This easy, buttery, melt in your mouth Shortbread Recipe is the perfect no spread cookie dough for making a chocolate chunk slice and bake cookie or a tasty thumbprint cookie.

After 5 days of endless rain, I woke up today to see the sun shining and I thought perfect, I will make these Shortbread Cookies I have been dying to make and more importantly photograph.

Needless to say halfway through the day it became once again overcast and yes rainy! Will it ever end? But as luck would have it I still had time to make these Slice and Bake Chocolate Chunk and Thumbprint Shortbread Cookies. They are the perfect melt in your mouth Shortbread. And adding some chocolate chunks doesn’t hurt either!

Recipe Ingredients

Butter – softened be sure to use a good quality butter
Sugar – powdered sugar or brown sugar (depending on the recipe)
Cornstarch – this helps make a tender cookie and helps keep the cookies from spreading
Salt – add flavor
Flour – all purpose flour

How to Make Shortbread

Beat the butter and vanilla until creamy. Sift together the flour, powdered sugar and cornstarch.

Add the flour mixture a little at a time to the creamed butter, stirring with a wooden spoon. Move the dough to a lightly floured flat surface and knead until the dough cracks.

shortbread how to make slice & bake, dough and ready for baking

Cut the dough in half, in one half add the chocolate chunks, and form into a log.

Slice the dough and place on the prepared baking sheet. Chill for while the oven is pre-heating. In the remaining half take pieces of the dough and roll into 13 balls.

Be sure you don’t let them brown they should be a very light golden colour when done. Let cool on cookie sheets, then move to a wire rack.

shortbread how to make thumbprint dough and ready to bake and baked

shortbread drizzling with melted chocolate

Different Fillings for Thumbprint Cookies

I like to fill my cookies with everything that my family enjoys. My youngest daughter loves skor bars so I fill a few with skor bits when the cookies are still warm.

I love mint chocolate so I do a few with a mint chocolate piece. You could also fill with your favourite jam, chocolate chips, Nutella, caramel, pastry cream, frosting, you name it and it just might work.

How To Keep Cookies From Spreading

To keep the cookies from spreading it is best to beat the butter and sugar just until combined and not creamed (of course this also depends on the type of cookie), for some cookies including some icing sugar and or cornstarch in the mixture also keeps the cookies from spreading.

And probably most important of all, is to use a higher protein flour with at least 11% protein count. And don’t forget to chill the dough for at least 1 hour and again the cut out cookies before baking while the oven is pre-heating. Using most of these will help produce the perfect Christmas Cookies.

Can This Shortbread Recipe Be Made With A Stand Mixer?

If you can’t or don’t want to knead the dough by hand, then yes a stand up mixer using the paddle attachment will work just fine.

I would only knead up to a point, when the dough just starts to come together (or even better, very coarse crumb mixture) and then knead the dough by hand. Completely kneading by machine can make the dough tough and dry.

How To Store Shortbread Cookies

The baked cookies should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. I store mine in the fridge because I like cold cookies. They will last up to 10 days by storing them in the fridge.

How To Freeze Shortbread Cookies

To freeze the shortbread cookies, place parchment paper in between the layers of the completely cooled cookies this prevents them from sticking together when they are in the containers for freezing, or you can also place the baked cooled cookies on a cookie sheet and freeze them, then move the frozen cookies to either airtight bags or containers. Baked Shortbread Cookies will last up to 6 months in the freezer.

To thaw the cookies be sure to remove the frozen cookies from the bags or containers (this way no condensation will form) and let them thaw at room temperature. In our house no one waits for them to thaw!

Whenever you plan on starting your baking I hope you include this Two Way Shortbread Cookie Dough. Enjoy!