Tender Shortbread Cookies (pan-style)
Total Time
40 minutes
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Rating
5 out of 5 stars
(8)
Ingredients
12 cookies
- 1 cup [2 sticks or 227 g] unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup [130 g] granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
- 1/3 cup [40 g] confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups [284 g] all-purpose flour
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Preparation
Chef’s notes
For extra crisp shortbread, use a 9 by 13 in [23 by 33 cm] baking pan. The shortbread bakes up much thinner, and it takes a little more work to spread it in an even layer in the pan, but is still delicious.
I bake my shortbread a little longer, so it is golden brown, because I like it crisp, which is why I give a large baking time range in the directions. It does turn dark golden quickly, so keep an eye on it if you are letting it bake a little longer. Traditionally shortbread should not be too golden.
Throughout my recipes posted on this website, 1 cup of flour equals 142g. Please note that 1 cup of flour can range anywhere from 120g to 142g, depending on the baker or website. I found that after weighing many cups of flour and averaging the total, mine always ended up around this number. Weighing your flour instead of using cup measurements is the surest way to get the result I intended when developing the recipe.
Different brands of flour have varying levels of protein, ranging from low to high, which can result in very different outcomes when baking. I’ve found Gold Medal all-purpose unbleached flour to be the best option for many of my recipes; I use it in all the baked goods that don’t use yeast.