This buttery shortbread cookie may not be the most classic Scottish or Irish sort, but it may be the most tender. Shortbread’s texture can be crackly or melt in your mouth, depending on how much butter you use, which sugar you choose (powdered sugar gives tenderness; granulated sugar, crunch), and whether or not you add eggs. This crumbly shortbread recipe came about when I made a mistake in a recipe that a Parisian pastry chef gave me decades ago. The chef had used an egg yolk in the cookie dough and another to brush the logs of dough.
I inadvertently added both yolks to the dough and have been making the cookies that way ever since. They don’t hold their shape as prettily as most other shortbreads, but they’re so tasty.
The shortbreads made with whole wheat flour are a great morning cookie; the rye and chocolate cookies are an unexpected mix of earthy and indulgent; and the ones made with spelt are especially good with fruit or ice cream. Any of them would be a welcome addition to a Christmas cookie platter—or any holiday cookie platter, for that matter.
Plan ahead: The dough needs to be refrigerated for a minimum of 3 hours (overnight is better) or frozen for at least 2 hours.
Editor’s Note: This recipe was originally published in ‘Baking With Dorie’ as Tenderest Shortbread, Four Ways and first appeared on this website October 13, 2021.
You can turn these slice-and-bake cookies into roll-and-cut cookies: Roll the chilled dough on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin to a ½-inch thickness. Use your favorite cookie cutters to cut cookies to your desired shape then transfer to a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Chill 30 minutes before baking as directed above. Decorate the cooled cookies with melted chocolate, or royal icing and sprinkles, or eat them plain.
Having a cookie party? Pile these tender, flavorful shortbread cookies onto a platter with pecan thumbprints, food-processor spritz cookies, classic sugar cookies, chewy brown-sugar molasses cookies, powdered sugar–covered almond butter cookies, and more options from our list of best cookie recipes. For almond-flavored shortbread, substitute our favorite almond extract for half the amount of vanilla extract used in these cookies.
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