out the dough so that it's about 1/4 of an inch in thickness, you can knead it a bit just so that the dough comes together, but don't overwork it, then cut into your desired shape. 
  • Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until just done (slightly golden in color). Do not let them get brown. Remove from the oven. If using a cookie sheet, lift out the cookies from the sheet using the parchment paper and cut into desired shapes. Finish cooling the cookies on a rack. 

Video

Notes

  1. Because I'm using salted butter there's no need to add salt to the recipe, if you only have unsalted butter, add about 1/4 tsp salt to the recipe.
  2. I used this shortbread cookie cutter.
  3. For the video I divided the dough in half and used one half in an 8x8 inch baking pan lined with parchment paper, and rolled the rest to use with the cookie cutter.
  4. This recipe will yield about 36 cookies.
  5. To freeze, place shortbread cookies in an airtight container and place in the freezer for up to 3 months.
  6. Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.

 

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 118kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 67mg | Potassium: 13mg | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 4.7% | Calcium: 0.4% | Iron: 2.7%
tried this recipe? rate it belowtag @jocooks on instagram and hashtag it #jocooks!
Originally shared Dec 3rd, 2013
Classic Shortbread Cookies made with only takes 3 ingredients, mouthwatering, buttery and melt in your mouth delicious. A classic holiday cookie, made two ways! www.jocooks.com #shortbread
Pin252.17K
Share1.51K
Tweet5
Email
Share
Yum2.72K
256.40K Shares


196 Comments

« Lemon Shortbread Cookies
Chicken Enchilada Rice Casserole »

DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE TO JOCOOKS NEWSLETTER FOR FREE AND RECEIVE ALL NEW RECIPE NOTIFICATIONS DELIVERED RIGHT INTO YOUR INBOX. PLUS YOU'LL GET A FREE EBOOK!!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchase helps support my work and helps in maintaining this blog, while at no extra cost to you.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments

  1. Sheila Le Mottee says

    July 23, 2018 at 4:27 pm

    Trying these with gluten free flour. Hope it works! They were delicious with regular flour.

    Reply
  2. Kj says

    July 4, 2018 at 3:41 pm

    This is a true shortbread…easy to make and and they taste perfect…if anyone has an issue with making these cookies…it has nothing to do with this recipe

    Reply
  3. Joyce Tracy says

    July 1, 2018 at 12:54 pm

    This is wonderful cookie. my favorite. I love making them. I have made all kinds and types of cookies. Church bake sales, training meetings, run-walk-thons, gift giving, etc. With this recipe make it plane or use nuts or a variety of Morales or a small amount of raspberry or strawberry preserves my favorite, added in at the last minute so that each cookie will have a taste of the sweetness. Thanks for letting me share.

    Reply
  4. Sarah Ventin says

    June 21, 2018 at 11:51 am

    So good!! It’s best to use a salt grinder over top of the cookies before you put them in the oven(if you use unsalted butter) the best shortbread cookies ever!!!

    Reply
  5. Tammy says

    May 11, 2018 at 6:00 pm

    Holy f*** these came out good! Such an easy, foolproof recipe. I even just split it and made 1/3 of the recipe, still came out great!

    Reply
  6. Stephanie Land says

    May 3, 2018 at 3:34 pm

    I only had 1/2 cup of butter ready to go and was too impatient to wait for more to soften so I reduced everything by 1/3 and made a batch. Put it into an 8×8 pan and cooked for about 20 minutes (they were thicker than a cookie sheet would be so that added time). Delicious and so easy!!

    Reply
  7. Marilyn Steele says

    April 14, 2018 at 9:54 pm

    My original Shortbread recipe calls for fruit sugar, which has become almost impossible to find. I will definitely be doing your recipe this year! Would it hurt to add an egg yolk to help them hold together better as I do with my Old English Recipe?

    Reply
    • Joanna Cismaru says

      April 15, 2018 at 9:32 pm

      You can definitely add the egg yolk, I’ve done it before and they still turn out great.

      Reply
  8. Diane says

    March 27, 2018 at 4:32 pm

    Yummy! Do you think they would be good dipping in chocolate?

    Reply
    • Joanna Cismaru says

      March 27, 2018 at 5:05 pm

      Oh yes, we do that all the time, it’s my husband’s favorite way to eat them!

      Reply
  9. Lucy says

    March 9, 2018 at 11:17 pm

    Could almond flour be replaced for the regular flour?

    Reply
    • Joanna Cismaru says

      March 10, 2018 at 11:45 am

      Hi Lucy! I’m not a gluten-free expert, and I don’t usually use almond flour much. I definitely haven’t tried making these shortbread cookies with almond flour, however I think in this cake it will work, since the cookies are already a bit crumbly. If you do try it, I would love to hear how they turned out.

      Reply
  10. Andrew says

    March 4, 2018 at 3:22 pm

    Hello,

    You put the cuisine as “American” but I recall Shortbread is a Scottish creation and is widely associated with Christmas and Hogmanay

    Have a great day!

    Reply
  11. Meghan says

    January 30, 2018 at 12:09 pm

    Hi!
    You said you used half the dough and out it in an 8×8. If you were using all the dough, what size pan, cookie sheet size? 9×13? And how long would you bake?

    Reply
    • Joanna Cismaru says

      January 30, 2018 at 2:09 pm

      You’d use a regular cookie sheet, 16.5 x 11.38 x 1 inches and the same baking time.

      Reply
  12. Caren Barnes says

    January 17, 2018 at 10:04 am

    Hello beautiful pictures on all your recipes. I wondered the deminsions of the cookie sheet you lined with parchment paper to lift them out ?

    Reply
    • Joanna Cismaru says

      January 17, 2018 at 11:01 am

      Oh that one was a 8×8 inch baking pan.

      Reply
  13. Irene says

    January 10, 2018 at 10:09 pm

    I made these after misplacing the recipe I used around Christmas. Shortbread are my husband’s favourite and after finishing the last batch he hinted for more so I tried this recipe. Though slightly different he finds them excellent which means I better bookmark this page. Thank you. This saved me a major search.

    Reply
  14. Nicole says

    December 25, 2017 at 7:19 pm

    I made these tonight. They are awesome!

    Reply
  15. Sharon says

    December 24, 2017 at 12:17 am

    These cookies turned out so well! Very delicious, I will definitely be making them again!

    Reply
  16. Leona Wall says

    December 21, 2017 at 5:01 pm

    I just got done making these, but I just rolled them into balls & sprinkled tops with green & red sugar & they look very festive as for Christmas. Very tasty too!

    Reply
  17. Fay says

    December 17, 2017 at 10:43 am

    In the video when you dipped the cookie in milk i saw i have the same cup! I tried this recipe it was great

    Reply
  18. Joy says

    December 17, 2017 at 8:25 am

    First time I have made shortbread in many many years. Made them for a Christmas Afternoon Tea Party and they were a huge success. I used Christmas cookie cutters and sprinkled with granulated sugar.

    Reply
  19. Stephanie says

    December 16, 2017 at 12:10 pm

    This is such a great recipe! The cookies turn out super flaky and buttery. I had to bake mine for about 24 minutes, but I used a different sized pan than in the video so that could be why. This is my second year making these for Christmas and I’m pretty sure it will not be the last 🙂

    Reply
  20. Heather M. Whipple says

    December 16, 2017 at 10:27 am

    I will be using this short bread recipe as the base for making homemade Twix candy bars.

    Reply
« Older Comments
Newer Comments »

Meet Jo

I'm Joanna (Jo for short) and this is my blog where I share with you my culinary adventures. Here you will find a variety of recipes using simple everyday ingredients and creating wonderful, delicious and comforting meals, including some decadent desserts.

Read More…

My Cookbook

30-Minute One-Pot Meals cookbook
ORDER NOW: AMAZON | BARNES AND NOBLE | INDIE BOUND | BOOKS-A-MILLION
SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE AND GET A FREE EBOOK

Popular Now

Easy Chicken Enchilada CasseroleEasy Chicken Enchilada Casserole1.22M Total Shares
Crockpot Chicken Noodle SoupCrockpot Chicken Noodle Soup484.05K Total Shares
Crockpot Salsa ChickenCrockpot Salsa Chicken222.34K Total Shares
Garlic Parsley Butter ShrimpGarlic Parsley Butter Shrimp119.86K Total Shares
Tandoori ChickenTandoori Chicken82.09K Total Shares
Chicken in Garlic and Herb SauceChicken in Garlic and Herb Sauce64.18K Total Shares
Mini Salted Caramel CheesecakesMini Salted Caramel Cheesecakes63.70K Total Shares
Lemon BarsLemon Bars56.71K Total Shares

Featured on:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Recipes
  • Cookbook
  • Blog
  • CHC
  • ABOUT JO

Featured on:

Copyright © 2019 · Privacy Policy | Work With Me