Easy Shortbread Cookie Recipes

Steps:

• Cream butter and sugar.
• Add flour, mix well.
• Roll out and cut into desired shapes, place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
• Bake at 350°F for 10 to 12 minutes until pale golden.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in flour. Press dough into an ungreased 9-in. square baking pan. Prick with a fork., Bake until light brown, 30-35 minutes. Cut into squares while warm. Cool completely on a wire rack. If desired, dust with confectioners' sugar.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and 1 cup of sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
• Roll the dough 1/2-inch thick and cut with a 3 by 1-inch finger-shaped cutter. Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature.
• When the cookies are cool, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Put 3 ounces of the chocolate in a glass bowl and microwave on high power for 30 seconds. (Don't trust your microwave timer; time it with your watch.) Stir with a wooden spoon. Continue to heat and stir in 30-second increments until the chocolate is just melted. Add the remaining chocolate and allow it to sit at room temperature, stirring often, until it's completely smooth. Stir vigorously until the chocolate is smooth and slightly cooled; stirring makes it glossier.
• Drizzle 1/2 of each cookie with just enough chocolate to coat it.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300°.
• Cream butter and sugar together.
• Add flour and mix till texture is like clay.
• Press dough into ungreased 9 x 13 inch pan, prick all over with a fork, and sprinkle with sugar (tilt pan to cover the top evenly, then shake excess sugar back into the sugar canister).
• Bake for about 40-45 minutes (till very lightly browned--just golden around the edges).
• Let stand for 5 minutes, then cut into 24 squares while warm.
• Leave in pan to cool thoroughly. (Shortbread will not be crisp until cool.).
• Less easy method: Chill dough. Roll into 1-inch balls, then press balls to about 1/4-inch thickness on ungreased cookie sheets with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar (sometimes you can find a glass with a pretty design on the bottom, like a star). Bake at 300° for about 20-25 minutes (until edges are very lightly browned).
• Least easy method: Chill dough. Roll out to about 1/4-inch thickness, sprinkle with sugar, then cut with cookie cutters. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 300° for about 20-25 minutes (until edges are very lightly browned).
• Variation: Add 2 tablespoons dried lavender to the creamed butter and sugar before adding flour. It may sound strange, but the flavor is subtle and elegant. Food-grade lavender is usually available in herb bins at health food stores, and I recently found it at a great price from Atlantic Spice online (their Lavender #1).
• Variation: After cutting shortbread into squares (it will still be warm), scatter 1 cup of chocolate chips over the top, let the chocolate soften completely, then spread as a thin layer and let cool completely before removing from pan. (No need to sprinkle shortbread with sugar before baking if you plan to do this.).
• Variation: Stir 1 cup chocolate chips or butterscotch chips into the dough before pressing into pan. You can also try melting the butterscotch over the top, as above. In England, you'll find "caramel shortbread," which has a layer of caramel and a layer of chocolate on top of the shortbread. It's wonderful (of course!). I've tried various ways of doing this and various kinds of caramel, but it's been a while and I don't remember what works best. It can be tricky not to make a mess!

Steps:

• Heat the oven 170C/150C fan/gas 3. Put the flour, butter and sugar into a mixing bowl. Use your hands to combine the ingredients until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs, then squeeze until it comes together as a dough.
• On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to ½ cm thick. Cut the dough into fingers and place on a lined baking tray. Use a fork to create imprints, then sprinkle with the remaining caster sugar.
• Chill the dough in the fridge for 20 mins, then bake for 15-20 mins until golden brown. Remove the shortbread fingers from the oven and leave to cool on the tray for 10 mins.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C.)
• Combine butter or margarine, flour and confectioner's sugar and beat for 10 minutes.
• Drop from teaspoon onto cookie sheet. Decorate with maraschino cherry pieces.
• Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until bottoms are lightly browned.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Pulse together flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse to fine crumbs. Pulse a few more times until some of the crumbs start to come together, but don't overprocess; the dough should be somewhat crumbly. (You can also mix the dough in a bowl using two knives or a pastry cutter.)
• Press dough into an even layer in an ungreased 8- or 9-inch-square baking pan, or a 9-inch pie pan. Prick dough all over with a fork. Bake until golden brown, about 35 to 40 minutes for the 9-inch square or pie pan, 45 to 50 minutes for the 8-inch. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Cut into squares, bars or wedges while still warm.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, stir butter and 4 tablespoons of the sugar until well mixed. Stir in flour. (If dough is crumbly, mix in 1 to 2 tablespoons more softened butter.)
• Roll dough on lightly floured surface until 1/2 inch thick; sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. Cut into small shapes with knife or use cookie cutters. On ungreased cookie sheets, place shapes 1/2 inch apart.
• Bake about 20 minutes or until set. Immediately remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.