Whipped Shortbread Cookies
These Whipped Shortbread Cookies are light, buttery and incredibly tender, with a delicate texture that practically melts in your mouth. Made with simple ingredients and decorated with colorful sprinkles, they're a classic Christmas cookie that deserves a spot on every holiday cookie tray. My grandma always made sure they were on ours.
Whipping the softened butter and powdered sugar for a full eight minutes, then adding cornstarch along with the flour, is what makes these cookies airy and tender. A low oven temperature keeps them pale while they bake, so they stay soft and crumbly. They're an easy fit for cookie exchanges and holiday dessert tables.
If you're filling a holiday cookie tray, add our Checkerboard Cookies for a classic buttery cookie with a fun chocolate and vanilla pattern, or make a batch of Christmas Cake Mix Cookies for an easy, colorful option.
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Ingredients
You only need a handful of basic ingredients to make these buttery cookies.
See the recipe card below for the exact quantities of each ingredient.
- Unsalted Butter: Use real butter and make sure it's properly softened to room temperature so it can whip up light and airy.
- Powdered Sugar: Also called icing sugar or confectioners' sugar. Sifting it helps remove any lumps before whipping it with the butter.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds simple vanilla flavor without overpowering the buttery shortbread.
- Salt: Balances the sweetness and brings out the buttery flavor.
- All-Purpose Flour: Measure carefully, using a kitchen scale, so you don't add too much flour, which can affect the tender texture. If you do not weigh your ingredients, spooning aerated flour into a measuring cup and leveling it off is typically the most accurate way.
- Cornstarch: Helps give these cookies their delicate, melt-in-your-mouth texture.
- Sprinkles or Sanding Sugar: Optional, but an easy way to dress them up for the holiday season.
All you need is a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop, plus a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Variations
- Almond Shortbread: Replace some or all of the vanilla extract with almond extract.
- Add Lemon: Mix a little fresh lemon zest into the dough for a bright citrus flavor.
- Chocolate Drizzle: Once the cookies are completely cool, drizzle them with melted chocolate.
- Switch the Sprinkles: Change the colors of the nonpareils or sanding sugar to suit different holidays and occasions.
- Keep Them Classic: Skip the sprinkles entirely for simple, traditional whipped shortbread cookies.
How to Make Whipped Shortbread Cookies
The key to these tender cookies is giving the butter and powdered sugar plenty of time to whip before adding the dry ingredients.
Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper (I usually use 2-3 but you can do batches), set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, on medium speed, cream together butter and icing sugar for about 8 minutes with the paddle attachment. Stop halfway to scrape down the sides to ensure it all gets well aerated.
Add vanilla and mix again until combined, about 30 seconds.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, cornstarch, and salt. Transfer half to the stand mixer and mix on low to start, working up to medium speed, until mostly combined. Add the remaining flour mixture the same way until no dry streaks of flour remain. Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
Make dough balls with a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop, then roll and place on the prepared baking sheet with about 2 inches between (this should give you 22 cookies).
In a small bowl, combine a small amount of powdered sugar and cornstarch, and dip a fork into the mixture and gently flatten the tops of each cookie. If using, add sprinkles or sanding sugar, then chill for an additional hour.
Preheat oven to 300F and bake cookies for 17 minutes, or just before they start turning golden around the edges, to keep their light color.
Remove and let cool fully on a wire baking rack.
Hint: Use the cookie scoop for every cookie so they are all the same size and bake evenly.
Recipe Tips
- Give It the Full Eight Minutes: Don't rush the whipping time. This incorporates air into the mixture and helps create the light texture that sets whipped shortbread apart from regular shortbread.
- Scrape the Bowl: Stop the stand mixer halfway through whipping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl so everything mixes evenly.
- Don't Skip the Chill Time: Chilling the shortbread cookie dough before and after shaping helps the cookies hold their shape in the oven.
- Watch the Color: These cookies are meant to stay light. Pull them from the oven just before the bottom edges begin turning golden.
If you're looking for another cookie for your holiday baking, our Peppermint Cookies are a festive one to try.
More Christmas Recipes
Storage Instructions
- Room Temperature: Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
- Refrigerator: Place in the fridge for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container, and allow them to sit on the counter to soften a little.
- Freezer: Freeze the baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Let them thaw at room temperature before serving.
Serving Suggestions
- Christmas Desserts: Christmas M&M Cookie Bars, Sugar Cookie Cups, Peppermint Brownies, Gingerbread Cookie Bars, Christmas Puppy Chow, Chai Cookies with Eggnog Frosting, and Eggnog Cheesecake.
Whipped Shortbread Cookie Recipe FAQs
Whipped shortbread uses a different method. The butter and powdered sugar are whipped for several minutes to incorporate air into the dough, creating a lighter, more delicate texture than traditional shortbread.
Cornstarch helps create the soft, tender texture you want in whipped shortbread and contributes to that melt-in-your-mouth consistency.
Shortbread naturally has a delicate, crumbly texture, but cookies that are excessively dry may have too much flour. Measuring your flour with a kitchen scale is always the most accurate option.
The cookies should remain quite pale rather than turning golden like many other cookies. After about 17 minutes, look for cookies that are set with just the slightest hint of color beginning around the bottom edge.
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Whipped Shortbread Cookies
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- 1 ½ Tablespoon Cookie Scoop
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup powdered sugar sifted, plus extra for imprinting cookies
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 80 grams cornstarch about ½ cup
- nonpareil sprinkles or sanding sugar optional
Instructions
- Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper (I usually use 2-3 but you can do batches), set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, on medium speed, cream together butter and icing sugar for about 8 minutes with the paddle attachment. Stop halfway to scrape down the sides to ensure it all gets well aerated.
- Add vanilla and mix again until combined, about 30 seconds.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, cornstarch, and salt. Transfer half to the stand mixer and mix on low to start, working up to medium speed, until mostly combined. Add the remaining flour mixture the same way until no dry streaks of flour remain. Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
- Make dough balls with a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop, then roll and place on the prepared baking sheet with about 2 inches between (this should give you 22 cookies).
- In a small bowl, combine a small amount of powdered sugar and cornstarch, and dip a fork into the mixture and gently flatten the tops of each cookie. If using, add sprinkles or sanding sugar, then chill for an additional hour.
- Preheat oven to 300F and bake cookies for 17 minutes, or just before they start turning golden around the edges, to keep their light color.
- Remove and let cool fully on a wire baking rack.
Notes
- Give It the Full Eight Minutes: Don't rush the whipping time. This incorporates air into the mixture and helps create the light texture that sets whipped shortbread apart from regular shortbread.
- Scrape the Bowl: Stop the stand mixer halfway through whipping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl so everything mixes evenly.
- Don't Skip the Chill Time: Chilling the shortbread cookie dough before and after shaping helps the cookies hold their shape in the oven.
- Watch the Color: These cookies are meant to stay light. Pull them from the oven just before the bottom edges begin turning golden.
- Even Baking: Use the cookie scoop for every cookie so they are all the same size and bake evenly.
- Room Temperature: Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
- Refrigerator: Place in the fridge for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container, and allow them to sit on the counter to soften a little.
- Freezer: Freeze the baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Let them thaw at room temperature before serving.
Nutrition
I'd be so grateful if you left a rating and review after trying this recipe, it helps me and helps other readers discover it!
These cookies take me right back to being a kid, and sneaking far too many off the holiday cookie trays! My grandmother used to make them, and then my aunt after her— I am so glad I have this recipe.