Scottish Shortbread Cookies

by Sabrina Snyder

Last Update:

8 Comments

5 from 3 votes
24 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 22 minutes
Rest 20 minutes
Total Time 52 minutes
Jump to Recipe
Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.

Scottish Shortbread Cookies are classic and buttery with a light, crisp texture and rich flavor. Perfect with a cup of tea! Try them out soon!

Butter Cookies are an easy, traditional Christmas Cookie Recipe that makes any cookie tray more festive. Also, try making my Danish Butter Cookies!

a stack of buttery cookies on cooling rack
unbaked rectangular cookies with holes in them on a baking sheet
stacked buttery cookies with the top one bitten

Sabrina’s Scottish Shortbread Cookies Recipe

These tasty cookies are quick, simple and easy to make. The hardest part is waiting for them to cool down in the fridge before baking them. These cookies are so easy to customize by adding mix-ins or by decorating them so you can really personalize them to an event or party. These would be perfect to have the kids help with too!

Recipe Card

Dinner, then Dessert

Scottish Shortbread Cookies Recipe

Scottish Shortbread Cookies are classic and buttery with a light, crisp texture and rich flavor. Perfect with a cup of tea! Try them out soon!
Yield 24 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 22 minutes
Total Time 52 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
a stack of buttery cookies on cooling rack
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 1 cup unsalted butter , softened
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar , packed
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 cups flour

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 325 and line a half sheet pan with parchment paper.
  • Add butter, brown sugar and powdered sugar to a stand mixer and cream on high speed for 1-2 minutes until light and fluffy.
  • Lower speed to the lowest setting and add in the flour slowly until just combined.
  • Refrigerate dough for a minimum of 20 minutes before rolling.
  • Roll the dough into a rectangle that is ½ inch thick.
  • Cut into batons and press a fork into the dough all over.
  • Bake for 20-22 minutes. Cool on a wire rack completely.

Nutrition

Calories: 133kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 3mg | Potassium: 20mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 236IU | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 1mg

Want to save this recipe? Create a free account to easily save your favorite recipes

Pin this recipe now to remember it later

Pin Recipe

Sabrina’s Tips

Always make sure to soften the butter to room temperature before you cream it with the sugars. Room temperature butter will mix easier when you add the flour and the heat adds more lift. This is important since there are no leavening agents (like baking soda) in this dough. It mixes more easily into the dough, creating that tender, crumbly texture that makes shortbread so irresistible!

Table of contents

Back to Table of Contents

About this Recipe

A Classic Shortbread Cookie recipe is just butter, sugar, and flour – no eggs, no vanilla extract, no frills! By simply swapping out granulated sugar in our original shortbread recipe with powdered sugar and brown sugar, you get a delicious new cookie recipe. These Scottish Shortbreads are like a cross between a biscuit cookie and a butter cookie, perfect for a cup of hot tea or Hot Chocolate!

Can this be made ahead of time?

Scottish Shortbread Cookies are a traditional recipe for holiday cookies that are budget friendly and can be made months in advance. You can bake the cookies and freeze or refrigerate, or you can keep the dough frozen for months before baking. Bake from frozen or thaw overnight in the refrigerator to make cutting easier.

Recipe Tips & Tricks

  • Don’t over-mix your Scottish Shortbread Cookie dough when you add the flour. The easiest way to keep from over-mixing the dough is to sift your powdered sugar and flour before starting this cookie recipe.
  • If you forgot to soften the butter, melt in the microwave on 30% power in 5-10 second bursts. You don’t want melted butter, just soft enough to indent easily with your finger.
  • For perfect bars that won’t spread, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 20 minutes before cutting. Use a sharp knife for even cuts without sawing back and forth.

Serving Ideas

  • You can drizzle your Shortbread Cookies with Chocolate Ganache or Salted Caramel for a tasty topping. Refrigerate until the drizzle is set. You could also frost your shortbread cookies with Buttercream Frosting and add festive sprinkles.
  • These tasty cookie bars are perfect for dunking in sweet dessert dips like Peppermint Bark Dip or scooping a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball.
  • For a cute holiday gift, tie two decorated biscuit cookies together with ribbon and gift in mug with a pack of tea bags or instant coffee. It’s like biscotti but so much easier! 

How to Store

  • Serve: You can keep cookies at room temperature for up to 1 week in an airtight container or covered in a cool, dry place. Use a paper towel to absorb moisture.
  • Store: Once cooled, store cookies flat in an airtight container, lined with wax paper or parchment paper, for up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator. Use parchment between layers so the cookies don’t stick together.
  • Freeze: Cool cookies and freeze in a sealed container with wax paper between stacked layers. Baked Scottish Shortbread Cookies can be frozen for up to 6 months.

Variations

  • Chocolate: Melt white chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, or semi-sweet chocolate chips. Dip baked cookies in halfway in melted chocolate. You can add mini chocolate chips to the dough too!
  • Dried Berries: Gently stir in ½ cup dried cranberries, freeze-dried chopped fruit, or candied cherries, for a festive, fruity flavor to these holiday cookies.
  • Nuts: A go-to nut to add to these cookies is slivered almonds, but you can try pistachios, peanuts, pecans, or walnuts too.
  • Shortbread Tart: Grease a tart pan well with butter and flour, or spray with baking spray. Halve the recipe and press the dough into tart pan evenly. Prick top with a fork several times. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. Cut shortbread into wedges and cool. Or, fill the baked crust with your favorite no bake pie and custard fillings like Lemon Curd. Upgrade your go-to Pumpkin Pie recipe with a buttery shortbread crust this year.

More Tasty Christmas Cookies

cookie pin image

These photos were in a previous version of this post

Cookies in stack on cooling rack
Shortbread Cookies on baking sheet before baking
Shortbread Cookies in stack on cooling rack

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

Categories

Leave a comment & rating

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Maximum file size: 10 MB.
Allowed formats: JPG, JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF. Drop images here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments

  1. It’s that time of year again! Shortbread season. This shortbread is going to be the first one I make. When I saw the pics, and well, butter, and brown sugar…what more can I say. The cookies look delicious! In fact, all of the shortbread cookie recipes look amazing! The key too, is the low and slow baking temperature and time of shortbread that produces the best results, and these recipes require that!

    I also noticed the Maple Fudge. We love fudge. I LOVE fudge, and it’s another Christmas Holiday favourite in my family. When I make these recipes I will get back to you with five stars because I KNOW that Dinnerthendessert is the place to go for for the ultimate in delicious dependable recipes!!!

    Thank-you! 🙂

    Reply

  4. As far as cookies go, these are my Achiles heel. I love them too much. I have to put them high up so it takes extra effort to get them. These are SO good!

    Reply