These simple 6-ingredient brown sugar shortbread cookies are a sweet, flavorful take on traditional shortbread. Made in 1 bowl without eggs or leavening, this buttery shortbread is soft yet dense with crisp, crumbly edges. We’ll use the simple slice-and-bake method, which helps guarantee thick cookies. No rolling pin required!
I used to have a recipe for brown sugar shortbread cookies on my site, but removed it because readers were reporting that their cookies always overspread. But there must have been something about those cookies that many liked, because it is the most frequently requested “old recipe” I get asked for!
So my team and I decided to give the recipe another try, and see if we could solve the overspreading problem and improve this recipe. After a few test batches, we determined that reducing the amounts of butter and sugar made the biggest difference. I’m happy to report that this recipe for brown sugar shortbread cookies is BACK, and truly better than ever!
Some of my other favorites include these flavored cherry almond shortbread, pecan shortbread, lemon shortbread, & chocolate pistachio shortbread.
Shortbread cookies don’t require eggs or leavening agents, which makes the ingredient list super short! All you need for the dough is:
You’ll also need a coarse sugar, such as coarse sparkling sugar or turbinado sugar (like Sugar in the Raw), to roll the cookie dough logs in. This gives the edges of your cookies a dazzling sparkle, as well as a sweet crunch.
Make the cookie dough in 1 bowl. Beat butter and sugar together until very creamy. Beat in the vanilla, then add the dry ingredients. The dough will be very crumbly, and you will probably need to finish bringing it together with your hands.
This is what it will look like:
Pour it out onto a work surface, and squeeze the dough together with your hands until it forms a thick dough. If it’s still too crumbly and not sticking together, try getting your hands wet or sprinkling a few drops of water onto the dough. That should do the trick!
Roll into logs. Divide the dough in half on a floured work surface. Do your best to roll each half into a log.
Roll the logs into coarse sugar. This sparkly coating makes for pretty cookies, but also gives the most fantastic sweet crunch—you’ll love the texture addition! You can use coarse sparkling sugar or something like Sugar In The Raw.
Chill the logs. Wrap each log in plastic wrap, then chill for at least 4 hours. A long chill time is mandatory for these “icebox”-style cookies.
Slice & bake. Slice each log into about 12 cookies, arrange on cookie sheets, and bake.
Slice-and-bake, aka icebox, cookies are particularly suited to making ahead of time because the dough logs need to chill for at least 4 hours minimum, but can also hang out in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
So make the dough in advance, and then when you’re ready for fresh-baked cookies, simply pull one of the dough logs out, slice, and bake!
Planning to make a lot of cookies at the holidays, and want to get ahead? Make several batches of slice-and-bake cookie dough and freeze the dough logs for up to 3 months..
These simple 6-ingredient brown sugar shortbread cookies are a sweet, flavorful take on traditional shortbread. Made in 1 bowl without eggs or leavening, this buttery shortbread is soft yet dense with crisp, crumbly edges. Careful not to over-bake these. No rolling pin required!
