Refrigerator Shortbread Cookies
This buttery shortbread is great plain, but can be jazzed up with additional ingredients.
Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out dough
Mix-ins (see 'Flavor', below)
Make
- Beat butter, sugar, vanilla and salt on medium speed with electric mixer until smooth and fluffy.
- Reduce mixer to low speed and beat in flour, mixing until a dough forms.
- If desired, stir in any mix-ins (see below).
- Divide the dough in half. Working on a lightly floured surface, gently roll each piece of dough into a log about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. (You may need to flour your hands a bit.)
- If desired, roll each log in a decorative coating such as finely chopped nuts, candy sprinkles, coconut, etc., pressing in gently. You’ll need 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup of coating to cover both logs.
- Wrap logs tightly in parchment paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour, or freeze.
Store
- Refrigerate up to four days.
- Alternatively, freeze up to 3 months wrapped in plastic or parchment.
- Slice off the number of cookies you want and store the rest! If refrigerated, let sit on counter for 30 minutes before slicing; if frozen, let sit on counter for 60-90 minutes before slicing.
Bake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap log and use a sharp knife to cut 1/4-inch slices. (If using a frozen log, let sit at room temperature 15 minutes before slicing.)
- Place slices 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 13 to 15 minutes or until golden around the edges. Gently transfer to wire rack to cool.
Flavor
You can mix in a total of 1/2 to 3/4 cup of whatever you like! Here's a list of examples to get you started:
- Chopped dried fruit
- Grated citrus zest
- Chopped nuts
- Sprinkles (great for rolling, too)
- Mini chocolate chips (or other flavor – chop if using regular size)
- 1-4 Tablespoons of chopped herbs or ground spices
These are some of my favorite mix-in combinations:
- Pistachios and dried cranberries
- Lime zest and basil (fresh or dried)
- Mocha - use chopped chocolate-covered espresso beans
- Dried blueberries and freshly grated ginger
- Ground cinnamon (2T), nutmeg (2t), allspice (2t) and ginger (1T)
*I reserve the right to change my mind whenever and as often as I like, even in the same sentence.
**The nutrition information is from the original newspaper article, which I found in the Charlotte Observer. The article is no longer available online. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the nutrition information.
