Whipped shortbread cookies are light, buttery, and they melt in your mouth. Many recipes call for cornstarch, but they can be successfully made using just salted butter, powdered sugar, and cake flour. The mixing method ensures a soft and light dough you can pipe, put through a cookie press, or roll into balls before baking.
70gramspowdered sugar* (See Notes, below)2.5 oz or about 1/2 cup
224gramssalted butter (I use Kerry Gold)8 oz, 2 sticks, or 1 cup
196gramscake flour7 oz or about 1 3/4 cups
several gratings of nutmegoptional
Optional Garnishes
Glace cherrieseither red or green
Sprinkles of your choice
Instructions
Line a cookie sheet or half-sheet pan with parchment. Place an oven rack in the center of your oven. Preheat to 300F.
Place all ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
Mix on low speed until there is no loose flour or sugar.
Increase speed to medium and whip for 3-4 minutes, scraping the bowl as necessary.
Increase speed to medium-high and whip an additional 2-3 minutes. The texture of the dough should be like a fluffy American buttercream.
Place in a large piping bag fitted with a large star tip, and pipe as desired, 12-15 to a sheet.
(Optional) Sprinkle each cookie with sprinkles of choice or place half of a candied cherry in the center of each piped cookie.
Bake at 300F for 19 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. NOTE: Cookies will not brown, even on the bottoms.
Allow cookies to cool on the pan for 3 minutes, and then carefully remove each one to a cooling rack to let cool completely.
Alternatively, refrigerate the dough for about 45 minutes. Scale dough into 1/2 ounce pieces, and quickly roll into balls between your palms. Top with a piece of glace cherry or make indentations with the back of a fork and add sprinkles of your choice.
Notes
Sugar
You can use up to 3 ounces of powdered sugar in this recipe, but no more than that. The cookies will be a touch sweeter and much more fragile. They will also spread a bit more than ones made with less sugar.
Tips for Success
Use the paddle attachment to make these cookies rather than the whisk attachment. It does a much better job at creaming the ingredients together.
You may be tempted to use the whisk attachment, but the paddle does a much better job of the initial creaming. It also works really well for incorporating air, so stick with the paddle attachment for making whipped shortbread.These cookies are extremely fragile when hot, so allow them to cool for 3-5 minutes on the parchment-lined cookie sheet before carefully moving them to a cooling rack using an offset spatula. Don’t try to pick them us as you would a “regular” cookie. This will just make you sad.
Variations
Here are some decorating ideas so you can at least switch up the visual appeal:
Roll dough balls in sugar before pressing the back of a fork into them.
Use different sprinkles or colored sugars to vary the look.
Make an indentation in the centers of either dough balls or piped cookies and fill with a teaspoon of jam before baking.
Press a candy-coated chocolate into the centers immediately after baking. Don’t press too hard or you’ll end up with a candy shoved all the way through–remember these are delicate cookies. Just press hard enough to recess the candy by about 1/8 inch or so
Drizzle the cooled cookies with some pastel candy melts (these would be cute for Easter or a baby shower) or chocolate (for any time!)
FAQ
How long will whipped shortbread cookies keep?
Keep at room temperature, tightly covered, for up to 4 days. For longer storage, you can freeze them in a single layer. Thaw to serve. They’ll be good for up to a couple of months.
Can I bake the dough from frozen?
Absolutely. You can shape the cookies however you’d like, freeze them, and then bake from frozen when you need some cookies. Add 1-2 minutes to the baking time.
Do I need to refrigerate the formed cookies before baking?
I tested both ways and found there was very little difference in the final cookies whether I refrigerated for 30 minutes first or just baked them straightaway. So it’s really up to you.