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Buttery and with just the right amount of chew, these brown sugar Christmas Shortbread Cookies are simple to whip up and only require 5 ingredients! Perfect for cut outs or slice and bake--the rich flavor paired with a simple icing will be a winner this holiday!

Shortbread cookies with white icing and Christmas sprinkles.

It's the most wonderful time of the year for BAKING! And these Christmas Shortbread Cookies are so simple to whip up and the cookies themselves require only 5 ingredients.

Traditionally, shortbread cookies contain white sugar or even powdered sugar, but these chewy, buttery goodies are made with brown sugar and I am not sure I ever want my shortbread any other way.

These Egg Free Sugar Cookies and are another holiday favorite! And if you love egg free cookies--try these Rosemary Orange Cookies for a fun recipe as well!

Why I love these Christmas Shortbread cookies:

5 ingredients! Yes, indeed! And I ALWAYS have every single item on hand. So when I get an itching for some buttery cookies, I can always count on this brown sugar shortbread cookies recipe.
Perfect for cut outs. Christmas baking is so much more fun when you can include the kiddos. Pop out the cookie cutters--everyone will love these Christmas Shortbread Cookies--even the child at heart.
Can be made slice and bake. Remember when slice and bake cookies hit the groceries? I sure do. They were a game changer. And so are these. Roll them into a log and you can slice off the number of cookies you need.
Perfect for decorating. The icing may be simple, but it makes for the perfect cookie. A touch of icing and some sprinkles make these cookies gorgeous and delicious!

Let the baking begin!

What you need to make this recipe:

butter: I use unsalted butter. If you only have salted, just omit the salt when making these Christmas shortbread cookies.
flour: all purpose flour, measured by fluffing/stirring and then scooping into measuring cup and leveling with a knife. You don't want to scoop your measuring cup directly into your flour. I had one recipe tester try these with a 1:1 gluten free flour and found the cookies a bit dry. Gluten free flours may not be ideal for this shortbread cookie recipe.
vanilla: I find a good vanilla extract really rounds out the flavor in this recipe. If you can skip the imitation vanilla here, it will make a difference.
salt: just a touch, I prefer sea salt
icing: The icing consists of powdered sugar, cream and almond extract. Simple, but just the right touch to your cookies. You could use a royal icing if you prefer.

Butter, flour, brown sugar and vanilla labeled on counter.

How to make these Christmas Shortbread Cookies:

To make these simple brown sugar Christmas Shortbread Cookies, follow the following steps:

Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl with a standing or handheld mixer on high. Softened butter should be this consistency. Make sure it is not too soft. The consistency of creamed butter and sugar is light and fluffy and the sugar and butter will be fully incorporated. This step can take several minute. Add in the vanilla and mix to combine. (steps 1-2)
In a separate bowl, whisk 1 ¾ cup flour and salt together. Add half of the flour mixture at a time into the butter mixture and beat to combine. Just mix until it is incorporated and no more. (steps 3-4)

Start to pull the dough together to form a rough ball. Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup flour over a clean surface. Knead the ball of dough for a couple minutes to add in the remaining flour. Form into 2-3 small balls or form into a log that is about 2 inches in width. (steps 6-8)

Shortbread cookie dough in bowl and then rolled into ball.

Wrap the balls or log in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour. I have made these chilling them only 30 minutes and while they baked ok, they did spread slightly. (steps 7 and 9)

Cookie dough rolled and then covered in plastic wrap.

Once the cookies have chilled, remove them from the refrigerator. Roll them on a flour dusted surface and use cookie cutters to form shapes or slice the log. I make my cookies at least about ⅝ of an inch. ¼ of an inch is just a bit too thin and ½ inch is too thick. Line them on a parchment lined baking sheet. (steps 10-11)
Bake in a preheated oven for 12-14 minutes or until they are just starting to become golden around the edges. Cool for a minute on the pan and then move to cooling rack. (step 12)

Rolled cookie dough with cookie cutter cut outs on parchment.

When the cookies are completely cooled, add all the icing ingredients together and whisk until smooth.

Start with half of the milk or cream and slowly add more to desired thickness. Dunk the cookies or spread the icing and add holiday sprinkles on top!

Christmas shortbread cookies iced on cooling rack.

Recipe Notes and Tips:

Chilling is essential when making these cookies. When I tried these Christmas Shortbread Cookies without chilling, they flattened. Chilling helps them keep a nice shape. I recommend chilling for no less than 30 minutes and ideally about one hour.
These cookies are great to make ahead. Since you need to chill the dough, it's easy to prepare in advance and then bake them when you want a few (or ten!) and save the rest for another time.
You can freeze this cookie dough. The brown sugar shortbread dough will keep for about 2 months wrapped in plastic and stored in a freezer safe bag as well. I recommend thawing the dough before baking. You can slice off a few cookies from a frozen log and allow them to sit out a bit to thaw.

These buttery, melt in your mouth cookies can easily be varied. Add in some extra ingredients for fun flavors!

Cranberry Orange: Add the zest of an orange and about a cup of dried cranberries. Drizzle with white chocolate when cooled.
Citrus: add ½ teaspoon of lemon extract (or lime). You can also add in lemon or lime zest.
Maple Pecan: add chopped pecans to the cookie dough and then stir in a tablespoon of maple syrup into the glaze (adjusting the amount of cream or milk by one less tablespoon)
Peppermint Chocolate: Add ½ teaspoon peppermint extract to the cookie dough and drizzle with melted dark chocolate. Garnish with crushed peppermints.
Add some spice: a touch of cinnamon or cardamom would be great. If adding the cardamom, chopped pecans are great with that as well!

Christmas shortbread cookies on plate with red and green sprinkles.

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Christmas Shortbread Cookie with icing and red and green sprinkles.

Christmas Shortbread Cookies

Buttery and with just the right amount of chew, these Christmas Shortbread Cookies are simple to whip up and only require 5 ingredients! Perfect for cut outs or slice and bake--the rich flavor paired with a simple icing will be a winner this holiday!

5 from 4 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: cookies, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 12

Chill: 1

Total Time: 1 45

Servings: 24 cookies

Calories: 169kcal

Author: Lorie Yarro

Ingredients

For the Cookies

For the Icing

▢ 1.5 c powdered sugar
▢ 3 - 4 T cream or milk
▢ ½ teaspoon almond extract or vanilla

Instructions

Add brown sugar and butter to mixing bowl or standing mixer bowl. Beat on high to cream until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat to incorporate.
In a small bowl, whisk the salt and 1 ¾ cup flour together. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the creamed butter and sugar mixture. Mix until fully incorporated.
Take the remaining ¼ cup flour and add it to a clean surface. Transfer the cookie dough to the surface and knead the dough until nice and smooth and the extra flour is incorporated.
Divide the dough into either three separate balls (if you plan to roll out for cookie cutters) or roll into one big log for slice and bake. Wrap in plastic wrap tightly and chill for at least 30 minutes.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Either slice and place on parchment lined cookie sheet or roll out on a flour dusted surface and cut with cookie cutter. I make my cookies a bit over ¼ inch thickness.
Bake for 12-14 minutes or when the edges start to turn golden brown. Allow to sit for 2 minutes on the pan and then transfer to a rack.
Wait until completely cool and then whisk icing ingredients together. Spread over each cookie and add sprinkles. Allow the icing to set before serving. (But who is really gonna do that???)
Store in an airtight container for about 5-7 days. If they last that long!

Notes

Chilling is essential when making these cookies. When I tried these Christmas Shortbread Cookies without chilling, they flattened. Chilling helps them keep a nice shape. I recommend chilling for no less than 30 minutes and ideally about one hour.
These cookies are great to make ahead. Since you need to chill the dough, it's easy to prepare in advance and then bake them when you want a few (or ten!) and save the rest for another time.
You can freeze this cookie dough. The brown sugar shortbread dough will keep for about 2 months wrapped in plastic and stored in a freezer safe bag as well. I recommend thawing the dough before baking. You can slice off a few cookies from a frozen log and allow them to sit out a bit to thaw.