Shortbread Cookies – 1 dough 3 cookie flavours
1 recipe, 3 cookies, how amazing is that?! This shortbread recipe will make your life easier during the holidays so you have more time for other things. Use any combination of nuts, fruits, or chocolate that you like.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 mins
- Yield: 75 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: British
Ingredients
- 2 cups (1lb) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup toasted pecans, roughly chopped
- 4–5 large fresh rosemary sprigs, remove leaves and chop into smaller pieces
- 1/4 cup chopped white chocolate
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, vanilla and salt until well incorporated and light in colour. Add cornstarch and mix until smooth. Add flour and mix just until combined.
- Divide dough into 3 equal parts.
- For the first flavour, add chopped rosemary to 1 of the 3 separated dough balls. Using the mixer, beat the rosemary into the dough (this step is important, as the mixer helps release the oils from the rosemary and further incorporates it into the shortbread dough). Set aside.
- Place the other dough into two other separate bowls. In one bowl add toasted pecans and mix (using your hands if necessary).
- In the other bowl add white chocolate and cranberries to the dough, again mix until well incorporated.
- Place each mixed dough on a piece of waxed or parchment paper. With floured hands, gently roll each into a 1 1/2-2 inch diameter log. Wrap the logs tightly in the paper, and refrigerate until firm, approx. 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or overnight. Keep checking the rolls and re-roll them to keep their shape. *At this stage you can shape each log differently if you like. I shaped the logs into a circle, square, and triangle (then cut a tree trunk to make a tree shape). See notes for more details.
- When dough is firm and ready preheat oven to 300ËšF.
- Prepare 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Unwrap logs; with a sharp knife, slice dough 3/8 inch thick (if dough cracks leave it at room temperature for 10 minutes before slicing again). Place slices, approx. 1 inch apart on your prepared baking sheets.
- Bake cookies until bottoms are golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. Let cookies cool on pan then remove.
Notes
Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks or freeze for up to 2 months.
Other options for shortbread flavours are; chocolate chip, hazelnut, almond, cherry, lemon thyme, and toffee.
I did find the white chocolate and cranberry log difficult to slice. It was chunky and the knife didn’t easily slice through all the cranberries and chocolate. Just note the smaller the pieces the easier it will be to cut through your logs.
I also shaped my logs into different shapes, you can do this as well but it takes longer as you have to get your dough a little stiff to shape (refrigerate for 30 mins at a time). Once you start to get the shape you like you have to make sure the log is cold and set. To make life easier I shaped the logs on a smaller cutting board that I could fit in the fridge.
For a square and triangle – I used a large offset spatula to flatten the edges and to give me a long flat straight edge.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cranberry Cookie
- Calories: 77
- Sugar: 1.7g
- Sodium: 52mg
- Fat: 5.2g
- Saturated Fat: 3.3g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 7.1g
- Fiber: 0.2g
- Protein: 0.5g
- Cholesterol: 14mg