Let me teach you how to make buttery shortbread wedge cookies using this simple 6 ingredient dough. There’s no chilling necessary and the cookies will never over-spread because you’re baking them in round pans. Keep the cookies vanilla flavored or spruce up the dough with add-ins such as cinnamon, pecans, sprinkles, peppermint extract, chocolate chips, and more.
One reader, Alison, commented: “Delicious! Love shortbread cookies and this may be one of my favorites! Love how quick, easy, and customizable you can make these. โ โ โ โ โ “
Another reader, Autumn, commented: “I love how easy they are to make and the versatility of the recipe to make lots of different types. My personal favorite was cinnamon pecan. Delicious! โ โ โ โ โ “
This recipe is part of my annual holiday cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen the word “wedges” while putting this recipe together. But it’s been so many times that I’ve accidentally typed “shortbread wedgies” at least twice now. Anyway, let me tell you about these shortbread WEDGES!
These are my perfect shortbread wedge cookies flavored virtually however you’d like, baked in a cake pan, and cut into triangles/wedges. With no add-ins, they’re pleasantly sweet with rich butter and vanilla flavors. You’ll divide the dough in half to make 2 pans of cookies, so you can flavor each half of dough different ways. Creativity is welcome here!
You Will Love This Shortbread Recipe:
- 6 ingredient dough with lots of optional add-ins
- No rolling pin, no cookie cutters
- 1 mixing bowl
- No dough chillingโready in under an hour, making it the perfect recipe to tackle while waiting for your other Christmas cookies to chill. This recipe also joins 30+ others in my collection of Quick Dessert Recipesโready in 1 hour or less!
- Cookies will never over-spread
- Another egg-free baking recipe
- Delicious alongside coffee, tea, & hot chocolate
- Texture: crumbly, yet tender
- Flavor: buttery, vanilla, mildly sweet
Traditional shortbread recipes are 1 part sugar, 2 parts butter, and 3 parts flour. Sometimes there’s vanilla and salt, but there’s no egg and no leavening. Delicious, for sure, but I’ve been making shortbread cookies with a slightly different ratio. Some of my favorite recipes include these flavored cherry almond shortbread, pecan shortbread, lemon shortbread, & brown sugar shortbread that are icebox/slice & bake style, and sweet & salty chocolate pistachio shortbread. I also make chocolate cashew shortbread wedges, a recipe you can find in my cookbook along with a few other variations!
6 Ingredient Shortbread Dough
- Unsalted Butter: As the base of nearly all shortbread recipes, butter supplies these classic cookies with flavor and softness. Make sure you use room temperature butter that’s still cool to the touch. If it’s too warm, the butter and sugar cannot properly cream and the cookies will taste dense. (Here’s more on how to cream butter and sugar, if you’re interested.) Many shortbread recipes call for cold butter worked into the dry ingredients and that gives you a wonderfully flaky cookie but if not mixed properly, the results can be inconsistent. I usually stick with creamed room temperature butter.
- Granulated Sugar: I go back and forth between confectioners’ sugar or granulated sugar in shortbread recipes. Confectioners’ sugar keeps the cookies light and tender, but you often need more of it to get the same amount of sweetness. (And then an adjustment to butter or flour is ideal.) I’ve been using granulated sugar in these shortbread wedge cookies and I replace some flour with cornstarch, which helps give us that light texture again. By the way, this recipe is a great place to use homemade vanilla sugar because the vanilla flavor can really shine!
- Vanilla: 1 and 1/2 teaspoons gives us substantial vanilla flavor, especially if you use homemade vanilla extract. Feel free to add the beans scraped from 1/2 of a vanilla bean.
- Salt: 1/4 teaspoon of regular salt keeps the flavor balanced and the cookies are pleasantly sweet. If you like a little more salt flavor, increase the amount to 1/2 teaspoon.
- All-Purpose Flour: I test varying amounts of flour in shortbread recipes regularly and find 2 cups of spooned & leveled flour paired with 1/4 cup cornstarch produces sturdy, yet terrifically tender shortbread wedge cookies.
- Cornstarch: Again, cornstarch really is the “secret” to texture success here. Cornstarch provides the shortbread with structure, but its biggest job is keeping the cookies extra soft, tender, and light, just like it does in peppermint meltaway cookies. I love adding a small amount to chocolate chip cookies too.
- Optional Coarse Sugar Topping: For an optional sparkly crunch on your shortbread wedges, add a sprinkle of coarse sugar before baking. I usually reach for white “sparkling sugar” sold as sprinkles in the baking aisle.
Overview: How to Make These Shortbread Cookies
These shortbread wedge cookies are great for beginners because the prepwork is fairly simple and the dough comes together in just 1 bowl.
The video tutorial and full printable recipe are below, but let me walk you through the basics with step photos so you know what to expect. Start by creaming the butter and sugar together, and then add the vanilla and salt. Finally, mix in the flour and cornstarch. Beat on low speed to begin bringing all of the ingredients together. The dough will be very crumbly at first, but then clump up when you turn up the speed. Let me show you the difference.
Below, left: Dough is crumbly and dry at first. Below, right: Dough finally clumps together.
Divide the dough in half and press into 2 lined 8-inch cake pans. If you’re shopping for new pans, I use and love these cake pans and these cake pans. If you use 9-inch cake pans instead, the cookies will be quite thin unless you add an add-in such as nuts, dried cranberries, or chocolate chips.
Now you’ll have 2 pans of pressed dough. Top with optional coarse sugar and dock with a fork so steam can escape these butter-heavy treats. And whoops… my hand got a little heavy with the coarse sugar here. You don’t need quite as much unless you love the sweet crunch!
Bake, cool, and then slice into 8 large, 12 medium, or 16 small wedges.
Can I Use This Dough for Other Shortbread Cookies?
Yes! Let me detail the specifics for you:
- Shortbread Bars: Instead of wedges, bake this dough as shortbread bars in 2 8-inch square baking pans. Or bake the dough in 1 9×13-inch baking pan. The bars baked in a 9×13-inch pan will be quite thin unless you add an add-in such as chocolate chips or nuts. The bake time for bars in either size pan is about the same as below, but begin checking at 25 minutes. They’re done when the tops and edges are very lightly browned.
- Thumbprints: You can use a variation of this dough to make thumbprint cookies. Substitute the cornstarch for the same amount (about 30g or 1/4 cup) of all-purpose flour. Chill the dough for 3 hours. This is exactly the recipe I use when making raspberry almond thumbprintsโand I add a touch of almond extract to the dough. Follow the assembly/baking instructions from that recipe.
- As a Shortbread Crust: Press the dough into a 9×13-inch pan and use as the crust for lemon bars. Or you can halve all of the ingredients in the recipe below and use as the crust for lemon blueberry tart, raspberry streusel bars, or apple pie bars. Each of these 4 linked recipes call for melted butter in the crust, but using today’s recipe provides a slightly sturdier and flakier foundation. Follow each linked recipe as instructed (including pre-baking the crust if necessary), only swapping in today’s dough.
I do not recommend using this recipe for shaped/cookie cutter shortbread cookies. The butter-heavy dough loses shape in the oven. Instead, I recommend my regular sugar cookies or the buttery shortbread in my cookbook.
And finally, let’s add some goodies!
Flavors & Add-Ins
Add liquids/zest when you add the vanilla & beat in dry add-ins (such as nuts, sprinkles, or chocolate chips) on low speed after the dough is all mixed/clumped together. If adding spices such as cinnamon, add when you add the flour & cornstarch. *You can also divide the dough in half and beat half of these add-ins (including liquids/extracts if needed) into half of the dough.
- Plain: Keep the recipe as written below. Feel free to drizzle with salted caramel or melted chocolate or decorate with royal icing, this cookie icing, or vanilla buttercream. The pictured green cookies are decorated with vanilla buttercream tinted green to look like a Christmas tree! I used Wilton #32 piping tip.
- Peppermint: Add 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract. After the cookies have cooled, drizzle 4 ounces (113g) of melted semi-sweet chocolate on top, and sprinkle with crushed candy canes.
- Sprinkles: Add 1 teaspoon of almond extract and 1/3 cup (about 50g) of sprinkles. Instead of coarse sugar, sprinkle a few teaspoons of more sprinkles on top of the pressed dough before docking and baking.
- Chocolate Chip: Add 3/4 cup (135g) mini chocolate chips. I recommend mini size so you get more chocolate in each cookie. Keeping that in mind, feel free to use 1 cup (180g) regular size instead.
- Cinnamon Pecan: Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 cup (130g) chopped pecans. Instead of coarse sugar, sprinkle the pressed dough with a mixture of 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
Other add-ins: 1 cup (about 130g) chopped any nut variety, 3/4 cup (about 115g) dried cranberries or raisins, 1 cup (about 180g) flavored morsels such as butterscotch or white chocolate, 1 teaspoon your favorite extract, 1 Tablespoon (15ml) citrus juice such as lemon or orange + 2 teaspoons zest, or 3/4 cup (about 115g) Heath Bar Bits Oโ Brickle English Toffee. Feel free to combine add-ins such as citrus juice, zest, 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, and 1/2 cup dried cranberries. These are the add-ins I’ve tested, so let me know if you try others!
See Your Cookies!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. ๐
Print
Shortbread Wedge Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 16 large, 24 medium, or 32 small
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Let me teach you how to make buttery shortbread wedge cookies using a simple 6 ingredient dough. There’s no chilling necessary and the cookies will never over-spread because you’re baking them in round pans. See above for optional flavors & add-ins.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g)ย unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2/3 cupย (135g)ย granulated sugar
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flourย (spooned & leveled)
- 1/4 cupย (28g)ย cornstarch
- optional: coarse sparkling sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325ยฐF (163ยฐC). Line two 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper leaving enough overhang around the sides to easily lift shortbread out. (Tip: Parchment is used so you can easily remove the shortbread and not cut it while itโs in the pan. I like to use a square of parchment and I cut a 1-inch slit in the center of each side. This helps reduce the amount of creases when lined in the pan.)
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. (Hereโs a helpful tutorial if you need guidance onย how to cream butter and sugar.) Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as necessary. Add the vanilla and salt and beat until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as necessary. Add the flour and cornstarch and beat on low speed for 1 minute as the mixture begins to combine. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 1-3 minutes or until the dough clumps together. (It will eventually, just keep mixing it.) If you’re adding dry add-ins (see above), this is when you’ll add them.
- Divide dough in half. If you want to be totally accurate, weigh the halves to make sure they’re even. Recipe makes almost 1.5 lbs of plain dough (will weigh more if you added add-ins). Press each half of dough into a prepared cake pan. You want it nice and compact in the pans. Sprinkle with optional coarse sugar. Dock the surface all over with a fork to prevent air bubbles.
- Bake the shortbread for 28-30 minutes or until very lightly browned on top and around the edges.
- Remove from the oven, place pans on a wire rack, and cool shortbread for 10-15 minutes. Carefully remove the shortbread from the pans by picking it up with the parchment paper on the sides. Cut each into 8 large, 12 medium, or 16 small wedges. You want to make sure you cut the shortbread while itโs still warm. Enjoy warm or cool shortbread completely on wire racks.
- Cover and store shortbread at room temperature for up to 1 week. If you added a topping such as glaze, icing, buttercream, or melted chocolate, refrigerate after 2 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the shortbread dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue with step 3. Baked shortbread freezes well for up to 3 months. Unbaked shortbread dough freezes well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before continuing with step 3.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Fat Daddio’s 8-inch Round Cake Pan or Wilton 8-inch Round Cake Pan | Parchment Paper | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Coarse Sprinkling Sugar | Cooling Rack
- Vanilla: Feel free to add the beans scraped from 1/2 of a vanilla bean in addition to the vanilla extract. Add when you add the vanilla extract. If you want to swap in vanilla bean paste, substitute it for the same amount of extract.
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch can also be known as cornflour. (Not to be confused with cornmeal.) It keeps the cookies soft and tender. If you don’t have it, replace with the same amount of all-purpose flour.
- Pan Size: I recommend 8-inch round cake pans. If using 9-inch round cake pans, the cookies will be quite thin unless you added an add-in to the dough. Bake time will be slightly shorter if using 9-inch pans. Bake until tops and edges are very lightly browned. See post above for directions for shortbread bars in square or rectangle pans.
- Half Batch: You can halve this recipe to yield 1 pan of shortbread wedges. Same bake time.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Could you bake these in as cookies in a silicone mold (snowflakes or hearts, etc)
We haven’t tested it ourselves but think that should work!
I make these all of the time now, with various add-ins, cocoas etc and people love them, always a hit. I am about to do several batches of different flavors to take to a friend for Thanksgiving.
This shortbread wedge cookies are terrific and easy. Since you Recommended an 8 inch round pan. I also had 8 inch round parchment paper with the tabs. So I decided to give that a try. The 8 inch parchment paper with the tabs worked fantastically. It was easy to get it out of the pan. So for those folks that happen to have the 8 inch pans and the 8 inch round parchment paper with the tabs it is a real saver of time. Addition, I Purchased your cookbook, and I love it. I use your recipes for everything that I make. They are true and tried and turn out fantastic the first time. Thank you.
Ihave never seen your site and am going to try everything this season. My nieces will be here for Thanksgiving and we’re going to christen my new kitchen
Hi Sally & Team,
Made this last Christmas – delicious. Receiving requests for more this year.
Can this recipe be safely doubled?
Hi GayLynn, so glad you love this recipe. We wouldnโt double it all in one batch because it will overwhelm your mixer. You can make 2 separate batches instead.
Can I make this in 6โ round cake pan?
Hi Becky, This would be about enough dough for four 6 inch pans. The bake time will be shorter, but weโre unsure of the exact time. Bake until tops and edges are very lightly browned.
Can I use european butter for this recipe?
Hi Ann, We donโt have much experience baking with European butter, but we would love to hear how they turn out for you if you try!
Hi Michelle. I’ve actually found a recipe for shortbread cookies using european butter. I’m still going to make these but intend to increase the recipe to 1.5 times and baked in a 9 x 13 pan. Do you see any issues doing this? Thank you very much for all your help.
For a thicker 9ร13-inch pan of cookie bars, we recommend 1.5x the recipe. Enjoy!
I just made these yesterday. They were unreal. Unmatched. INCREDIBLE. I added some small white chocolate chip chunks.
We’re so happy you enjoyed this cookie recipe, Haych!
Can you make this recipe with dairy-free butter?
Hi Rhonda, we haven’t tested this recipe with dairy-free butter but please let us know how it goes if you do!
Hi
You had said you can freeze the dough
Can I freeze the bake cookie?
Iโm looking for recipes that I can freeze ahead
I have to make 15 doz cookies for a cookie fair plus a chocolate cake (love your recipe for that) and sponge cake for birthdays within days of each other
Hi Meg, yes, baked shortbread freezes well for up to 3 months.
Hi, do you think coloured coarse sugar or sprinkles on top would freeze and thaw ok?
Should be fine, Angela!
I was planning to do a test batch before the batch I’d make to send to my spouse’s work party – but it came out perfect the first time!
My advice- weigh the ingredients.
Simply delicious! Very easy to make. I ended up baking these much longer than the suggested time to get slightly golden edges. I can’t wait to make a chocolate-pecan version or maybe a dried cranberry orange zest version.
In the video, the butter is clearly not room temperature in spite of the instructions specifying exactly that. Unfortunately, I used room temperature per instructions and the texture was incorrect once the flour was incorporated (e.g., soft like tollhouse cookie dough, not crumbly as expected) . Had to add 125g of flour just to make a dough resembling the desired consistency. End result is sub-optimal and flour-y. What a shame the instructions are not what was shown on video. Details matter, especially when it comes to creaming butter.
Hi L! Details like the temperature of butter absolutely matter, you’re right. We use room temperature butter in this recipe and in the video. Proper room temperate butter is cooler than many think and should be cool to the touch. We have a whole post about room temperature butter in baking if you’re interested. Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
Hi, I’m tempted to try this cookie but I was wondering if this cookie can be made in a sheet pan. I want to do square or rectangle shape cookie instead of wedge. I wanted to see which sheet pan size would be ideal to use instead of round.
See the section titled “Can I Use This Dough for Other Shortbread Cookies?” above for details!
Just made these and they are absolutely delicious! Perfect for my kids bc they have an egg allergy. This is my go to shortbread cookie recipe now. Thank you!!!
Can I sub fine granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar?
Hi Dora, this recipe calls for granulated sugar, not powdered sugar. Fine granulated sugar should work just fine.
Can I use the Kerrygold butter for these cookies?
Hi Allison, we typically do not recommend using a European-style butter in our cookie recipes (unless specifically tested that way) since it has a higher fat content, but since these cookies are baked in a pan and won’t risk overspreading, that shouldn’t be a problem. Let us know if you try it!
I only use KerryGold butter and have used it every time I made these with no problem.
Can I substitute honey for the sugar?
Hi Jean, we haven’t tried that, but would recommend sticking with sugar here.
Hi Sally,
Why donโt you use the beater blade with the scraper attached?
Thank you,
Peggy
Hi Peggy, we aim to develop our recipes with as few specialty tools as we can, so that the recipes are accessible for more people. That said, if you have that sort of beater, feel free to use it!
I LOVE YOUR RECIPES. WHEN I WANT TO MAKE ANYTHING, I ALWAYS CHECK YOUR RECIPE FOR IT. THANK YOU
This is such a wonderful recipe. Iโve already baked it twice, one for work and one for home. Everyone loves it. My only problem is that when I followed the directions for the oven the cookie turned out very raw still. I had to up the heat to 350 degrees and cook for an additional 10 minutes
Lovely with a sprinkling of rosemary on top ๐
I can’t wait to get this project started!!!
Hi bakers – can I use arrowroot in place of the cornstarch?
Thank you!
Hi Lee, we haven’t tested the recipe with arrowroot, so are unsure of the result. If you decide to try it, please let us know how it goes!
Hi Lee! I made this recipe yesterday using arrowroot in place of the cornstarch. I have never made shortbread before so I can’t compare the difference between a recipe with cornstarch and a recipe with arrowroot but my family and I (all teenage boys and my husband) thought the shortbread was delicious! Buttery and delicately crisp with that yummy melt-in-your mouth flavor. I think you can’t go wrong using arrowroot!
Hi Sally
For shortbread wedge cookies can you use cookie cutters to make a sandwich cookie? Should you refrigerate dough ? Kathy
Hi Kathy, we do not recommend using this recipe for shaped/cookie cutter shortbread cookies. The butter-heavy dough loses shape in the oven. Instead, we recommend our regular sugar cookies.
Thank you for all your help. Have a great day
I just made these with browned butter – OMG!! When I was done browning the butter I added water to bring the total volume up to 1 cup (8oz). I made one half plain and the other half with 3/8c Heath brickle pieces. I finished the tops with Maldon flaky salt instead of the sugar. WOW! Both batches were delicious. These are dangerous to have around!
The best recipe to have in my back pocket. These are so easily modifiable and so delicious every time. These get all the rave and I make them on repeat.
Made these (x1.5) last night in 3 8×8 pans. They were delicious! We took one pan to a potluck tonight, and I’m pretty sure my youngest ate half of them, since she already had started sampling at home! Texture: 10, flavor: 10, ease: 10, quickness: 10
I was wondering if you could make this in a round pizza pan and make it like an actual cookie as a birthday cookie type thing. Instead of 2 8″ rounds, use one 12 or 16″ round pizza pan, would this recipe work for that?
Hi Sherri, this recipe is best as two rounds using pans that have sides. It would overspread if used on a pizza pan without edges to keep it from doing so. You might enjoy this fruit pizza instead! It uses a sugar cookie base. You could top with sprinkles or other garnishes instead of fruit if you wish.