Whipped Shortbread Cookies
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These traditional shortbread cookies are the Christmas cookies my mom makes every holiday season. They’re whipped shortbread cookies that are so soft they literally melt in your mouth. You will LOVE them!
This has long been my favorite shortbread recipe. The cookies are so soft that they literally melt in your mouth. They are different from Scottish shortbread cookies, which are firmer. Eating this shortbread is like eating buttery, soft, crumbly clouds. This recipe is for you if you want soft, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread. (And really, who doesn’t want that?)
This is the shortbread cookie recipe my family has been making for decades. They were part of the Christmas cookie spread that always included Mom’s Nanaimo Bars, turtles, and butter tarts. Christmas wouldn’t be the same without them.
These shortbread cookies are crazy soft. When I say they melt in your mouth, I mean it. No chewing is required. They’re the most tender shortbread cookies you will ever eat. In the words of one of our taste testers, “I don’t know what just happened in my mouth, but I want more of it.”
This recipe has only five ingredients, is made in one bowl, and is the best shortbread recipe ever. Are you sold? You should be!
This easy recipe is made with only five ingredients!
- Butter – I prefer to use salted butter. If you only have unsalted butter, simply add salt to the recipe. Make sure the butter is at room temperature before making these cookies.
- Flour – Unbleached, all-purpose flour works best in this recipe.
- Icing sugar – Also known as powdered sugar.
- Cornstarch – This is added to make the shortbread cookies even softer.
- Vanilla – I add this for a subtle flavor.
Making whipped shortbread is incredibly easy. But it helps to look at the pictures above to see what the dough looks like at the four stages as you beat it.
- You’ll start by slowly mixing the salted butter, flour, icing sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla using electric beaters at their lowest setting. This is to prevent a cloud of flour dust from flying out of the bowl. After a minute, the dough will no longer be dusty but will have larger chunks of butter coated in flour.
- A few minutes later, when the dough begins to look like sand, increase the beaters to medium speed. You’ll likely think it will never come together at this point, but have patience and trust that it will.
- Keep beating the sandy dough for 3-4 minutes. Suddenly, you will feel your beaters start to strain, and the dough will come together.
- Turn your beaters up to high and beat the dough for another 1-2 minutes, or until it resembles thick whipped cream.
Now, all that’s left to do is drop mounds of the dough onto baking sheets and bake them for 15 minutes. It’s so easy!
Using a stand mixer to make shortbread cookies is a little trickier as you have to stop often to scrape the bowl AND it’s easy to overwhip them.
- Always use the whisk attachment. The paddle attachment is not able to whip the shortbread properly.
- Stop frequently to scrape the side of the bowl. Otherwise, some of the dough will be whipped and some won’t. You’ll see the difference the first time you stop to scrape the bowl.
- Keep a close eye on the dough at the end. As soon as it resembles thick whipped cream, stop beating it. Overbeating the dough can cause the cookies to flatten when they bake.
- The total time you’ll need to whip the cookie dough in a stand mixer is about 5 minutes.
Variations to try
- Top with red and green sprinkles for Christmas shortbread cookies. You can also try blending the sprinkles right into the batter.
- Add lemon or orange zest to the batter.
- Drizzle the tops with chocolate.
- Swap the vanilla for your favorite flavor extract.
- Make whipped shortbread cookies with Toblerone by stirring 1 cup of chopped Toblerone into the batter.
- Several readers have commented that they’ve had success using this dough with a cookie press.
Store and freeze
This shortbread cookie recipe is great to make ahead of time. Not only do they keep well for many days on your counter, but you can also store them in your freezer for months. So go ahead and make a big batch and have some on hand next time a cookie craving strikes!
Store: This is a great recipe to make ahead of time, as they keep well for many days on your counter. I usually keep some on a plate (for easy access) and put the rest in a bag. They will keep for a week on your counter or up to two weeks in the fridge.
Freeze: When I was a kid, my mom would make these a month or more before Christmas and store them in a container in the freezer. Once thawed, you’ll never know they were frozen. Tip ⇢ stack them between layers of parchment paper to protect them.
Best Shortbread Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups salted butter (at room temperature – see notes)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Colored candied cherries or dried cranberries (for garnish)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Position your oven rack in the middle of your oven.
- Add the flour, butter, powdered sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla to a deep mixing bowl.3 cups all-purpose flour, 2 cups salted butter, 1 cup powdered sugar, ½ cup cornstarch, 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Begin mixing the ingredients using electric beaters at their lowest speed. Once the dry ingredients begin mixing with the butter and are not dusty anymore, increase the speed to medium.
- A few minutes later, the dough will start to look like sand. Keep beating the dough for another 3-4 minutes and it will start to come together.
- Once the dough comes together and your beaters start straining, increase the speed to high and beat the dough for another 1-2 minutes, or until it resembles thick whipped cream.
- Drop the dough into small mounds (about 2-3 tablespoons) on a baking sheet. If using, gently press a dried cranberry into the tops of the cookies. Note: Make sure the cookie dough is cold before you put it in the oven. If your house is quite warm, chill the cookies in the fridge before you bake them. Bake for 15 minutes. It is best to bake one sheet of cookies at a time. Use a new sheet pan for the next batch. The cookie dough must be added to a cool baking sheet.Colored candied cherries or dried cranberries
- Let the cookies cool for at least 10 minutes then use an offset spatula or slotted fish spatula to remove the cookies from the sheet pan and transfer them to a cooling rack.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.
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For more inspiration, check out all of my cookie recipes!
What an easy and delicious cookie! I love a cookie with simple flavors and the texture is perfect!
I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe!
Well I tried the tablespoon amount and I think it’s too much for a cookie so I went with tsp instead. And I did use the paddle attachment and it worked great, the whisk attachment didn’t work for me as it just filled up and stayed filled. So just some info that it does work.
can you use becel salted margarine sticks instead of butter?
No margarine is quite different than butter.
These are the best shortbread cookies i have ever made. They are light not too sweet and oh so worth standing with the mixer for ten minutes. I also enjoy them with a little powdered sugar on top instead of the berry. Thanks for sharing
I’m sure the recipe is good because so many others have said so. I just made these, following directions to the letter, and they came out flat as pancakes, melted into each other on the cookie sheet.
Hi Joan. That happens when they are over-beaten. You need to stop mixing them the moment that the batter starts to look like whipped cream. 🙂
These are, by far, the best shortbread cookies. I will no longer be baking my usual 30+ year old
recipe. I have to hide them from my husband or there won’t be any left for Christmas.
Can you pipe these?
Several commenters have mentioned that they’ve piped them successfully!
We always love soft short bread cookies over Christmas but I’ve never really found a recipe that works. I followed these instructions precisely but the dough never forms, it doesn’t whip like cream, it just turns to sand and continues to mix like sand so its very difficult to form. Then I have to press and roll it and the cookies works fine but they are not as soft as advertised. What am I doing wrong??
It sounds like they need to be whipped longer. The dough looks like sand for quite a while before suddenly changing.
These look amazing. Can I use a cookie stamp on there? Or roll out the dough and make round cookies?
This isn’t a good dough to roll. But others have said that they’ve successfully used a cookie press!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe and tips and instructions. I’ve never had success with whipped shortbread before. I love this recipe and will certainly make it again. 🙏🥰
I followed this exactly and they turned out exactly as advertised! These cookies are super light and melt in your mouth. I’ll be making these for many Christmases to come!
Made these cookies and they were sooooo good. They didn’t make the week and we had eaten so many I had to make more. They will now be a part of our Christmas bake every year
I would love your melt in your mouth shortbread cookies
Can this dough be rolled out (1/4inch thick) and cut with cookie cutters? Thanks
No this isn’t that type of shortbread.
Hello Kristen
I was wondering if you could use Christmas cookie cutters because I wanted to cut them into shapes for the holidays.
I haven’t tried rolling the dough, but I think it is likely too soft for that. But a few people have said that they’ve successfully used a cookie press.
This recipe use to be on the box of cornstarch in the 80’s the only difference is the 1tsp of vanilla, the family recipe I always though was a secret to find out later is was printed on every box of cornstarch when I was a kid.. thank you for this they are definitely a touch of the past coming back
I’ve been using this recipe for a few years, most recently, 3 weeks ago. Today, when I opened it, the directions have completely changed. I remember the author was adamant about using a hand mixer for 10 minutes for best results and now it’s just casually mentioned that you can use a stand mixer for 5. Also, the original directions required the butter and powdered sugar to be mixed well before adding the dry ingredients. Do the new directions change the outcome of the cookie? I’m a little concerned because my family loves this recipe.
Hi Vicky! We’ve done A LOT of recipe testing on this recipe this year. We’ve tested it using a stand mixer, with electric beaters, salted butter, unsalted butter, adding all the ingredients at once, adding them separately, and all combinations of those. What we found is that it is possible to use a stand mixer, but it must be used for less time. And we didn’t find any difference in adding the ingredients separately or all at once, so we updated the recipe to make it simpler to make. We’ve added a lot more detail to the post so people can see exactly what the batter should look like when it’s ready – you’ll likely remember from the last time you made them that the batter will look like thick whipped cream when it’s ready. I hope that helps!