55 short bread recipes

Apricot almond bars with a buttery shortbread crust, spiced almond meringue topping, apricot glaze, and chocolate drizzle. Four layers of European-style pastry in every square.

Microwave pecan pie bars: shortbread base, chewy pecan filling, and a semi-sweet chocolate topping. 28 bars cooked entirely in the microwave, ready in 30 minutes.

Zesty fig and date pastry bars with walnuts, orange juice, and lemon zest on a buttery shortbread crust with a crisscross lattice top. A bright, old-school cookie bar.

Salted peanut chews with a brown sugar shortbread crust, gooey marshmallow layer, and a crunchy peanut butter chip topping loaded with crisp rice cereal and salted peanuts.

Chocolate pecan pie bars with a buttery shortbread crust and a gooey corn syrup filling loaded with chopped pecans and chocolate morsels. All the flavor of pecan pie, no pie dish needed.

Peanut pudding cake with four layers: peanut shortbread crust, peanut butter cream cheese, chocolate-vanilla pudding, and whipped topping with crumbled chocolate bars. A crowd-pleasing potluck dessert.

Four-layer peanut butter pudding cake with a peanut shortbread crust, cream cheese-peanut butter filling, chocolate-vanilla pudding layer, and whipped topping. A no-bake icebox dessert.

Pecan shortbread cookies with buttery, melt-in-your-mouth crumb and a simple powdered sugar glaze drizzle. Five ingredients, no eggs, with toasted pecans throughout each tender bite.

Ischler cookies are an Austrian classic from Bad Ischl: ground-almond shortbread rounds sandwiched with raspberry jam and crowned with espresso-spiked chocolate icing. Spa-town pastry royalty.

Pecan squares with a buttery shortbread crust and a gooey pecan pie filling baked on a sheet pan. All the flavor of pecan pie in a portable, shareable bar cookie format.

Ischler hearts: Austrian sandwich cookies with almond shortbread, apricot jam filling, and a glossy chocolate-rum glaze. Named after the spa town Bad Ischl, favorite of Emperor Franz Joseph.

Chocolate chunk cheesecake layers a walnut-chocolate shortbread crust with a brown sugar cream cheese filling studded with chopped chocolate, finished with a chocolate ganache glaze. Bakery-style dessert.

Sesame seed cookies are an Italian-American holiday classic with a tender shortbread-like dough rolled in toasted sesame seeds before baking. Massive batch (240 cookies) for cookie tins.

Kopenhai is a Greek almond torte with an orange-scented shortbread base, fluffy ground-almond souffle filling, crackly phyllo top, and a fragrant lemon-cinnamon syrup soaked through every diamond slice.

Sticky pecan bars with a buttery shortbread crust and gooey brown sugar-corn syrup filling loaded with pecan halves. Like pecan pie in bar form, easier to make and easier to share.

Sour cream apple pie with a cinnamon-spiced shortbread crust and a buttery walnut streusel top. McIntosh apples bake into a custardy filling that sets up creamy under the crunchy walnut topping.