Shortbread Cookies
Classic buttery shortbread squares with a delicate vanilla flavour and a crisp, tender bite. Four everyday ingredients make a batch of 25 plain cookies. Batch yield: 25 shortbread squares, approximately 600 g after baking and cooling. One serving: 1 cookie, approximately 24 g after baking and cooling. Allow approximately 158 minutes from starting to soften the butter to completely cooled cookies. The 130 non-oven minutes include 45 minutes for butter softening, 25 minutes of hands-on preparation, 30 minutes of mandatory chilling and 30 minutes of cooling. Preheating overlaps the final 15 minutes of chilling and is not counted again. All 25 cookies fit on one tray and bake together, so total sequential oven time is approximately 28 minutes. No frosting time is required. Appliances: Oven; Refrigerator; Electric hand mixer. Equipment: Baking tray with a usable surface of at least 30 × 40 cm; Baking parchment; Digital kitchen scales; 5 ml measuring spoon; Mixing bowl; Spatula; Rolling pin; Ruler; Chopping board; Knife; Fork; Wire cooling rack. Allergens: Butter contains milk and plain flour contains wheat and gluten. Check packaged ingredient labels for any additional allergen or cross-contact declarations. Nutrition is estimated per cookie from the full ingredient quantities. Storage: Cool completely before packing into an airtight container. Keep at cool room temperature for up to 7 days, or refrigerate for up to 14 days; refrigeration may soften the texture slightly. Freeze in an airtight container, with parchment between layers, for up to 3 months. Thaw while still covered at room temperature for 1–2 hours before eating.
130 min
Prep
28 min
Cook
25
Serves
125
Calories
Macros · per serving
1g protein
13g carbs
7g fat
Ingredients
For 25 servings
- 225 g Salted butter
- 90 g Icing sugar
- 5 ml Vanilla extract
- 310 g Plain all-purpose flour
Instructions
- 1
Cut the butter into small cubes and leave at cool room temperature for about 45 minutes, until it yields easily to gentle pressure but is not shiny or melting.
- 2
Line a baking tray with a usable surface of at least 30 × 40 cm with baking parchment. Put the softened butter and icing sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer on low to medium speed for 1–2 minutes, until smooth and creamy rather than fluffy. Scrape down the bowl, add the vanilla extract and mix briefly.
- 3
Add the flour and mix on the lowest speed just until moist crumbs form. Scrape the bowl and gently press the crumbs together with your hands to make a cohesive dough; do not knead.
- 4
Place the dough between two sheets of baking parchment. Roll and press it into an even 20 × 20 cm square, approximately 12 mm thick, keeping the corners square so there are no offcuts. Slide the dough, still between the parchment sheets, onto the tray. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- 5
During the final 15 minutes of chilling, preheat the oven to 160°C conventional (325°F), or 140°C fan (285°F).
- 6
Lift the chilled dough onto a chopping board and remove the top parchment. Cut it into five equal strips in each direction to make 25 squares, each 4 × 4 cm and approximately 25 g before baking. Use the bottom parchment to line the tray again. Arrange all 25 cookies in a five-by-five layout, leaving about 1.5 cm between them. Prick each cookie twice with a fork.
- 7
Bake the entire batch on the middle shelf for approximately 28 minutes, until the edges and undersides are light golden and the tops look dry. The tops should remain fairly pale, and the cookies will still be fragile while hot.
- 8
Leave the cookies on the tray for 10 minutes, then carefully transfer them to a wire rack for at least 20 minutes, until completely cool. Their crisp texture develops as they cool. No frosting or finishing ingredients are needed.
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