Delicious vanilla-flavored shortbread cookies made with only four ingredients! The perfect holiday cookie recipe to share with friends and family or give as a gift. Gluten-free flour can be easily substituted so everyone can enjoy it.
Looking for more holiday cookies? Try my hot chocolate chili cookie for a spicy surprise, crispy French palmier, or persimmon cookies for a seasonal flavor.
Recipe Science
- Use butter at 60°F during creaming to retain fat crystals and trap air. Warmer butter makes the cookies spread and not hold shape.
- Vanilla bean paste adds rich flavor and vanilla specks, enhancing taste and appearance without altering texture.
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Featured Comment 9
“Served these at a tea party with honey sweetened cream and fresh Strawberries. Extremely popular. Sent everyone home with a small parcel of 5 cookies. A big hit. Will most certainly use this recipe again.”—Ashley
Why It Works
December is a month-long celebration to honor the endless possibilities of cookies: pinwheels, snickerdoodles, peanut butter blossoms, and gingerbread. I’m a big fan of simplicity, and this shortbread cookie recipe is one of my favorites during the holiday season. The buttery, crumbly texture that melts in your mouth is always a hit.
After an unforgettable meal at The French Laundry, we left with a silver box of delicate, rectangular shortbread cookies lightly dusted with sugar. They crumbled perfectly and had just the right touch of sweetness—a testament to Chef Thomas Keller’s and his team’s artistry. To my delight, I later discovered the exact recipe in the Ad Hoc at Home cookbook. This is my adapted version using only four ingredients.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Butter: I prefer unsalted butter versus salted butter to control the amount of salt added to the recipe. It’s best to use room-temperature butter around 60°F (16ºC). It helps retain the fat crystals’ shape when incorporating air during creaming. If the butter is too warm, the cookie will become dense.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar is ideal for shortbread cookies because its coarse texture creates tiny air pockets during mixing, contributing to a light, crumbly structure. It also provides a clean, sweet flavor and helps maintain the cookie’s crisp texture without adding moisture.
- Flavoring: I’ve loved using vanilla bean paste since I tried it with my Danish butter cookies. The paste contains whole vanilla beans. The speckles make the flavor pop and last longer with each bite. Using vanilla extract is okay, but the little flecks of real vanilla beans make each cookie appear more gourmet.
- Flour: All-purpose flour is used for its moderate protein content (10-13%), which provides enough structure for the cookies to hold their shape while baking without making them too tough. Its versatility ensures a tender, crumbly texture that’s characteristic of shortbread.
See the recipe card below for all ingredients and measurements (US and metric).
Ingredient Substitutions
This classic shortbread cookie recipe is easy to customize! Try these delicious options:
- Make It Gluten-Free: I use Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose 1:1 Baking Flour. Be careful as you roll and shape the dough. It will be less pliable and slightly more brittle. This is because there is no gluten in the recipe to develop and bind the ingredients together as it’s mixed.
- Flavoring: Add almond extract, peppermint, anise, lemon or orange zest, citrus flavoring, or cocoa powder.
- Mix-Ins: Add mini chocolate chips, pecans, walnuts, almonds, toffee bits, or sprinkles.
- Decorations: Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Dip the shortbread in melted chocolate, then add chopped nuts, colorful sprinkles, or jimmies.
How to Make Shortbread Cookies
Step 1: Cream the Butter
Creaming the butter and sugar takes place in a stand mixer. This aerates the mixture, allowing tiny air pockets to be incorporated into the shortbread dough.
The vanilla bean paste is then mixed in. Proper creaming results in a beautiful and thick cookie that is nice in height and lift and holds its shape.
Pro Tip: The whipped air then acts as an insulator when baking to prevent the cookies from heating too rapidly and spreading.
Step 2: Fold in Flour
These buttery shortbread cookies contain only four simple ingredients: butter, sugar, flour, and vanilla. They do not contain chemical leavening agents like baking soda or baking powder. Add the flour and mix until the dough clumps but doesn’t turn into a ball.
Step 3: Chill the Dough
Transfer the dough to a work surface. Gently knead the pieces of dough together. Press it into a rectangular shape, about 1/2-inch thick, then tightly wrap it in plastic. This will make it easier to roll out after chilling. Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes. This firms up the butter fat to reduce cookie spread.
Step 4: Roll Out the Dough
After chilling, let the dough sit at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes. It’s difficult to roll when the butter is too firm. The dough is ready to roll when the edges don’t excessively crack and is malleable.
I find it easiest to roll the dough between two pieces of parchment paper to prevent sticking. You can roll on a lightly floured surface, but add flour sparingly. Too much extra protein will create a tough texture. Roll it out to 1/4-inch for thick cookies.
Tips For Using Gluten-Free Flour: Gluten-free shortbread dough will roll out nicely without cracking if you let it rest for a little while at room temperature after being chilled. Be careful when transferring the cut-out cookies to the sheet pan. If you notice any cracks in the dough, wait a few more minutes until it feels more pliable yet cool.
Step 5: Cut Out Shapes
For large cookies, use a 2 ½” round fluted cookie cutter. This will yield about 30 cookies.
If you’d like, lightly indent a design in the center, like a heart, flute, or star. Don’t push all the way through! Transfer them to paper-lined baking sheets, leaving 1″ space between them.
Chill for another 15 minutes, then sprinkle some granulated sugar before baking.
Step 6: Preheat the Oven
Position the oven racks in the lower-middle and upper-middle spots to ensure even heat circulation. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177ºC).
Step 7: Bake
The baking time will be about 12 to 15 minutes. The cookies should be set on top and have a light brown color. You don’t want them to turn too brown, or they will be very crispy. Let them sit on the warm baking sheet for 5 minutes for gentle carry-over cooking.
Step 8: Let Them Cool
Let the cookies cool completely on a wire rack to maintain their crisp texture and buttery flavor.
Frequently Asked Questions
Vanilla bean paste is an excellent alternative to expensive whole vanilla beans. The paste combines vanilla extract and real vanilla seeds from the pod mixed with sugar, water, and tragacanth gum (a thickener). The concentrated flavors allow adding more vanilla without thinning or diluting sauces and batters. Vanilla bean paste is a 1:1 replacement for vanilla extract. You can use one tablespoon of vanilla paste for one whole vanilla bean.
Butter gives the best flavor to shortbread cookies. It is creamy and has a hint of sweetness. Margarine, made from plant sources, has a more neutral taste.
Both cookies have a similar base: flour, sugar, butter, and vanilla. Butter cookies tend to have a higher sugar ratio, making them sweeter and tenderer. They also contain eggs for leavening and binding, making the texture less crumbly compared to shortbread.
English shortbread does not contain leaving agents, so the texture is more dense and crumbly. Scottish shortbread typically contains a leavening agent like baking soda or baking powder. This gives a lighter, crunchier cookie.
More Cookie Recipes
If you tried this Shortbread Cookie Recipe, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Shortbread Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 14 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to 60 to 65°F (16 to 18ºC)
- ½ cup granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, or pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, or gluten-free flour
Instructions
- Cream the Butter – In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix butter and sugar at a low speed to combine, then increase to medium speed until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and mix in the vanilla.
- Fold in Flour – On the lowest speed, mix in the flour to combine, then increase the speed to medium until the dough begins to cling to the paddle and no longer looks dry. Do not wait for it to form a solid mass.
- Chill the Dough – Transfer the dough to a board and gently knead it together. Put the dough on a large piece of plastic wrap and shape it into a rectangle ½ to ¾" thick. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Roll Out the Dough – Let the dough soften slightly, so it does not crack or break on the edges when rolling, for 5 to 10 minutes. Then roll out between two sheets of parchment paper to about ¼" thick.
- Cut Out Shapes – Using a 2 ½" round fluted cookie cutter, cut out about 30 cookies and transfer them to two parchment paper-lined sheet pans, leaving 1" space between them. Refrigerate for 15 minutes to allow the dough to chill before baking. Sprinkle the cookies with sugar.The remaining trimmings can be pressed together and re-rolled only once for additional cookies.
- Preheat the Oven – Set the oven racks to the lower-middle and upper-middle position. Preheat to 350°F (177ºC).
- Bake – Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, switching the position and rotating the sheets halfway through. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes on the sheet pan to firm the cookies up.
- Let Them Cool – Transfer cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Make Ahead: This dough can be refrigerated for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 2 weeks; defrost frozen dough overnight in the refrigerator.
- Storing: Baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 10 days. Freeze for up to 2 months.
Nutrition Facts
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000-calorie diet. All nutritional information is based on estimated third-party calculations. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods, and portion sizes per household.
Natalie D says
Thanks, great concept for a cookie! Unfortunately I found this recipe a bit too sweet. Maybe 1/3 cup sugar would be a better ratio. 1/4 is too little, I tried it in a another similar recipe. I’d love a more flour-y, crumblier version of this recipe. Think I’ll have to experiment!
Mary says
No stand mixer in my life (yet)….Will a hand electric mixer give enough creaminess to the dough to get the rise?
Jessica Gavin says
Hi Mary- Yes, I think a hand mixer would work!
Mary says
Thank you! Yes, hand mixer works, probably takes little longer but it came together.
Jessica Gavin says
That’s great to hear Mary!
Mary says
I made two batches, a day apart. The second batch spread out a little more. They are still tasty, but loosing some definition on the edges and you can tell they spread out. Any thoughts? Butter was at similar temp for both batches.
Jessica Gavin says
Hi Mary- If the butter was similar temperature, and you’re chilling it after the steps, perhaps did you cream the butter and sugar a bit more? Perhaps also check the oven temperature. Sometimes how you measured the flour can make a slight difference. Say, if you had a little less the next day?
Ashley says
Served these at a tea party with honey sweetened cream and fresh Strawberries. Extremely popular. Sent everyone home with a small parcel of 5 cookies. A big hit. Will most certainly use this recipe again.
Jessica Gavin says
Hi Ashley- Wow, that sounds like an amazing combo! I’m so glad you like these cookies, these are my favorite go to shortbread recipe and store very well! 🙂