22 shortbread crust recipes

Peanut pie with a shortbread cookie crust bound by peanut butter, packed with peanut butter cookies and roasted peanuts in a gooey brown sugar custard. Triple peanut, double cookie.

Pumpkin pie squares with a crumbly oat-and-brown-sugar shortbread crust and a fully spiced pumpkin custard. Bakes in one pan, cuts into 16 squares, and travels better than a round pie.

Showstopper cheesecake with a pecan shortbread crust, cranberry glaze layer, white chocolate orange filling, and candied orange slice topping. A stunning holiday dessert that requires overnight chilling.

Idiot's Delight: a layered no-fuss dessert with pecan shortbread crust, cream cheese filling, butter pecan pudding, whipped topping, and praline pecans. Potluck royalty.

Buttery shortbread crust topped with gooey pecan-coconut filling creates bar cookies that taste like pecan pie without the fussy pastry work.

Apple dessert bars with a buttery shortbread crust, cinnamon-lemon apple layer, and a rich coconut-nut custard topping that bakes into chewy squares.

Cranberry orange tart with a buttery almond shortbread crust and glistening marmalade-glazed cranberry filling. A stunning make-ahead holiday dessert that chills overnight.

Better than sex cake is a four-layer chocolate-pecan icebox dessert: a buttery pecan shortbread crust, sweet cream cheese, chocolate pudding, and whipped topping. A make-ahead potluck legend.

A layered Southern dessert with a buttery pecan shortbread crust, creamy sweet potato and cream cheese filling, and billowy whipped topping. Crunchy, creamy, and utterly indulgent.

A stunning fresh strawberry pie with a buttery pecan shortbread crust, whipped cream cheese filling, and whole berries glazed in homemade strawberry sauce. Worth every minute.

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.

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.