Get the Recipe: My Best Shortbread Cookie Recipe (No Cookie Cutters Required!)
My best shortbread cookie recipe makes pale golden cookies that are super buttery and salty, with a tender crumb that melts in your mouth. Despite this tender crumb, the cookies have just enough crunch to snap like any good shortbread cookie!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces or 227 grams) Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter
- 2 cups (9 ounces or 255 grams) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (3.5 ounces or 99 grams) granulated sugar, plus more for garnish
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
Equipment
- parchment paper
- a rolling pin
- a bench scraper
Instructions
- Prep the butter. Cut the butter into 1- to 1 ½-inch pieces and place them in a small bowl. Freeze while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Beat on low until just combined, about 15 seconds.
- Beat in the butter to make the shortbread dough. Add the butter all at once and beat on low until the dough starts to resemble coarse meal, with pea-sized pieces of butter throughout, about 3 minutes. Increase the mixer to medium and beat until the dough clumps around the paddle and/or sides of the bowl, 1 to 2 minutes. If necessary, use a mixer cover (or throw a kitchen towel over the mixer bowl) while beating to prevent any pieces of dough from shooting out of the bowl.
- Roll out the shortbread dough. Tip the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper around the size of a half sheet pan and use your hands to shape it into a roughly 6-inch square. Place a second sheet of parchment over the dough, creating a parchment "sandwich" with the dough in the middle.Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough between the parchment sheets, working from left to right. Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat every so often—doing so will help prevent the dough from cracking as you roll it. If the parchment starts to wrinkle and leave creases in the dough, pull the sheet loose and smooth it before rolling the dough more. Continue rotating and rolling until you have a 9-inch square of dough around ¼ inch thick.
- Chill the shortbread dough. Remove the top layer of parchment. Press a bench scraper against the sides of the dough to create straight edges. Transfer the slab of cookie dough, still on the bottom layer of parchment, to a half sheet pan. Cover with the top layer of parchment once more and freeze for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight.
- Once the dough is chilled and you're ready to bake the cookies, prep the pans for baking. Remove the sheet pan of dough from the refrigerator. Use the overhanging parchment as handles to carefully lift the slab of dough off the sheet pan and onto a cutting board. Peel the top layer of parchment from the slab and use it to line the sheet pan once more. Line a second half sheet pan with a new sheet of parchment paper.
- Slice and garnish the cookies. Use a paring knife to slice the slab of dough in half lengthwise, then slice each portion in half crosswise. You should have four smaller dough slabs of equal size.Repeat the process with each of the smaller dough slabs until you have 16 (2-inch) square cookies. Place the cookies at least 2 inches apart on the prepared sheet pans. Sprinkle the top of each cookie with a pinch of sugar.
- Freeze the cookies while you preheat the oven. Chill both sheet pans with the cookies in the freezer while you preheat the oven.Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake the cookies. Bake one pan at a time (keeping the other pan in the freezer) for 15 to 17 minutes, or until the edges of each cookie are pale golden brown with small hairline cracks visible on their surfaces. Cool the cookies on the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes, or until the edges and bottoms of the cookies are set and feel firm to the touch. Repeat to bake the remaining sheet pan of cookies.
- Serve and store. Serve warm or at room temperature. The shortbread cookies can be stored in an airtight container or zip-top bag at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes
- When working with cut out dough, always be aware of the temperature of the dough. It should always feel firm and cool to the touch, similar to how a stick of butter feels right after you pull it out of the fridge. If at any point in the recipe the dough feels too warm or soft to the touch, ignore the next step of the recipe and chill the dough. Only proceed when the dough feels cool and firm again. Doing so will set you up for success!
- The cookies will spread a little bit and lose their defined edges after baking. But if you want cleaner and straighter cookie edges, no worries! Gently press a bench scraper against the side of each cookie immediately after removing the cookies from the oven. The dough will still be fairly malleable, and can be easily shaped. However, it will firm up as the cookies cool—so work fast!
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