Christmas Shortbread
Submitted by ais999
Christmas shortbread with just five ingredients: butter, sugar, vanilla, flour, and salt. Shape as bars or wedges, plus four built-in variations including chocolate chip and lemon.
YIELD
1 BatchPREP
15 minCOOK
25 minREADY
40 minClassic Christmas shortbread with five ingredients and zero fuss. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, work in the flour, pat it out, and bake until barely golden. The result is a sandy, melt-in-your-mouth cookie that snaps cleanly and dissolves on the tongue.
This recipe gives you two shaping options: cut into neat bars with a fluted pastry cutter, or press into a round and score into wedges for a traditional Scottish look. Both work from the same dough, so pick whichever suits your holiday tin.
The key is not overbaking. Shortbread should be pale, not brown. Pull it when the edges just barely start to color and the centers still look slightly underdone. They firm up as they cool.
Chef Tips
- Use real butter, not margarine. Shortbread is mostly butter and flour, so the quality of the butter is everything.
- Cream the butter and sugar thoroughly until light and fluffy. This creates the tender, crumbly texture that defines good shortbread.
- Prick the dough with a fork before baking. The holes let steam escape so the bars stay flat instead of puffing up.
- Transfer to a cooling rack after just one minute on the sheet. Too long and they stick; too soon and they crumble.
Variations
The recipe includes four built-in options: - Nut shortbread: Fold in finely chopped toasted pecans, almonds, walnuts, or hazelnuts. - Chocolate chip: Add miniature semisweet chocolate chips for buttery-chocolatey bites. - Orange-chocolate chip: Combine grated orange rind with mini chocolate chips. - Lemon: Stir in grated lemon zest for a bright, citrusy twist.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 350℉ (180℃).
Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Mix flour and salt, then beat into butter mixture until thoroughly blended, to make a soft dough.
To make bars:
On work surface dusted with flour, pat dough into rectangle ½ inch thick, 2” wide, and about 17” long. Use knife or fluted pastry cutter to cut into 1” bars.
Use spatula to transfer bars to ungreased cookie sheet, leaving 1” between bars.
Prick each bar with fork several times.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly colored. Do not overbake; the bars should not brown. Let cool on cookie sheet for one minute, then carefully transfer to wire racks to finish cooling.
To make wedges:
Dust your hands and ungreased cookie sheet with flour. Pat dough into ball. Pat ball into flat disk about ½ inch thick and 7” in diameter on cookie sheet.
With edge of plastic ruler dusted with flour, mark disk in 8 wedges, cutting about halfway through dough, and prick dough all over and crimp edges with fork.
Bake for 30 minutes, then take cookie sheet out and cut through shortbread on marked lines.
Return shortbread to oven for five more minutes. Let wedges cool on cookie sheet for one minute, then carefully transfer to wire racks to finish cooling.
Nut Shortbread:
Add ¼ cup finely chopped toasted pecans, almonds, walnuts, or hazelnuts to flour mixture.
Chocolate Chip Shortbread:
Add ¼ cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips to flour mixture.
Orange-Chocolate Chip Shortbread:
Add 1 teaspoon grated orange rind and ¼ cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips to flour mixture.
Lemon Shortbread:
Add 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind to flour mixture.
Comments
