Chef notes
Chocolate chip cookies tend to be the crowd favorite, but I think shortbread cookies deserve a well-earned seat at the table too. They are intensely buttery, delicate and crumbly — with the right recipe, they’ll melt in your mouth. These cookies are so easy to make and are packed with a subtly sweet flavor. They are simple enough to welcome a new neighbor or bring to a bake sale, but break out a fluted cookie cutter and they become special enough to gift in a cookie box for the holidays.
What makes these cookies so delicate is a combination of cake flour and confectioners’ sugar. Cake flour is lower in protein than all-purpose flour and therefore develops less gluten when it bakes. Confectioners’ (or powdered) sugar is a combination of granulated sugar and cornstarch. The cornstarch helps absorb extra moisture in the butter, leaving you with an even more tender cookie. You can easily mix this dough by hand, but I lean on a food processor. All it takes is a few seconds to pulse the mixture and bring it together into a soft dough.
These cookies can be rolled out and cut into any shape or size you like — just keep an eye on the timing. Add a few minutes for larger cookies, take off a few for smaller cookies and keep the sizes on separate baking sheets so that everything bakes evenly. You could even experiment with different colors of sanding sugar or small nonpareils.
Technique Tip: Brushing the top with egg white creates a crackly crust on top, but these can be made without this step.
Swap Option: Add a little bit of cinnamon or cardamom to sanding sugar before sprinkling on top of the cookies for a flair of warming spice.
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups cake flour
- 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg white, whisked
- sanding sugar, for sprinkling
Preparation
1.Add flour, confectioners’ sugar, baking powder and salt to the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add butter and vanilla and blend until dough comes together to form a ball that rides around the bowl, about 30 seconds. Place dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll to a scant ¼-inch thickness. Transfer to a baking sheet and freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.
2.Using a 2-inch fluted or rounded cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1-inch apart. Reroll dough, chill and cut out more shapes. Freeze for 10 minutes.
3.Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly brush the tops of the cookies with egg white, then sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake, rotating pans halfway, until the cookies are set and lightly browned on the bottoms, about 15 minutes. Let cool r for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
