The BEST Sourdough Shortbread Cookies – Sourdough Brandon

These are the best Sourdough Shortbread Cookies, with a melt-in-your-mouth, buttery, tender texture, and made with a few pantry ingredients!

The sourdough discard shortbread cookies are excellent for Christmas cookie boxes and gifting, as they last for days, and you can freeze the dough ahead of time.

Slice-and-bake the cookies from logs or use cookie cutouts to make your favorite shapes. The sourdough shortbread cookies are incredibly versatile, allowing you to add other ingredients, flavors, and sprinkles to make them your own.

Follow my detailed instructions, complete with photos and tips, below for these classic sourdough shortbread cookies.

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👍 Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• A classic cookie that only uses simple pantry ingredients and is a crowd favorite.
• Beautiful holiday or Christmas cookies for gifting that store well for days and freeze incredibly well.
• Buttery, tender, slightly crumbly texture that melts in your mouth.
• Raw sugar coating adds crunch to the edges and sparkle.
• Can make slice-and-bake cookies (pictured) or cut out cookies using cookie cutters.
• Easy-to-make dough that you can make ahead or ferment overnight.
• No egg recipe.
• Use the same dough to add other flavors like chocolate chips, lemon zest, sprinkles, brown butter, herbs, etc.

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🔍 Tips for Making Sourdough Shortbread Cookies

• Chill the dough for at least an hour so the butter hardens, and slicing is easier. This is important for most cookie and muffin recipes.
• You can make the cookie dough the night before and rest it in the refrigerator or freeze the dough logs months in advance.
• If the raw sugar coating isn’t sticking, brush the dough logs with egg white.
• Add 2 TBS of cornstarch to the dough to help the cookies retain their shape during baking.
• For perfectly cylindrical logs for slice-and-bake cookies, use a bench scraper and parchment paper to press and compact the dough into logs, removing air bubbles and gaps and creating perfectly round cookies.

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• Baking scale
  • Flour and sourdough starter can weigh differently from person to person, so weighing your ingredients is the best option! Measuring your ingredients by weight will make your baking more consistent and accurate.
• Baking Sheets
  • Line the pans with parchment or a silicone baking mat to prevent sticking.
• Spatula
  • For scraping the sides of the mixing bowl.
• Stand mixer or hand mixer, recommended
  • For creaming the butter and mixing the cookie dough.
• Bench Scraper, optional but helpful
  • The trick for making perfectly round slice-and-bake cookies is to use a bench scraper or flat edge with parchment paper to compact the dough into logs.
• If you opt to make cut-out cookies, you’ll need a rolling pin and cookie cutters.

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🛒 Ingredients Needed

• Unsalted butter, room temperature
  • It’s important that the butter is softened to cream it with sugar and incorporate air into the batter. This is what makes a soft and tender shortbread cookie.
  • The process for making these is similar to that for the dough in my Sourdough Linzer Cookies and Sourdough Vanilla Wafers.
• Powdered Sugar
  • The powdered sugar incorporates more easily into the butter, resulting in a crumblier cookie.
• All-purpose flour
  • You can substitute with a gluten-free flour to make gluten-free shortbread cookies, such as cup-for-cup or measure-for-measure.
  • Add ½ cup of whole wheat flour or rye flour for a heartier, flavorful cookie
• Salt, helps bring out the flavors
• Sourdough Discard
• Cornstarch
  • The cornstarch is the secret ingredient that helps the cookies retain their shapes and also creates a tender texture, such as in my Sourdough Corn Cookies.
• Vanilla Extract
  • Use real vanilla extract or vanilla paste, not imitation.
  • Vanilla isn’t traditional in basic shortbread cookies, so you can leave it out if you prefer. I miss it when it’s not there.
• Raw Sugar, for coating and a crunchy texture (optional)

Shortbread Variations

• Add lemon, orange, or lime zest for a citrus twist.
• Make chocolate chip sourdough shortbread cookies by adding 6oz of chopped chocolate to the batter.
• Brown the butter beforehand and let cool for a caramely, nutty brown butter sourdough shortbread.
• Add other flavors or spices like cinnamon, cardamom, lavender, or herbs like chopped sage, rosemary, or thyme.
• You can include other mix-ins such as chopped nuts, seeds, or sprinkles.
• Finish the cookies by drizzling or dipping in melted chocolate.

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👨‍🍳 How to Make Sourdough Shortbread Cookies

Follow this detailed recipe guide as you make the best Sourdough Shortbread Cookies.

1. Cream the Butter and Mix the Wet Ingredients

Beat the softened butter and powdered sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed for a few minutes until pale, light, and fluffy.

Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula if needed.

Mix in the vanilla and sourdough discard until incorporated.

2. Mix in the Dry Ingredients

In a small separate bowl, mix the flour, cornstarch, and salt.

Then, pour the dry ingredients into the stand mixer bowl, pulse a few times to prevent the flour from spilling, and mix just until combined.

The cookie dough will be crumbly with a Play-Doh-like consistency.

3. Shape and Chill the Dough

If you’re making cut-out cookies, you can scrape the dough onto plastic wrap, flatten it into discs, and chill or freeze.

To make slice-and-bake cookies, divide the dough in half to make two logs. Then, gently roll the dough on a lightly floured surface into short logs.

Place the logs in the middle of the parchment paper and roll the parchment over them to smooth out the cylinder (lightly flour the parchment if it sticks).

Fold the parchment over the log and use a bench scraper or other straight edge to push the log into a tight cylinder. This will lengthen the log and pack it so there are no air bubbles or gaps, and you will get perfectly round slices. The logs should be about 10 inches long.

Wrap the log in the parchment paper, then place it onto a large piece of plastic wrap and twist the ends to further pack the log ends and keep it safely wrapped in the refrigerator.

Chill the dough for at least an hour before baking.

4. Slice the Cookies

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC) and line large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

For crunchy, sparkly cookie edges, sprinkle raw sugar on a clean cutting board. Unroll the chilled shortbread dough, then roll the logs in raw sugar.

If the coating isn’t sticking, brush the logs with egg white to help the sugar adhere.

Then, use a sharp knife to trim the ends of the logs and then cut into ¼”-⅜” thick slices. Each log usually makes about 13-15 cookies.

To help the cookies keep their round shape while cutting, roll the log a quarter turn in between each slice.

If you’re making cut-out cookies, you can roll the dough in between pieces of parchment paper with a rolling pin to ¼” thick and use a floured cookie cutter to cut out shapes. Then, re-roll scraps and repeat.

5. Bake

Space the cookies a couple of inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the edges and bottom of the cookies just start to brown. They will continue to set and harden as they cool.

Let the cookies cool on the pan for a few minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

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How to Store

Sourdough shortbread cookies store extremely well at room temperature.

Place them in an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to a week. They’ll last even longer if stored with layers of parchment paper and kept in a cool, dry location.

You can freeze baked shortbread cookies and thaw them at room temperature before serving.

Store unbaked cookie dough in the freezer for up to 3 months and thaw completely before slicing and baking.

These are excellent cookies for your holiday cookie boxes! Maybe include my Soft Glazed Sourdough Gingerbread Cookies and Homemade Sourdough Oreos, too?

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions