Does anything say Christmas like cute cutout shortbread cookies?? Making these easy shortbread cookies is one of my favorite parts of the holiday season! They're great for making at home with the kiddos or giving out to friends and family!
basic shortbread recipe
The main components are just butter, flour, and sugar. This is my base shortbread recipe that I always come back to! It’s buttery and crumbly without being too dry. Once you have the base recipe, you can adapt it an infinite number of ways!
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup almond flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
If you want more Christmasy tasting cookies you can sub the vanilla for ½ teaspoon of peppermint extract* and top with crushed candy canes!
shortbread tips & tricks
My favorite trick that I use for almost all baked goods, is substituting a portion of the regular flour with nut flour (usually almond flour). This helps keep your cookies, cakes, etc. super moist and delicious and can add a little extra flavor too. Adding nut flour also helps keep the cookies from spreading too much. The almond flour is especially delicious in these chocolate dipped almond shortbread cookies!
It's super important to chill the dough when you're making cutout cookies!! You want to chill the dough overnight (or a minimum of 2 hours) before you roll it out. And the freeze the cutout cookies for at least 20 minutes before baking! This might seem unnecessary, but I promise it is! If you don't chill the dough or freeze the cutout cookies, you'll likely end up with cookies that, at best, don't keep their shape. Or at worst, flatten into one giant burnt cookie.
Bake shortbread cookies on the middle rack of the oven and rotate the pan halfway through baking for the best results.
For these cookies I used these snowflake cookie cutters* and christmas tree cookie cutters*!
Cutout cookie decorating tips
I am by no means an expert cookie decorator, so I like to keep things simple!
I use my basic royal icing recipe and place it in a piping bag fitted with a small size 3 decorating tip*! Then I use several simple lines and top with fun sprinkles!! They only take a few minutes and look great!
I get most of my sprinkles from Fancy Sprinkles and Sprinkle Pop Shop! I also added a bit of sanding sugar* to these after decorating for extra sparkle!
Note: for the purposes of these pictures I decided to individually place sprinkles using kitchen tweezers*, so they did take a little longer lol
Simple Royal Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons meringue powder
- 2-3 teaspoons water
Meringue powder* is a super important component in royal icing! It helps keep the icing stable and it makes it dry super quickly! It's honestly the best secret ingredient that I keep in my kitchen at all times! You can find it on amazon for just a couple dollars and it lasts forever!
All you have to do is mix together the powdered sugar and meringue powder and add in water 1 teaspoon at a time until your desired consistency is reached. For these cookies I used icing that was pretty thick and would just barely fall of a spoon (think super thick honey).
If you make these Christmas cutout shortbread cookies, please leave us a star rating at the bottom of the page! This provides helpful feedback to both me and other readers. Happy baking!
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Christmas Shortbread Cutout Cookies
- Prep Time: 20 minutes + 2 hours chilling time
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 20 cookies 1x
Description
These shortbread cutout cookies are topped with a simple royal icing and super easy to decorate!
Ingredients
Shortbread Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup almond flour (substitute all purpose flour)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Simple Royal Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons meringue powder (optional)
- 2-3 teaspoons water
Instructions
Shortbread Cookies
- Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the softened butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Then add in the vanilla extract and mix until fully combined.
- Fold in the flour, almond flour, and salt until just combined.
- Transfer the dough into an airtight container and refrigerate overnight (but a minimum of 2 hours if you just can't wait).
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough ¼ inch thick and cut into your desired shaped. Place cutout cookies 1-2 inches apart on your baking sheet (they won’t spread much).
- Place the baking sheet in the freezer for a minimum of 20 minutes (or the fridge for 40 minutes) before baking to allow the cookies to firm back up. This ensures the cookies won't spread during baking.
- While the cookies are chilling, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are set and just starting to brown. Bake on the middle rack of the oven and rotate the pan halfway through baking for the best results.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, then remove and let them finish cooling on a cooling rack.
- Let the cookies cool completely before decorating.
Simple Royal Icing
- In a small bowl, mix together the powdered sugar and meringue powder and add in water 1 teaspoon at a time until your desired consistency is reached. For these cookies I used icing that was pretty thick and would just barely fall of a spoon (think super thick honey).
- Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small size 3 tip and decorate as desired! I like to do simple lines and then top with sprinkles!
Notes
Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
Meringue powder for the royal icing is optional, however the icing will take much longer to dry and will be less stable if you don't use it.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: christmas shortbread cookies, christmas sugar cookies, christmas cut-out cookies, christmas tree cookies, snowflake cookies, royal icing
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