Shortbread

Michael Eisenwasser

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A classic shortbread with a three-ingredient base — butter, powdered sugar, and a gluten-free flour blend — plus salt and vanilla. Buttery, sandy, and barely sweet, with room for citrus zest, rosemary, or lavender if you want to dress it up.

Prep 15 min

Cook 45 min

Serves 24

Gluten-free

Ingredients

• 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
• 1/2 cup (60 g) powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups (280 g) gluten-free flour blend — no inulin or chicory root

Optional Flavorings (Pick One)

• 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon or orange zest
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 teaspoons dried culinary lavender, crumbled

Makes about 24 cookies. One serving is 1 cookie.

Instructions

Mix the Dough

1. Heat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Line an 8-inch square pan with parchment, leaving an overhang on two sides.
2. Beat the butter, powdered sugar, and salt in a large bowl with a hand or stand mixer on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until pale and creamy. Scrape the bowl.
3. Beat in the vanilla and any optional zest, rosemary, or lavender.
4. Turn the mixer to low and add the flour blend in two additions. Mix just until the dough pulls together into a shaggy mass. It will look dry at first and then clump — stop the mixer as soon as it does.

Press and Score

1. Press the dough evenly into the lined pan, smoothing the top with the back of a spoon or an offset spatula. Aim for a level 1/2-inch-thick slab.
2. Score the surface into 24 rectangles (4 rows of 6) with a sharp knife, cutting about halfway down. Prick each rectangle twice with a fork.

Bake

1. Bake on the middle rack for 40 to 45 minutes, rotating the pan once halfway through. The top should be pale gold and the edges a shade darker.
2. Let the pan cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then lift the slab out by the parchment and re-cut along the scored lines while still warm. Cool the cookies completely on the rack before moving them — warm shortbread is fragile.

Tips & Substitutions

• Soft but cool butter is the target. Butter that's too warm turns the dough greasy and the baked cookies flat; butter straight from the fridge won't cream. Press a finger into the stick — it should dent easily without sinking through.
• Powdered sugar, not granulated. Powdered sugar dissolves into the butter and gives shortbread its signature sandy, melt-in-the-mouth texture. Granulated sugar makes a grainier, crunchier cookie.
• Don't overmix after the flour goes in. Shortbread stays tender because the dough never develops much structure. Stop the mixer the second the dough clumps.
• Cut while warm, cool in place. A fully cooled slab shatters along the score lines unpredictably. Re-cutting after 10 minutes gives clean edges; lifting before the cookies firm up breaks them.
• Dairy-free version. A 1:1 vegan butter stick (Miyoko's, Earth Balance soy-free) works. Skip soft tub spreads — too much water for shortbread's low-moisture crumb.
• Rounds or fingers. Roll the dough 1/2 inch thick between parchment and cut with a round cutter, or press into a rectangular pan and cut into fingers. Cookies baked on a sheet pan finish faster than a slab — start checking at 25 to 30 minutes.

Why This Works

Butter and sugar are low at typical serving sizes. Monash lists butter and granulated sugar as low at normal cooking amounts. Butter is almost entirely fat with a trace of lactose well under the threshold, and sugar is sucrose, which the small intestine absorbs fully. Shortbread is rich, though, so start with 1 cookie and see how you feel before eating more in one sitting.

Gluten-free flour does the structural work. The gluten-free flour blend already contains xanthan gum, so the dough holds together without wheat's fructans. The high fat-to-flour ratio coats the starch and keeps the crumb short and tender, which is exactly what shortbread should be.

Powdered sugar is safe and essential here. Powdered sugar is sucrose plus a small amount of cornstarch, both low. The fine texture is what gives shortbread its sandy bite — a coarse sugar won't dissolve into the butter the same way.

Vanilla, citrus zest, rosemary, and lavender are all fine. Monash tests vanilla extract as low at typical recipe amounts. Citrus zest contains almost no juice, so it carries no meaningful fructan or polyol load. Fresh herbs and dried lavender are used in tiny quantities and sit well under any threshold.

Storage

Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week, with parchment between layers. Shortbread actually improves after a day — the butter flavor deepens and the crumb firms up. Freeze baked cookies in a zip-top bag for up to 3 months and thaw at room temperature. The unbaked pressed slab also freezes well: wrap the pan tightly, freeze up to 1 month, and bake straight from frozen, adding 5 to 10 minutes to the bake time.

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