Salted Shortbread Cookies

These delicate, rich cookies surprise you with a hint of flaky sea salt that accentuates the buttery flavour here.

With only 5 basic ingredients, these are a cinch to make. You can make the dough and refrigerate it or freeze it for later, so they are also very versatile.

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What Makes This Recipe Special?

• You get outstanding flavour here from just a few simple ingredients.
• Because you can freeze the dough, this is a perfect recipe to get a jump on your holiday baking.
• The hint of salt enriches the buttery aspect of these delicate cookies.

Ingredients

• Unsalted butter is called for because you can control the amount of salt in the recipe. You can make them with salted butter, but omit the ¼ teaspoon of salt from the recipe.
• Flour is all-purpose. The crumb here is very delicate. I wouldn't use pastry and cake flour because I think the crumb would be too soft.

How To Make Them

• The first step is to cream the butter and sugar, and then add the vanilla.
• Then you will slowly beat in the dry ingredients til you get a soft dough.
• Refrigerate the dough. This is essential. If the dough is too warm, the cookies will spread too much.
• Sprinkle the cookies with flaky sea salt just before baking.

Related Recipes

Salted Shortbread Cookies

The rich buttery flalavour in these cookies is enlivened by a tiny hint of flaky sea-saltsalt.

Author: Carolyn Hetke

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 12 minutes mins

Chill time: 1 hour hr

Total Time: 1 hour hr 27 minutes mins

Servings: 24 cookies

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 cup unsalted butter softened See Note 1.
• ▢ ½ cup sugar
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 cups flour
• ▢ ¼ tsp sea salt plus more for sprinkling

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 F. (Not convection) Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Beat the butter and sugar together until the mixture is light and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.
• Add the vanilla and beat until just mixed.
• Mix the flour and ¼ teaspoon salt. Gradually add the flour to the butter mixture, mixing on low speed until the dough is just combined.
• Shape the dough into a log about 2" in diameter. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour until firm. (You can refrigerate for up to 24 hours.)
• When ready to bake, slice the log into ¼ slices. Arrange slices on the parchment pans, leaving at least a ½" between cookies.
• Sprinkle the cookies with flaky sea salt. Bake 12-15 minutes. If using 2 cookie sheets, alternate sheets halfway through baking.
• Remove cookies from oven and allow to cool about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
• Dough logs can be frozen, tightly wrapped for 3 months. Thaw and slice when ready to bake.

Notes

1. If using salted butter, omit the ¼ teaspoon of salt

Nutrition

Calories: 122kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 26mg | Potassium: 14mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 236IU | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 0.5mg

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