Whipped Shortbread Cookies
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
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.
Popular Christmas Baking Recipes
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!
Great easy tasty cookie that the kids can help bake
can you use a bag with a piping tip and then dip them in chocolate after baked?
While I haven’t tried that, some commenters have said that they have pipped these successfully. They are quite delicate though so before dipping them make sure they are completely cool and handle them gently.
Just curious to know if this recipe would work with shortening instead of butter?
I haven’t tried it with shortening before. But I know from making pie crusts that shortening and butter are very different – shortening makes pie crusts very flaky but also has no flavor. If you’re interested in experimenting, I would opt for a mix of shortening and butter.
Um.. FIRSTLY while making these for the first time, I noticed that under the method, she included the ingredients for each step. What a legend that’s the first time I’ve ever come across such genius Ness. I’ll be subscribing forever for that convenience.
SECOND I was craving something while breastfeeding exclusively, and I wanted a soft, shortbread cookie these made about 27 and were delish. Definitely hit the spot.. thank you.
Holy delightful! Made these first time with one beater (do not recommend that) and the still came out like buttery heaven. Made them a second time (with two beaters) and they are just easy-peasy cookies of the gods. I don’t even like baking and I know these will be a go-to forever! Thank you!
Do you have to add the cornstarch? Husband loves the shortbread cookies I make now but I like this recipe because I don’t have to roll it. A half cup of cornstarch sounds like a lot and I’m concerned about the taste. Thank you for all your recipes!
The cornstarch is what makes the cookies very light and soft. I haven’t tried it without the cornstarch so I’m not sure how they would turn out. You could try replacing it with flour but my hunch is that they won’t be ‘melt in your mouth’.
Flavor is good, they do melt in your mouth. Mine were very crumbly and I had baked them in mini muffin tins with liners, so they were smaller portions, about 1 tablespoonful. I don’t know how one could manage a larger cookie without a plate and fork.
Hi there do I have to grease my baking tray before putting the mixture on?
Nope! We put the dough straight on the baking tray.
These are awesome. I made them last year and they were a hit, so I made them again this year.
My husband took one bite and said they were Perfect. Thank you!
Up here in Canada, Vancouver BC. Cookies are great and taste good but undercooked at 15 minutes. I wish I had tried one before decorating! Would recommend a few more minutes.
Hi, do you need to use a whisker or the standard beaters? You mentioned whisk is better in your notes but you use a beater in your video?
Also, how do you measure the butter softened as 2 cups? Is this diced or compacted into a measuring cup to 2 cups? Or do you have the measurements in grams?
Sorry just want to make sure I’m doing it 100% right as they’re for gifts! Thank you 😊
You can use either beaters or a whisk attachment on your Kitchen Aid. Beaters will take longer, but both will work. Just keep beating the sandy-looking dough until it comes together then starts to look like whipped cream. As far as the butter goes, it’s measured packed. We buy it in 1-cup bricks and use 2 of the bricks. You can also weigh it – 227 grams. 🙂
These are amazing and will be a holiday staple from now on. I made this recipe twice now and the first time they turned out so good, but I didnt follow the instructions 100% – I let the butter get warm but it could have softened longer, and I was not getting past the sandy texture so I added about a tablespoon of melted butter to get some more moisture and instead of the 2-3 tbsp, I did 1 tbsp and rolled balls. Like I said, they were really good and they didn’t last long. I made them a second time today but this time I had put the butter out in the morning, went to the office and started baking when I got home. The butter was VERY soft. I was also patient and waiting for the sandy texture to turn, it did it this time it did and I turned up the beaters and let it whip up, I was so surprised with the raw texture. It was like moon sand almost and I knew they would be even better this time. Sure enough, I just ate one and it literally melted in my mouth. These are so amazing!! So worth following as close to exact as possible and let your butter get over soft.
Hello, today is 2022-12-21; and I wanted to Thank you for the recipe! You are so generous to share therefore I wanted to leave a message to let you know that they came out fantastic , your TIPs were also very helpful. I recommend others to give them a try…success and delicious. Don’t hesitate to bake them. I sprinkled sparkling sugar to make them festive. Now I’m going to join the email group for more recipes. In all gentleness, Dina🇨🇦
Question: Could you use a dab of pepper jelly instead of a little cranberry? Or a chocolate chip or a pistachio nut? Thanks! I’m going to make some this afternoon. Fingers crossed!
I think you can definitely experiment with swapping the cranberry for something else. My mom uses those little red and green candied cherries for a festive look.
Are you sure this recipe should be 2 cups of butter or do you mean 2 lbs? Your picture shows two lbs, and I am beating the heck out of it as written and getting nowhere (will add a 2nd lb of butter now…
Yes, it’s 2 cups of butter. The pictures show two 1-cup bricks of butter. (From the top they do look like the usual 2-cup bricks, but they’re much thinner.) Keep beating the butter, it will eventually come together!