These shortbread slice and bake cookies have crisp edges, a tender buttery snap and are filled with pieces of chocolate, pecans, and dried cherries but can be customized with different flavors and mix-ins (like a pistachio shortbread cookies variation) to suit your tastebuds. Simply roll the dough into a log, refrigerate until hard, then slice and bake!
These slice and bake cookies are up there with some of the easiest you can make, right alongside these shortbread cutout cookies and shortbread cookie sticks. The cookie dough base can be made simple or with more complex flavors, can easily be frozen to cut and bake when the craving hits, and is really the perfect cookie exchange cookie!
They're a great make-ahead cookie, whether making the dough or actual cookies ahead of time. We love all things shortbread, which is why we also use it as a base in these apple crumble bars, pumpkin pie bars, rhubarb squares, and caramel shortbread cookie bars!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
Elevated version of Pillsbury - these buttery cookies are an upscale, adult version of the store-bought packaged ones you ate as a kid. The shortbread dough makes them far less sweet than a sugar cookie, and gives them a crispier outer texture.
Customizable - the cookie dough can be made plain and baked as is, or transformed with the addition of your favorite mix-ins like nuts, chocolate, dried fruits, sprinkles, spices, extracts, and zests! There's a whole section on swaps and subs to make these cookies your own.
Any day cookie - these slice and bake cookies are the perfect everyday cookie, as well as an amazing Christmas cookie to make for the holiday season. Feeling like chocolate and pistachio today? Great! Red and green sprinkles for Christmas? Love it! You do you.
Ingredients
- Butter. Two sticks of unsalted butter at a very soft room temperature. Using good quality butter will make a difference in taste of this recipe, so go for a wee splurge here (like Plugra or Kerrygold).
- Cornstarch. This helps give the cookies a snap, followed by a tender bite.
- Egg Yolk. One egg yolk is used in this recipe to make them slightly doughier and form the mass of cookie dough together.
- Mix ins. Pecans, semi-sweet chocolate (~60-70& cacao) and dried cherries or cranberries.
See recipe card for full ingredients list and quantities.
Substitutions and Variations
Add in up to 1 cup total of various mix-ins (fruit, nuts, chocolate...not zest, spices, extracts, or sprinkles). Combine any of these options to make your ultimate flavor combination!
- Nuts: walnuts, pistachios, pecans, almonds, or macadamia nuts.
- Chocolate: white, dark, or milk chocolate (or all three).
- Dried fruit: apricots, cherries, cranberries, mango, dates.
- Zest: up to ¼ cup of orange, lemon, or lime zest. I find 2-3 tablespoons is plenty. Rub the zest into the sugar for maximum flavor!
- Spices: up to 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, nutmeg, apple or pumpkin pie spice.
- Extracts: use 1 teaspoon of extract to flavor the dough. Try lemon, orange, coconut, or almond for fun variations.
- Roll the sides of the log in coarse sugar or your favorite festive sprinkles before chilling the dough. Think Christmas, Halloween, Easter, etc.
How to Make This Recipe
One: Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the egg yolk and vanilla.
Two: Mix in the flour until almost combined.
Three: Add the mix-ins and combine them by hand.
Four: Add the dough to a piece of plastic wrap and form it into a log with your hands.
Five: Wrap the dough tightly in the plastic wrap, roll again, and push in the sides.
Six: Roll the dough in a dish towel, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but overnight is best.
How to Cut the Cookie Dough Log
- Cut off the very butts off each side of the dough and discard (or bake for a snack). They're always small and shriveled.
- Score the top of the log with a knife for even slices.
- Use a knife with a thin blade. Place the knife on top where you want to cut, then push down quickly and forcefully (don't saw back and forth). Mix-ins can make the cutting process difficult, and I've found this to be the best method.
- If any pieces fall off, just push them back into the dough where they fell out.
- Rotate the log every few cuts to keep the dough as even as possible. It will start to get a bit soft from the air and handling it with your hands.
Seven: Cut the pieces of dough into medallions using a sharp knife and pressing down hard in one motion.
Eight: Add to a baking sheet (only 9-12 per pan) and bake until done.
The cookies will spread very slightly while baking. I like to scoot the cookies at the 10-minute mark, and again at the very end of baking to make sure they're perfectly round.
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Expert Tips
- Use room temperature or even slightly softer butter so the dough combines nicely.
- Measure the flour with a digital scale or the fluff, scoop and level method. Adding too much flour will make the dough crumble and fall apart.
- Roll the log of dough in a tea towel and place in the fridge. This helps prevent a flat bottom from forming.
- Don't skip the chilling process! This sets the dough and allows it to hydrate which leads to crisp edges and a tender interior. The log should be rock solid when it's ready to use.
- Push in the sides of the dough slices to help round them up if they got a bit squished during cutting.
Recipe FAQs
The best method I've found is to roll the thick log of dough in a kitchen towel before refrigerating it. This helps prevent a flat side from forming, though there may still be a slightly flat spot.
Yes! You can either freeze the entire log, or slice the cookies, flash freeze them on a pan, then add them to a ziptop bag and freeze for 3 months. The cookies can be baked directly from frozen.
Don't panic, this happens to me, too. Press the knife down in a forceful quick movement (don't saw back and forth). Some mix-ins that are harder make it difficult for the knife to get through and will inevitably break pieces off. Just push them back into the area where they fell off as best as possible. They'll meld back together in the oven.
Storage
Store the baked cookies in a sealed container for up to 4 days.
This shortbread cookie dough can be frozen in log form, or sliced, flash frozen, and transferred to a zip top bag, making for easy baking when you need a cookie moment! Simply bake directly from frozen!
What to Know When Cooking with The Cozy Plum
- All recipes are created with Diamond Crystal kosher salt, the least salty variety of kosher salt. If using Morton's, you'll need to cut the amount of salt in half as it's 2x as salty. This will be the same for sea salt. Please do not use table salt.
- Switch between Cups vs Metric using the toggle on the recipe card. Baking by weight using a digital scale will always produce the most accurate results.
- Scale the recipe using the '1X' '2X' '3X' buttons on the recipe card. Note that this does not make an adjustment for baking times, only quantities.
- If you'd like to make the recipe in a different pan, use the pan size converter.
Did you make this recipe? Share it with us! Tag @thecozyplum on Instagram & Facebook and leave a star rating ⭐️ below!
📖Recipe
Slice and Bake Shortbread Cookies
Equipment
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment (or hand mixer)
- Plastic wrap
- Cookie sheets
Ingredients
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 large egg yolk
- ⅓ cup semi-sweet chocolate (~60-70% cacao) roughly chopped (2oz)
- ⅓ cup chopped pecans
- ⅓ cup dried cherries roughly chopped
Instructions
- Whisk together the flour, cornstarch and salt and set aside.2¼ cups all-purpose flour, ¼ cup cornstarch, ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla for about 4 minutes on medium-high speed, until fluffy. Scrape down the sides.1 cup unsalted butter, ¾ cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Add the egg yolk and mix to combine.1 large egg yolk
- Add the flour and mix on low speed until almost combined.
- Add the chopped chocolate, nuts, and dried cherries and fold them in by hand until evenly dispersed and no flour remains.⅓ cup semi-sweet chocolate (~60-70% cacao), ⅓ cup chopped pecans, ⅓ cup dried cherries
- Lay out a piece of plastic wrap on the counter and dump the dough into the center. Form the dough into a log using clean hands, then wrap it completely in the plastic wrap. Roll it back and forth a few times and put pressure on each edge so it's in a smooth cylinder.
- Roll the dough up in a dish towel (this helps prevent flattening) and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours to hydrate and firm up.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350℉/177℃ and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Using a sharp knife, slice into ½" thick slices*. Roll the log a quarter turn after every couple of slices. If any pieces start to break off, press them back into the dough log (or slices) and continue slicing.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then scoot the cookies to round them up, then bake for another 5 minutes.
- Cool the cookies on the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Kate says
Easy to follow recipe with yummy results!
Callan Wenner says
Great news! Thanks so much for sharing!