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.
Can the baked cookies be frozen?
yes indeed
After dough has chilled . Do you roll and cut immediately after dough is taken out of fridge ? Or allow the dough to get closer to room temperature ? Excited to try the finished product ! 🙂
Depends on how long it's been in the fridge really. It may need some time to warm up a little.
Can shortbread be made with gluten free flour?. If so which one or combination would you recommend?
I don't bake gluten free but I know some people who do use part rice flour in shortbread.
I am very excited to try this recipe! I have a client, I do home care, who asked me today to make shortbread and I am going to definitely try this one! Thanks 😊
Can you use a food processor to mix everything together??
My Mom's parents were from Newfoundland (Irish and English) and my Dad's Mom was Scottish and French from Halifax NS,. I have made shortbread with sugar or confectionery sugar. I have never seen corn starch in the recipes though. I am excited to make these for a Christmas cookie swap. I will try yum drops or m &m's. Thanks Barry. Mary Tom New Hampshire. ( I like both sugar or confectionery, they are both good).
Could I decorate these for cute Christmas cookies? I'm about to start cookie gifts for teachers and I'm a but sick of sugar cookies!!
Absolutely
I just made these and they're delicious ! I've tried various shortbread recipes and this is the best. They melt in your mouth, the flavour is super, and it's hard to eat just one. Thank you so much for this and many other recipes on your site.
Just veganized your recipe for these cookies using plant based butter.
DELICIOUS!!!
Middle rack in oven?
For this recipe Can I roll them into balls and put a chocolate kiss in centre?
Barry, this is the same old recipe that my grandmother always made (exceptforthe vanilla), but I love that addition of a drop of vanilla. Just enhances the overall taste. First time trying the recipe this way, and it will now be my only recipe. Enjoy the season.
Hi Barry...have not tried them yet but I think this is the recipe my nanny Whittle used...she was from England...they were not in my mom's purity cookbook...so we shall see...Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas!
Absolutely love this Shortbread cookies recipe. Buttery soft and delicious! I end up rolling in balls, flattening with a fork and sprinkling with colored sugar. I bake on stoneware cookie sheets so takes a while with letting them cool in between batches, but results are worth it.
Barry, would I be able to use this recipe as a "Drop of Spoon" recipe. I always get too much flour in my sb cookies when I roll them out.