Easy Shortbread Cookies
on Nov 12, 2021, Updated Oct 25, 2024
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In the world of best-loved cookies, it’s hard to beat simple, buttery, dense, but flaky shortbread.
As part of a holiday cookie platter, sidling up to a cuppa tea, boxed up in a pretty package, it’s hard to beat simple, buttery, dense, and slightly crumbly shortbread. This shortbread recipe is scored, docked, and cut into triangles, with a bit of lemon added for interest. If you like Scottish Walker’s Shortbread, then this is the easy homemade version of that traditional cookie (or biscuit, as it’s known in England)! Apparently, Mary, Queen of Scots, was very partial to this cookie, which is why it’s also known as Scottish shortbread.
The name shortbread refers to the high amount of butter in the dough, which makes it a short dough. In baking and dough, the word “short” means that there is a high percentage of fat to flour. And we all know more butter equals more better.
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Enjoy these cookies alongside a cup of tea or coffee, Mulled Cider, or a Pumpkin Spiced Iced Latte. Or, if you’re in the mood for something with a little punch, try Homemade (Eggless!) Egg Nog or Coquito, especially during the holidays.
What's In This Post?
Easy Shortbread Cookies: In the world of best-loved cookies, it’s hard to beat simple, buttery, dense but flaky shortbread.
Lemon Shortbread Cookies
Dorie Greenspan, baker and cookbook author extraordinaire, suggests adding lemon zest for a boost of flavor. She advises using your fingers to rub the lemon zest with the granulated sugar and salt before combining it with the rest of the ingredients to bring out the flavorful oils in the zest: tiny extra step, great flavor results.
Ingredients
- Sugar – Some recipes call for confectioners’ sugar, but I find it can make the cookies too sweet, while granulated sugar offers a balanced sweetness.
- Salt – Enhances the flavors.
- Lemon zest – Adds great citrus flavor.
- Unsalted butter – Provides shortbread with its signature buttery flavor and softness.
- Pure vanilla extract – Offers a rich vanilla flavor.
- All-purpose flour – Gives the cookies structure.
Variations
- To make Mini Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies mix in 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips after you blend in the flour.
- To make Espresso Shortbread Cookies, skip the lemon zest and blend in 1 teaspoon of espresso powder.
How to Make Lemon Shortbread
- Prepare the lemon sugar: With your fingers, rub the lemon zest with the sugar and salt.
- Combine ingredients: Cream the sugar mixture with the butter. Add the vanilla and then the flour. The dough should be soft and crumbly and should just hold together when squeezed in the palm of your hand.
- Shape the dough: Press the dough into a cake pan.
- Score the dough: Use the tines of a fork to score the dough into wedges. Then, use the back of the fork to press a border around the cookies.
- Bake: Bake the cookies for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.
- Cut the cookies and enjoy: Allow the cookies to cool, and cut the shortbread into triangles in the pan, following the scored lines.
Tips for Making Great, Melt-in-Your-Mouth Lemon Shortbread
- Don’t overwork the dough, or the shortbread won’t be as tender.
- Make sure the butter is soft but not melted so that the shortbread retains its firm structure.
- Make sure to refrigerate the dough before baking. This will allow the shortbread to bake up a little flaky, with a substantive bite, and also allow the flavors to meld a bit.
- Use your fingers or a spice jar to flatten the surface of the dough before baking, which will give it a more polished appearance and encourage even baking.
- Score (create lines for cutting the shortbread after baking) and dock the dough before baking. These holes allow steam to escape.
Kitchen Smarts
Many shortbread recipes call for “docking” the dough. Docking means poking tiny holes in the surface, usually using the tines of a fork. This prevents the dough from buckling and nibbling up as it bakes by allowing steam to escape. It’s also a common technique when blind baking or par-baking pie crusts.
Storage
Shortbread will keep at room temperature in a tightly sealed container for up to 2 weeks. Well wrapped, it will keep in the freezer for about 4 months.
What to Serve With Easy Shortbread Cookies
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Easy Shortbread Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (at room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter and flour an 8-inch cake pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sugar, salt, and lemon zest. Use your fingers to rub the mixture together until you can really smell the lemon zest.
- Add the butter and use an electric mixer to blend until well combined and fairly smooth; it won’t get very fluffy. Add the vanilla and blend, then add the flour and mix on low just until combined. The dough should be soft and crumbly and should just hold together when squeezed in the palm of your hand.
- Transfer the crumbly dough to the prepared pan. Pat the top as smoothly as possible, and then use a spice jar to roll the top gently until smooth, or pat it smooth with the bottom of a glass.
- Use the tines of a fork to score the dough into wedges. Use the back of the tines of a fork to make a border around the edge of the shortbread (see above for step-by-step photos).
- Bake for 25 minutes. The shortbread will be very pale when it is done, barely more golden than it was before baking, with the edges ever so golden.
- Cool the shortbread in the pan on a wire rack. Either cut the shortbread into triangles in the pan, following the scored lines, or carefully turn the shortbread out of the pan, then carefully clip it right side up onto a cutting board and slice along the scored lines.
Notes
- Don’t overwork the dough, or the shortbread won’t be as tender
- Make sure the butter is soft but not melted so that the shortbread retains its firm structure
- Make sure to refrigerate the dough before baking. This will allow the shortbread to bake up a little flaky, with a deep bite, and also allow the flavor to meld a bit.
- Use your fingers or a spice jar to flatten the surface of the dough before baking, which will give it a more polished appearance and encourage even baking.
- Score (create lines for cutting the shortbread after baking) and dock (poke tiny holes on the surface) the dough before baking to prevent bubbles and buckling from occurring. These holes allow steam to escape.
Easy recipe and delicious. I only used vanilla flavoring…yum!