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The Best Simple Two Way Shortbread Cookies

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The Best Simple Two Way Shortbread Cookies, these are a delicious easy to make Shortbread Cookie Recipes, a delicious melt in your mouth cookie that you will make year after year. Choose the traditional Shortbread or Brown Sugar Shortbread.  

Shortbread Cookies, the ultimate melt in your mouth cookie.Traditional or brown sugar. Your new Christmas Shortbread recipe.Shortbread Cookies  are probably the most awaited Christmas Cookies!

Today, in my house I am dedicating to baking these easy Christmas Cookies.  They always mark the start of Christmas.  

Doesn’t matter if I make another type of Christmas cookie, a  bar cookie or even  a sugar cookie, shortbread is Christmas for us.  

Shortbread Cookies, the ultimate melt in your mouth cookie.Traditional or brown sugar. Your new Christmas Shortbread recipe.

So to really get in the mood I slipped a little Christmas music into the cd player.

I must say no one better than Michael Bublè to croon out a few holiday tunes!  So sing-along I did. Unfortunately I can only dream about a white Christmas.

shortbread cookies one on top of each other and some on a christmas tree plate

I love  Simple Shortbread Cookies, they practically melt in your mouth.  I always had a friend who said that her shortbread was the best and  made exactly how it should be made with only 3 ingredients,  butter, sugar and flour.

I would argue that my Mom made the best cookies and her’s had five ingredients. And yes I still stand by my Mom’s.

5 star shaped shortbread cookies one on top of each other

But to make her happy I would make her Brown Sugar Shortbread cookies, and I have to admit she did have a good argument, they are pretty yummy.

Shortbread Cookies

shortbread cookies on a wire rack.

I have recently discovered that a lot of people add corn starch (my Mom’s  fourth ingredient) to cookie and cake recipes,  they say for adding softness.  So I guess my Mom knew what she was doing.  Sorry my friend, I win!

This dough is so easy to work with you don’t even have to roll it out, just pat to your desired thickness, (I tend to like them  thicker, more cookie for the bite you could say).

Shortbread Cookies, the ultimate melt in your mouth cookie.Traditional or brown sugar. Your new Christmas Shortbread recipe.

To add a twist I even topped a couple of big stars with some Nutella and one with jam, then put some  crumbled up dough on top.

So grab your favourite Christmas cookie cutters and start cutting, 10 minutes in a low oven is all these Melt in Your Mouth Shortbread Cookies need.  Let cool on a wire rack.

More Shortbread Cookies You May Enjoy!

Easy Chocolate Chip Whipped Shortbread

Thick Nutella Chip Shortbread Cookies

Chocolate Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies

Freezing Cookies and Bars

Lemon Cheesecake Squares

Almond Crescent Cookies

Coconut Jam Squares

 

And why is it called Shortbread Called Shortbread?

Shortbread Cookies

shortbread-650-1-of-1

If you are like me and make your cookies ahead of time these freeze perfectly.  And if you have cookie lovers in your house a lock on the freezer might be a good idea.

So let me know, which Shortbread Cookie do you prefer?  Enjoy!

3.92 from 79 votes
5 star shaped shortbread cookies one on top of each other
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The Best Simple Two Way Shortbread Cookies
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
10 mins
Total Time
30 mins
 
The Best Simple Two Way Shortbread Cookies, the ultimate melt in your mouth cookie. Traditional or brown sugar. Your new Christmas Shortbread recipe.
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: a simple shortbread cookie recipe, best Christmas Cookie recipe
Servings: 30 cookies
Calories: 206 kcal
Author: Rosemary / An Italian in my Kitchen
Ingredients
MY MOM'S SHORTBREAD
  • 1 cup butter softened
  • 1/2 cup icing / powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup corn starch
  • pinch salt
  • 2 cups flour
MY FRIEND'S SHORTBREAD
  • 1 cup butter softened
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
US Customary - Metric
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 325° (160 celsius).
  2. MY MOM'S SHORTBREAD
  3. Beat butter until creamy. Sift icing sugar, corn starch, salt and flour 4 times (I know, but it is worth it) add to creamed butter a little at a time and work in with a wooden spoon as long as possible, then move to a lightly floured flat surface and knead till mixture cracks slightly. Pat gently to 1/3" thickness. Cut with Christmas cutters and place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake in pre-heated oven for approximately 10-12 minutes, don't let them brown. Let cool on cookie sheets.
  4. Approximately 30 cookies (depending on size of cutters)
  5. MY FRIEND'S SHORTBREAD
  6. Cream butter until fluffy, add sugar and cream together, then add flour gradually and mix with a wooden spoon as much as you can. Move the mixture to a lightly floured flat surface and with your hands work the dough until it comes together and forms a ball. If it is too sticky, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for approximately 20 minutes. On a lightly floured surface roll to 1/2 - 1/3 thickness. Cut out with desired shapes, place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake in pre-heated oven for approximately 10-12 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheets and then remove to wire racks.
  7. Yield approximately 30 cookies (depending on size of cutters)

  8. ** I have received a couple of messages saying my Mom's shortbread doesn't come together and they had to add butter, a lot of butter!  So I just made it again and no extra butter is needed, please note this is a dough that needs to be kneaded not whipped and don't forget the sifting.  It will be crumbly until you start to knead it, then with a little bit of elbow grease you will arrive at the desired dough.  Hope this helps.  Let me know.  Rosemary

Nutrition Facts
The Best Simple Two Way Shortbread Cookies
Amount Per Serving
Calories 206 Calories from Fat 108
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 12g 18%
Saturated Fat 7g 35%
Cholesterol 32mg 11%
Sodium 148mg 6%
Potassium 28mg 1%
Total Carbohydrates 21g 7%
Sugars 5g
Protein 2g 4%
Vitamin A 7.6%
Calcium 0.9%
Iron 5%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

 

Republished from November 30, 2014

The Best Simple Two Way Shortbread Cookies, the ultimate melt in your mouth #shortbread #cookie. Traditional or brown sugar. Your new #Christmas Shortbread recipe.
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Hi dear, i tried your mums shortbread recipe and it came out lovely and very delish. Thanks for sharing dear. You’ve made my day and the kids are going to love it when they come back from school.

    Reply

  2. Thanks for the recipes! I tried both ways and like them both. My husband and kids preferred the mom recipe while I preferred the friend recipe a smidgen more. I like how the dough doesn’t spread upon baking and how easy and sharp the cut out shapes are to make.

    Reply

  3. Help!

    I made your mom’s recipe a couple times and they were the BEST shortbread cookies I’ve ever had, but recently I have tried a couple more times and can not get them to turn out well anymore. I am STUMPED because I don’t feel like I did anything differently!
    They seem to stay sort of wet and gooey inside but turn dark brown on the bottom and hard on the outside.

    It sounds like a problem with the baking itself in the oven but I swear I can taste it in the dough before it’s even baked.

    Of course you wouldn’t know what the difference was between my first and last attempts but based on that description do you have any ideas? Just craving those wonderful cookies again!

    – Stephanie

    Reply

    • Hi Stephanie, thanks so much. I don’t think it could be the ingredients unless something is past expire date. So I’m pretty sure it sounds like your oven temperature is off. You can test it with an oven thermometer. I had that problem last year, my cakes would rise than fall once they were out of the oven and they never completely baked inside. And believe it or not, I just read that sometimes we smell something (in this case bad) and we can also sense the odour through our mouth. Hope this helps. Let me know.

      Reply

  5. Hello, I have two questions. I want to make these with my 4 year old twin grandsons and want them to do the cutting. Will this dough work with the little spring action plunger cutters? Also can I make the dough ahead of time and refrigerate it until we roll it out and cut the cookies? Thank you very much

    Reply

    • Hi Pat, it should work fine with those types of cutters. And yes you can refrigerate the dough before hand, you might want to take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before making the cookies. Have fun!

      Reply

  6. I made your mom’s recipe for Christmas and they came out PERFECT!!! I ended up making a second batch because my son kept sneaking them before I could dip them in chocolate. The second batch, I accidentally added an extra tablespoon of butter… they still turned out wonderfully! I dipped them in milk chocolate and white chocolate and my co-workers loved them! This is definitely my new go-to recipe.

    Reply

  7. The cookies came out great! I will be saving the recipe for next year. I am glad you put in the tips about kneading the dough or i might have been worried, but the dough came together nicely. I used a wooden roller instead of patting to desired thickness.

    Reply

  8. I made these last night and they are delicious, but the mixture was very crumbly 🙁 so much so that I couldn’t roll it out. I ended up adding in some egg and that held it together. I’m not sure if it was because of something I had done or maybe the different climate? Have you found this has happened to you before?

    Reply

  9. Hi! I would love to try these recipes now to be my christmas giveaways to friends, but I dont have cornstarch, can I skip it? Even brown sugar i dont have can i replace it with white sugar and how much should i put. Thanks.

    Reply

    • Hi Claudette, I have never made these without cornstarch so I would not recommend it. And substituting white sugar for brown gives them a different taste. Hope this helps. 🙂

      Reply

  10. Hi! After reading all the comments this recipe sounds like a true winner, and I’m hoping to use it as a base for some gourmet shortbreads. I plan to make a lemon & lavendar, an orange & chocolate, and a white chocolate, pistachio and cranberry. How do you think your recipe will handle these added ingredients?

    Reply

  11. I made the recipe with cornstarch. It is the same as my mother in laws recipe. They are so delicious! They need to be rolled thick so the cookie cutter has to be deep.

    Reply

  12. How much lemon extract would you use in this recipe
    To make them more like Panera bakery’s recipe ? We love the cookie , thanks janie

    Reply

    • I am a huge Panera shortbread cookie fan! I have it on good authority (wink) that the hint of lemon in their amazing cookies comes from the icing not the dough! So I would add lemon extract right to the icing as you make it, as Panera cookies are an iced shortbread….and amazing!!

      Reply

  13. Hi, I too love shortbread cookies and would love to ice them as I would a sugar cookie. Excited to give these a try. Thank you for both recipes ❤

    Reply

  15. Well… what an absolutely SUPERB shortbread recipe your Mothers is!!! Thank you so much for sharing. This will be my go to recipe for ever more! ?

    Reply

  16. I am a little confused about the icing sugar. The powdered sugar I have already contains some cornstarch, so would I adjust the amount of corn starch in the recipe, to compensate? Thanks in advance! I’d like to make these but I’d like to get some clarification on the “icing sugar”.

    Reply

    • Hi Rhonda, icing sugar and powdered sugar are the same thing (Canadians call powdered sugar icing sugar), and yes there is a small amount of cornstarch in all powdered sugar so it doesn’t cake. So just follow the ingredients as written and it should be fine. Hope that helps. 🙂

      Reply

  17. Hi Rosemary,
    My son and I just made these cookies and they turned out perfect. So tender and flaky.
    The dough is crumbly at first but with a little bit of effort it eventually comes together. Thank you for sharing! Merry Christmas!

    Reply

  18. I made them using your friends recipe and they came out fabulous. My grandsons had a great time rolling the dough and making the cut outs. Don’t roll the dough too thin

    Reply

  19. Hi Rose
    I’ve just finished baking shortbread cookies from your recipe.
    Everything went well. Just after baking them some of them were getting apart.
    I have no idea why? Can you possibly know why they are so fragile?
    Other than that they are very delicious. I really enjoy them.
    Have a lovely Christmas
    Ewa

    Reply

  20. My mixture turned out so dry it wouldn’t clump together. I followed your recipe to the letter. Maybe too much flour? I’m in Australia….can’t think what difference that would make though, flours flour right? ….almost impossible to roll out.

    Reply

    • HI Del, sorry to hear that, I don’t know if it’s the conversion from cups to grams, but if it doesn’t come together just add more butter a tablespoon at a time. Hope that helps.

      Reply

  21. Oh, these turned out perfectly! Being Scottish my shortbread recipe is the 3 ingredients only, but I wanted to try yours. They are delicious! I glazed half of them with vanilla bean glaze. Yum!

    Reply

  24. I was wondering how well this cookies stand up to decorating opposed to a standard sugar cookie. I use glaze and icing to decorate my Christmas cookies and the sugar cookie recipe I use is rather blah. I wondered how butter cookies would stand up to the decorating processes such as do they break easily? I have been looking for a more flavorful cookie for Christmas Cookie decorating. Thank you!

    Reply

  25. hi rose, I’m nina from Indonesia. Thanks to this cookie-recipe, my family loved it. I have made using your mother’s recipe. But I give a little modification by adding chopped chocolate in the dough ? hhmm .. it was very tasty and the butter smell is very tempting, especially when baked. certainly, makes it even easier (this is what I prefer ?) ps: sorry if my english is not good ?

    Reply

      • Thanks for the recipes you’ve shared, many of the recipes are easy to make. That’s why I love your blog, Rose 🙂 Today I will try to make “Traditional Italian Breakfast Cookies”… once again, thank you, rose 🙂

        Reply

  26. Hi Rose. I love butter cookies. I found your recipe but in my country we use grams, and I prefer measures in grams (or punds and then make the translation) than cups or spoon. That’s why when I try to make the recipe I have a doubt, and I think that it’s just I transcription error: “Ingredients
    MY MOM’S SHORTBREAD
    1 cup butter softened 250 grams
    1/2 cup icing sugar 62 grams (may be you should say: 125 gr)
    1/2 cup corn starch 62 grams (may be you should say: 125 gr)
    1/2 teaspoon salt 2.8 grams
    2 cups flour 260 grams ((may be you should say: 500 gr)
    MY FRIEND’S SHORTBREAD
    1 cup butter softened 250 grams
    1/2 cup brown sugar 100 grams
    2 1/2 cups flour 325 grams (may be you should say: 750gr)”
    Could be the cause of some poor results. Thanks for your lovely blog and sorry for my bad english

    Reply

    • Hi Natalia, thanks for your input, here in Italy we use grams also and I have a scale to measure, these are the right measurements. Believe me 2 1/2 cups of flour cannot possibly be almost a kilo. But thanks anyways. Merry Christmas. And your English is great.

      Reply

    • Hi Diana, sorry to hear they were too salty for you, but that is the recipe and my Mom and I have been using for years. I do not use unsalted butter because I cannot find it in Italy. The 3 ingredient (brown sugar) shortbread does not call for salt so if that is the one you made I don’t know why you would find it salty. Have a wonderful Christmas.

      Reply

  30. I am excited to try both recipes. I do have a question about freezing the dough. Should I cut the cookies and then freeze or can I roll into a log and then freeze?

    Reply

  32. Would you believe I have never made shortbread cookies?! I like to eat them though…perhaps I should try my hand at actually making them! Your freezer comment was too funny…that is definitely the case in our house. Unless it is hidden away (and hidden away well), the disappearing act happens often!

    Reply

    • Hi Alexzandria, I just did a little search and interesting enough yes you can substitute rice flour for regular, it’s a one for one. I would love to know how they turn out if you do make them. Hope this helps.

      Reply

    • Hi Jennifer all purpose flour, it will look crumbly at first but just keep kneading it. Let me know how it goes and have fun with your girls. I just made a batch this morning and I have already eaten 3 ;).

      Reply

  37. This did not work for me at all. I’ve made shortbread for years and thought I’d try a new recipe. It just crumbled apart and I couldn’t get it into a ball. What a waste of butter

    Reply

    • Hi Shannon, sorry to hear that it didn’t work out, I remade these this morning and they turned out perfectly, I think you might missed the step of kneading the mixture until it cracks, it is crumbly at first but you have to work it. Hope this helps.

      Reply

      • I think perhaps my flour wasn’t level and therefore ended up with too much. I just tossed it all together again with a bit more better and then it worked!

        Reply

  39. I used your mother’s recipe and the shortbread came out soft and beautifully! Thanks so much for sharing and will keep using this recipe for future use!

    Reply

  40. I have always gone with the 3 parts flour: 2 parts fat/butter: 1 part sugar recipe. It would be interesting to see how your differ!

    Reply

  43. I have always used some white rice flour. But the real reason your mom’s win? The salt! Salt makes everything better. I adore shortbread at Christmas and I love the star shapes.

    Reply

  45. Love your “battle of the shortbreads” Rosemary. I’m with your mom on this one, but honestly I’ll eat either – or better yet, both – kinds. Thanks for stopping by our Happy Holidays Link Party – be sure to join us again this week, beginning on Saturday at 7 pm ET.

    Reply

  47. This looks so perfect! I wish I could take a bite right now! Pinned and tweeted. Thank you for being a part of our party. I hope to see you on Monday at 7 pm. It wouldn’t be a party without you!
    Happy Sunday! Lou Lou Girls

    Reply

  48. Rose, shortbread is one of my very favorites, and stars just melt my heart! I will absolutely go with your recipe- I prefer my sweet recipes with a bit of salt. 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing this with us at Treasure Box Tuesday- pinned! 🙂

    Reply

  49. Being married to a Scottish man, we can’t get enough shortbread in our house. Actually, I’m the one who is the glutton over them. If you say that your mom’s recipe is the best, Rose, than I believe you! Printing and pinning! Thank you for sharing! Wishing you a delicious Christmas season of baking your family’s treats!
    Roz

    Reply

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