Shortbread Cookies and Variations

We always jokingly called P.F. Chang’s the restaurant with one sauce and 50 dishes. Well, this shortbread recipe is a simple go-to cookie dough that you could probably make about 50 variations of your own. The classic shortbread/refrigerator dough contains just a few essential ingredients—butter, sugar, flour, salt, and vanilla (of course, until you start working on the variations).  I prefer the make-the-dough-ahead-and-form-into-a-log approach instead of rolling out the cookie dough because it can chill while I clean up the kitchen or even bake them a day or two later. You can do either.

Take note that the butterscotch and speculoos (a riff on the classic Dutch holiday spice cookie) variations have some added dry milk powder. It’s the secret ingredient for the pleasing caramel flavor.  And if you want to get fancy, coat the logs well with coarse sugar or even colored sugar for the holidays.

Consider the possibilities and let your imagination run wild. A few variations to consider to get you thinking:

Cardamom

Orange zest

Pick a new nut

Pumpkin pie spice

Grated semi-sweet chocolate

Minced dried fruits like raisins, cranberries or cherries—be sure to cut them up so you can easily sliced the cookie dough

Shortbread Cookies and Variations

minmerrell We always jokingly called P.F. Chang’s the restaurant with one sauce and 50 dishes. Well,… Recipes shortbread cookies European Print This

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar or you can use as little as 1/4 cup for a less sweet cookie (the sugar can be granulated or powdered)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the flour and salt and blend on the lowest speed until all the flour is incorporated, forming a stiff dough. Turn the dough out onto a piece of waxed paper and shape into a long log about 2 inches square by about 15 inches. Roll and press coarse sugar on all sides of the log if desired. Wrap up in the waxed paper and chill in the refrigerator for an hour or for a day or two. To bake, heat the oven to 325 degrees. Slice the cookies about 1/4 inch thick and arrange them about 1 inch apart on 2 cookie sheets. Makes about 40 to 50 2-inch cookies.

Variations:

Butterscotch pecan--use 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, add 2 tablespoons dry milk powder (adds caramel flavor), a handful of chopped pecans.

Spechaloos—use 1 cup dark brown sugar and add a handful of slivered or sliced almonds. Add 20 tablespoons of dry milk powder if you like. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon cloves, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and a dash of white pepper.

Lemon Poppy Seed—add the zest of one lemon and 2 or 3 tablespoons poppy seeds

Notes

classic is 1/2 cup sugar. 3/4 is richer and sweeter.