Three Ingredient Shortbread Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Combine all ingredients and mix for a FULL 10 minutes.
• Yes, I said a full 10 minutes!
• Mixture will start out very dry and crumbly but will become batter like after the full 10 minutes.
• I like to use my stand mixer for this, but a hand mixer will do the trick if it is a strong one.
• Drop from teaspoons or a piping bag onto a cookie sheet, I find teaspoons work best.
• Decorate with maraschino cherries or sprinkles if you feel fancy.
• Bake for approx 15 minutes or until bottoms are very lightly brown.
• Watch that the tops don't turn brown!

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:

• 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:

• 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 375 degrees F.
• Add the flour, salt, and powdered sugar to a food processor and pulse to combine. Add in the vanilla, the butter and the 1 teaspoon of water. Pulse together just until a dough is formed. Put the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap and roll into a log, about 2 1/2 inches in diameter and 5 inches long. Tightly twist each end of the wrap in opposite directions. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
• Slice the log into 1/3-inch thick disks. Arrange on nonstick cookie sheets, parchment lined or silpat lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake until the edges are just light brown, about 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the pans half way through the baking process. Remove from the oven and let cool on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and cool until room temperature. Enjoy!
• Variations:
• Pulse together the tea with the flour and salt in a food processor just until the tea is in small pieces evenly distributed throughout the flour. Then add the powdered sugar, vanilla, the butter and the 1 teaspoon of water. Continue as instructed above.
• Pulse the toasted and chopped pecans into the dough and then shape into a flattened round disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. On a flour dusted surface, roll the dough out to approximately 1/3-inch thick. (If the dough is too hard to roll or begins to crack, let it rest at room temperature for a few minutes until pliable.) With a sharp knife, cut the dough into rectangle shapes about 1 by 3-inches. Arrange on the prepared baking sheets and follow the cooking instructions as above. Dust slightly cooled cookies with powdered sugar through a fine mesh strainer.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300°F. Melt butter in a small skillet over medium heat and cook, stirring often, until milk solids begin to brown, about 6 minutes (do not burn). Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl. Chill until just firm, about 30 minutes.
• Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat brown butter and powdered sugar in a large bowl until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and gradually beat in flour and salt, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, just to blend (do not overwork dough).
• Transfer dough to a sheet of parchment. Form dough into a rectangle. Place second sheet of parchment over dough. Roll out dough to a 8x6" rectangle about 1/2" thick.
• Remove top sheet of parchment. Transfer dough on parchment to a rimmed baking sheet. Using a fork, pierce dough all over, spacing 1" apart. Bake shortbread, rotating halfway through, until golden brown and firm to the touch, 55-65 minutes.
• Cut shortbread lengthwise into 1" strips on baking sheet while still warm. Cut each strip crosswise into thirds. Let cool completely.
• Do Ahead
• Cookies can be made 2 days ahead; cover and store at room temperature.