128 shortbread recipes

Cocoa bars with a buttery shortbread base and a fudgy cocoa-almond topping baked on top. Two-step build in one pan, sliced into 24 squares while warm.

Chocolate mint meltaways are buttery shortbread cookies enriched with melted mint chocolate chips, drizzled with a mint chocolate glaze and topped with toasted almonds. A no-leavener Christmas cookie that melts on contact.

Caramel pecan bars with a buttery shortbread crust topped with pecan halves in a honey-brown sugar caramel finished with cream. Makes 50 bars from one jelly roll pan.

Buttery shortbread cookie bars packed with chopped walnuts and a thick layer of strawberry jam baked between two golden crusts. Rich, sweet, and utterly impossible to eat just one.

Hot cinnamon apple parfait layers warm spiced apples and golden raisins with crushed shortbread crumbs and vanilla ice cream. Comfort dessert that lands somewhere between apple crisp and sundae.

Jan Hagels are crisp Dutch shortbread cookies spiced with cinnamon and ginger, brushed with egg white, and topped with chopped pecans or walnuts. Sliced into rectangular bars while warm.

Classic German apple kuchen with a tender lemon-scented shortbread crust, apple and golden raisin filling spiced with cinnamon, and a lattice top dusted with powdered sugar. A traditional homestyle dessert bar.

Raspberry dream bars with a buttery shortbread base, a layer of raspberry jam, and a coconut-egg topping that bakes golden and chewy. Three layers of flavor in every bite.

Buttery pecan shortbread cookie balls dipped in vanilla frosting and rolled in tinted coconut. Melt-in-your-mouth tender, baked low and slow, and perfect for holiday cookie exchanges. Makes 48.

Halloween chocolate cookie mice with pinched noses, chocolate chip eyes, and licorice tails. A spooky-cute kids' baking project that turns one chocolate shortbread dough into a tray of edible critters.

Filled cookies sandwich a sweet raisin filling between two rounds of tender vanilla shortbread, sealed with fork tines and baked golden. Old-fashioned American lunchbox classic, like a homemade fig newton.

Tangy lemon drops are tender shortbread slice-and-bake cookies made with butter, cake flour, lemon zest, and a snowy dusting of powdered sugar. Four ingredients, melt-in-your-mouth crumb.

Pineapple pecan bars with a shortbread crust topped with a crushed pineapple, brown sugar, and pecan custard filling. A chewy tropical bar cookie that cuts cleanly into 32 pieces, perfect for cookie trays.

Almond crescent cookies with toasted ground almonds and a tender shortbread base, finished with a chocolate drizzle or powdered sugar dusting. A Christmas cookie tin classic that holds for a week or more.

Orange sugar-crusted meltaway cookies with chocolate chips and chopped nuts, dipped in fresh orange juice and rolled in sugar to form a delicate citrus-sugar shell. A bright, buttery shortbread-style holiday cookie.

Mocha buttercrunch pie with a pecan-chocolate shortbread crust, a frozen mocha mousse filling, and a coffee whipped cream top studded with chocolate chips. Three layers of coffee-and-chocolate richness in every slice.