Old Fashioned Shortbread Cookies
Old Fashioned Shortbread Cookies. A life-long love of shortbread cookies has meant many variations in my kitchen over the years but at Christmas time I always return to the simple recipe I loved as a child.
I have indeed had a lifelong love of shortbread cookies as the number of variations of this all time favourite on Rock Recipes can pay witness. I've often said that sometimes simple is best and that is particularly true in the case of shortbread cookies.
With their tender, crisp, crumbly texture and buttery sweet flavour, they need nothing more to make them totally satisfying, except maybe a cup of hot tea. I was quite partial to a tall glass of cold milk with these as a child and still am on occasion.
During the Holidays, all the women in our extended family and friends made shortbread cookies as part of their Christmas baking routine. Some kids gravitated to other more decadent cookies in the Christmas offerings.
However, I always enjoyed eating around the bright red cherry or sometimes gumdrop at the centre of a shortbread cookie and saving the sweet morsel in the middle as the final bite.
This recipe is a slight variation in method on Nanny Mildred Ralph's recipe, who was my Uncle Bill's Mom, and a great baker like so many Newfoundland women of her generation.
I've added a little real vanilla to the dough for additional flavour and glacé cherries to the centre instead of maraschinos as she did.
You can use whichever you like or substitute baking gums as I just mentioned. It just wouldn't be Christmas without some Holiday Shortbread Cookies.
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5 common ingredients make one perfect cookie.
Ingredients
- 2 cups butter at room temperature, 1 pound
- 1 cup icing sugar, powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup corn starch
- 3 cups flour
- Maraschino cherries or baking gums for the centers ., optional
Instructions
- Cream together the butter and icing sugar very well until very smooth and creamy. No lumps of butter should be visible.
- Blend in the vanilla extract.
- Sift together the flour and corn starch.
- Blend slowly into the creamed mixture until a soft dough forms.
- Split dough into 2 equal round portions.
- Wrap the dough rounds in plastic wrap and chill for a couple of hours at least.
- You can freeze one of the cookie dough portions for later if you like.
- This dough will also last in the fridge for 3-4 days so that you can bake a few up at a time and enjoy them fresh from the oven if you like.
- To bake the cookies preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll the dough out to a little less than ¼ of an inch on a lightly floured surface. Use a 2 inch cookie cutter (or holiday shaped cookie cutters) to cut out the cookies.
- Place the cookies on the parchment paper a half inch apart. Add a half maraschino or glacé cherry to the center, or a baking gumdrop if you like.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until they just start to turn brown at the edges.
- Let cool for 10 minutes on the pan before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
- These cookies will freeze quite well for several weeks.
Notes
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
Nutrition Information
Yield
48Serving Size
gAmount Per Serving Calories 121Total Fat 8gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 20mgSodium 61mgCarbohydrates 12gFiber 0gSugar 5gProtein 1g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
do you use a wooden spoon or electric beater to e cookiesth
Mixer first, then the dry ingredients manually
How long do they store in an air tight container, on the counter top?
Easily a week or more...if they last that long.
Thanks! I made them, and they turned out delicious! I made them for my in-laws because they're from Newfoundland, and I'm excited to give them the cookies for Christmas. The only thing I changed was that my cookies kept sticking to the floured counter when being cut, so I simply rolled balls, and squished them down with a fork, then added the cherry. Had to cook them a bit longer, but still amazing. Thanks again!
Lol not in my home 24 hours, 48 if I'm lucky. These delish baking recipes go super fast. My mom was a baker NO store bought cookies or cake mixes everything from scratch. Gotta keep these traditions alive.
Best shortbread cookie I have ever made!! My son's eyes almost fell out of his head when he bit into the first one. I have finally found the Christmas cookie recipe I was looking for...Thank you for sharing!! <3
Awesome to hear!
Thanks for posting this great recipe. Would it be possible to correct the prep time from 20minutes to 2 hours and 20 minutes since the dough should be chilled for 2 hours. This was an unpleasent surprise half way though. Glad I started early.
Prep time in most recipes means active time. As always, read any recipe in its entirety before attempting it.
I loved the recipe! But my cookies were crumbling to pieces and the flour was loosely in the measuring cup. Any suggestions?
Did you use real dairy butter?
these sound amazing i will def have to try these out 🙂
What brand of flour do you use?
Whatever's on sale! HA!
I love putting a few partridge berries with a small bit of free icing to look like holly! Of been a hit for years, esp for friends new to Nl
If I prepped the dough, how long could I leave it in the fridge before baking? Wondering how far in advance I can prep before Christmas. Thanks!
A few days should be fine.
Could I roll, cut then refrigerate then bake straight from fridge?
I don't see why not.
Can I press this recipe into a pan? Would the cooking time change much? Just had shoulder surgery so I really can’t roll out the dough.
Maybe but it would greatly change the baking time. Take a look at my Scottish Shortbread recipe for tips on this.
Best scotch cookie recipe I've tried yet. Absolutely fantastic. Thanks for sharing!
My dough was more like whipped cream. Where did I go wrong?
Can we talk about butter? Was it real butter and not some substitute. That is really odd.
Real unsalted
I'm stumped. Overbeating the butter maybe. Never had that happen in decades of making this recipe. Did you use the mixer to work in the flour? If so, try doing it my hand.
I just made these, they are delicious! !
Can you just drop by tablespoon on the parchment paper and bake and not roll out?
I think it would be better to roll the dough into balls and flatten with a fork or the bottom of a galss dipped in flour.