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!
Have you ever tried finely chopping the cranberries and adding them to the whipping process of the cookie? Wondered if it could be done ? Thank you in advance, Cas
I haven’t tried that but I would be concerned that the cookies might not hold together with cranberries added. Might be worth trying it with a small portion of the batter then adding them to the rest if it works out. 🙂
Tried these today. Following the recipe exactly and they turned out fantastic. Truly light and melt in your mouth. Had no issues. Will definitely make again. Thank- you.
I did everything correct, amounts were correct, and I had dough that was like pastry dough,
Not creamy, so I rolled and pressed each cookie, and they were more like a sugar cookie, not the melt in you mouth I was looking forward to. Oh well, Im sure they will get eaten.
These taste amazing and are so soft! My only problem is they fall apart when when take a bite, crumbs everywhere. Any idea what may have gone wrong? I set the timer and beat for the full 10 minutes.
They can be pretty crumbly. 🙂
Absolutely the best shortbreads ever. The dough is very heavy so my husband had to do the mixing.
I used a hand mixer and mixed for 10mins. Mine turned out very flat. I chilled the dough before baking. I’m wondering if I may have missed something? The flavor is so delicious! Thanks!
We’ve been testing this recipe a bit this year and have found that salted butter gives the best results. If you used unsalted butter, that may have been the culprit.
Amazing cookies!! I made a batch with unsalted butter and a 2 with salted. The unsalted butter went flat! Both batches with salted butter were perfect and the taste was much better!!
They were perfect and worth the 10 minutes or hand beating
I tried this recipe and they turned out very good! As it’s winter and I have no space in the fridge to chill the cookies, I left them outside for a couple of hours….it worked out pretty good.
This is basically the Fleischmanns shortbread recipe. Sorry not original at all. I made this the first time in 1973. I do not bake any shortbread at this high of heat. Turn it down to 325 for at least 60 mins
Never claimed it as an original! It’s a recipe that I got from my mom, and perhaps Fleischmann’s is where she got it from.
And please do not bake these cookies for an hour. They will be terribly overcooked, even at 25 degrees less than the temperature the recipe calls for.
Googled your recipe and made a batch for my wife and I tonight. Wasn’t sure if they would live up to the hype you gave them but both of us agree, they met and exceeded expectations. Thank you for this recipe. They Will most definitely be part of our Christmas celebration moving forward!! ?
Can you use a food processor instead of a beater. I only have a hand mixer as well. Waiting for reply before I attempt
Thanks
I’ve never tried to make these in my food processor. I would suggest using your stand mixer, but only mixing them for a few minutes.
I’ve made these a couple times now, and they’re delicious!
Can they be frozen after I’ve baked them?
Yes! They freeze very well. 🙂
Very tasty but mine fell flat as I used a mixer so next time I’ll mix less time to see if that makes a difference
I accidentally messed up the recipe. I creamed the butter, sugar and vanilla be itself for the 10 minutes. That’s when I realized it was all supposed to be done at once. I loved it. The next time l followed the recipe. Didn’t like as much. So now I do it the first way and only use 2 1/2 cups of flour. Sometimes l use almond instead of vanilla extract as well
Is this recipe considered a whipped shortbread, meaning I can pipe these cookies?
It is whipped shortbread. I’ve never piped them, but other commenters have said that they have had success piping these.
I made these this afternoon. They are very “melt in your mouth” delish.
One issue I had is – they are not able to be picked up without falling apart (so very soft and wonderful tasting) I did wait far more than alloted time. I measured my flour. I wonder if that reduced the actual amount that you use??
1 cup measures 127 grams. What do you think?
I’ve never measured the flour in grams before, but I plan on it this year when I make these for Christmas and will update the recipe then!
I measured out 1 cup of flour, not packed down, then weighed it and it was 152 grams.
You can use a 250 gram dry measure and you will get the amount you need. (1cup)
Measuring by volume is very different than measuring by weight.
Hope this helps!