Shortbread is one of those recipes that always works. It’s a fast, easy way to whip up a quick treat. It’s less sweet than most cookies, but elegant at the same time. Shortbread cookies make a great gift, or that dessert you take to an event or party, especially during the holidays. The combination of toffee and pecans make this cookie extra delicious.
The base of shortbread is butter! Everything is better with butter, right? So use a good quality butter, it will make a difference.
Most dessert recipes say to use unsalted butter. There is a real reason for this, you can control the salt this way. But, and you are probably going to hear me say this over and over, I use the salted stuff. I honestly don’t think it makes that much of a difference. I guess I don’t have a refined palate. 🙂
I tend to like things with just a little bit more salt, anyway. I feel like a lot of the cookies and cakes I taste could use just a little bit more salt!
Traditional shortbread is just a simple plain buttery cookie.
Leave it to all of us foodies to break tradition and start adding all kinds of other add-ins and flavors to a classic recipe.
But, yum! It’s what we do!
You’re welcome!
I have made shortbread before using a food processor. It chops the butter up into tiny pieces. Creaming them with a mixer does a great job too.
This saves time and extra dishes.
Get a jump start on your gift giving by mixing up this recipe.
Keep it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer in freezer bags for up to three months!
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 30 cookies | 10 mins |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 12 mins | 1 hour |
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Shortbread is one of those recipes that always works. It's a fast, easy way to whip up a quick treat. It's less sweet than most cookies, but elegant at the same time. Shortbread cookies make a great gift, or that dessert you take to an event or party, especially during the holidays. The combination of toffee and pecans make this cookie extra delicious.
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- 1 C cold butter cubed
- 2/3 C confectioners sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 C all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 C toffee bits
- 1/2 C pecans finely chopped
- 30 square pieces caramel
- 30 whole pecans
- Combine the cold butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat until creamy, scraping the bowl when necessary.
- Mix in the vanilla and salt and slowly add the flour, mixing just until combined.
- Stir in the toffee bits and chopped pecans. If it's too hard to stir, dump it out onto the counter and knead it together until incorporated.
- Divide dough in half and roll each half into a log about 1 1/2" in diameter. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour. If you want to speed things up, you may freeze them for about a half hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 F. just before you bake them.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and slice each log into 15 pieces, just under 1/2" each. Place them about 1 1/2" apart on the cookie sheet and place ine square of caramel in the center of each cookie. Bake between 12-14 minutes, just until the edges start to turn golden brown.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and immediately place a whole pecan in the center of the caramel. Cool completely.
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