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.
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 chilling—ready in under an hour, making it the perfect recipe to tackle while waiting for your other Christmas cookies to chill!
- 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 that’s 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. 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. 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 thumbprints—and 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 O’ 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. 🙂
PrintShortbread 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) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2/3 cup (135g) granulated sugar
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/4 cup (28g) cornstarch
- optional: coarse sparkling sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). 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 it’s 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 2 minutes. 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 it’s 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.
So I made these with Maple extract and Chocolate Chips. They were delicious!! But I tried to cut it when it was still warm like you said and it crumpled into pieces. It wasn’t until it was completely cool that it was less crumbly. What did I do wrong? I used a round tart dish that was 8imchs at the bottom but maybe it still made the dough to thin? I really want to get these right as I plan to gift them as gifts to people. Should I try a square pan? What size? Thanks
Hi Alexis! Your shortbread could just be slightly under-baked, an easy fix for next time. Let us know how it tastes!
Can I use as a crust and bake in the oven and then add my apple pie toppings and cook? Would it over work the shortbread?
Hi Cindy, You can follow the recipe for our apple pie bars (feel free to leave off the caramel if desired) which use a shortbread crust.
Hi if you’re adding other extracts such as Maple, lemon or peppermint would you add it in addition to the Vanilla? Or instead of? And what would the amount be same as Vanilla? Thanks!
Hi Alexis, I would add your favorite extract in addition to the vanilla. Or feel free to reduce the vanilla down to 1/2 teaspoon or 1 teaspoon. In terms of how much other flavor extract to use, it depends on the extract you are using. Usually 1 teaspoon is good.
Thank you so much! I’m so excited to start planning my Christmas Cookie Gift Tins! Love your recipes so much
Could you do these in a round tart pan instead of a cake pan or is the cake pan preferable? Thx!
A tart pan would work great! If your tart pan is 9 inches, the cookies will be thinner.
Do you think this dough would work well with an embossed rolling pin? Those rolling pins have a huge fail rate with sugar cookie dough but I have heard that a shortbread dough works well.
Hi Jessica, this shortbread dough isn’t ideal for rolling out because the cookies won’t hold shape.
Can I use gluten free flour instead of all purpose flour to make these shortbread cookies?
Hi Diane! We haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flours, but some readers have reported success using 1:1 flour substitutes (like Cup4Cup). If you try it, let us know how it goes!
I made these recipe using Bob’s Red Mill Baking 1-to-1, and they were perfectly. I followed the rest of the recipes exactly.
Hi! Do you think I could bake these in 3 6” cake pans? And how would you adjust baking time if so?
Hi Joanna! This would be about enough dough for four 6 inch pans. The bake time will be shorter, but we’re unsure of the exact time. Bake until tops and edges are very lightly browned.
Question – is it possible to use cake flour in place of the all purpose flours & corn starch.
Hi Robin, we recommend sticking with all purpose flour for this recipe.
Hi Sally, have you tried other extracts? I have almond extract and though it might be a good replacement.
Hi Donna, yes! A teaspoon of almond extract is delicious here. You can certainly experiment with other extracts, too. Let us know what you try!
I’m giving this recipe 5 stars because I have made this several times and it came out perfect! But, HELP! I did something wrong and the mix was a batter and not a dough. I did everything the same, but measured the flour in grams, not cups.
Hi Karen! Make sure to start with proper room temperate butter (it’s cooler than you think!)
Love this recipe! Easy, amazing! Made in an 8×8 pyrex pan with parchment paper (a must), added mini chocolate chips and had to givc some away so we wouldn’t eat them all immediately. Sally, all your recipes have been so delicious. Keep up the great work!
Do you think I can bake one pan today and the other on Wednesday?
Hi Karen, You can make the shortbread dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Hey Sally
I use a springform pan to make these…so easy !!!
Can I use a 13 x 9 Nordic ware pan instead of the 8 inch round pans?
Hi MaryKay, absolutely. See section in the post titled “Can I Use This Dough for Other Shortbread Cookies?” for details on a 9×13 pan.
Such an easy recipe! So easy to whip up. I added some lemon zest and sprinkles! Makes a great lil treat!
I am allergic to corn, but I love shortbread. What is the best sub for the cornstarch?
Hi Lisa, you can replace cornstarch with the same amount of all-purpose flour.
Big shortbread fan here for all occasions! This occasion was just a roommate movie night, but the half batch I made barely lasted through the film. Eating them warm was DIVINE and I’m for sure going to make more to give to some friends, since it’s such a fast and easy recipe! I’m definitely going to experiment with different spring flavors (maybe lavender next). Thanks!!
How much dried lavender would you recommend adding if we wanted to make a lemon-lavender version? 1tsp? 2tsp?
Hi Kelly! You could add 1/2 or 1 teaspoon of culinary lavender to the dough when you add the flour and cornstarch – let us know how it goes!
Would it be possible to make these into smaller circular cookies?
Hi Sean, 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 or the buttery shortbread in Sally’s Cookie Addiction cookbook.
Love Love Love these EASY Shortbread Cookies – A Big Hit ! These are a must make. Absolutely Delicious! So easy I’ve made two nights in a row and froze some. Great to have in freezer for last minute company. (I cheated and used melted butter like in Sally’s Baking Addiction Apple Pie Bars crust. You’ll be addicted to these cookies.
Another great recipe Sally and team! I had extra (read hubby went crazy over BIGO..LOL) and was looking for a recipe that was quick and easy. These met my goal. I made them the for the first time yesterday in 3 flavors – chocolate chip, cinnamon pecan and peppermint)! I used all flour in the chocolate chips and peppermint until my husband returns with the cornstarch. Honestly, I preferred the flavor and consistency with all flour. The cinnamon pecan rose too much and were not as sweet. Now don’t get me wrong famiky and friends still ate them up! Thanks again and keep those recipes with tips coming!
I baked these cookies for my wife who was doing a “cookie swap” with some of her friends. We did a test bake before the “swap” and they lasted maybe a day — they were SO good we scarfed them down. I didn’t have a cake pan so I made a purchase from one of the recommendations on this site. I thought they came in twos but I was wrong and only one arrived. There wasn’t time to order another pan so I used one of my cast iron skillets that was the same size as the cake pan. I used the parchment treatment on both pans and they both came out perfect! BTW, I used a cup of chopped dried cranberries and that added a nice twist to the cookies. My wife’s friends raved about the cookies and asked for the recipe so I sent them to your site. This is a fun, tasty and elegant recipe with little effort required to make one of the best cookies I’ve had in years.
Excellent and easy recipe for very authentic shortbread. I was using my cake tins for something else so made these as individual shortbreads in silicon muffin moulds. They turned out brilliantly.
I have made these two times in the last three days. Way too addicting is the only negative I can say. Thanks for sharing your recipe
Could this be used for cheesecake crust instead of graham cracker crust?
Hi Lori! The shortbread crust from our lemon bar recipe would be delicious with a cheesecake. We haven’t tested it so aren’t sure exactly how much crust you would need to fill a spring form pan, but let us know if you give it a try!
Looking at the lemon bar crust recipe, I think cutting it in half would work. My springform pan is only 7”. If there’s extra I could use it to sprinkle on top. Thanks for the advice. I’ll let you know how it comes out.
I love this… in theory . . . I would LOVE if some One could PLEASE tell Me how to spread the shortbread in the pan without loosing half of it to spatulas, bottoms of measuring cups, fingers, yes I tried everything I could think of… no luck, just a big mess . . I guess that’s why other shortbread recipes call for chilling
Do you mean 1 cup nuts AND 3/4 cups chocolate chips, or 1 cup total add ins?
Hi Mary! We would stick to around 1 cup total add-ins.
I don’t have 8 inch cake pans but I do have 8 inch tart pans with removable bottoms. Think that would work? Would I omit parchment?
Hi Torie, That should be fine! We use the parchment so that the shortbread is easier to remove, but it wouldn’t be necessary in your tart pan unless you would want to completely remove the baked cookies from the bottom after you lift it out.
Greetings! I really want to make these Wedge Shortbread Cookies but don’t have a cake pan (because I don’t bake cakes). Can I use Pyrex glass pie pans instead?
Hi Sandy, that should work just fine — bake time may be a minute or two longer in a glass pan, but keep a close eye on it. Enjoy!
Could a single batch work with a 10″ cake pan? What do you think the time adjustment might be?
OMG! these wee fantastic!!!! I made them for quick New Year’s Eve dessert and everyone loved them!!!! I mixed in mini chocolate chips to 1/2 the bath and sprinkles in the other. Both were were amazing!!!
Made these just in time for the baking challenge. They turned out great. I put sprinkles on one and red and green sugar on the other. Just like all of your recipes I make they are very good. My next bake will probably be your chewy fidget brownies. I’ve searched several websites and they pretty much have the same ingredients. Yours has high praises and I know your recipes always turn out great so I must give them a try.
Thanks again for another great recipe.
Loved making these shortbread cookies with my twin 3 year old grands as a way to make New Year’s Eve special. They loved patting the dough into the pans after mixing everything together. The cookies are tasty. They didn’t earn a five star rating for me because they were a bit tough. I will try the recipe again without the grands to give it another chance at a five star rating!