Description
Delight in festive Christmas Shortbread Bites featuring buttery, tender cookies dotted with colorful Christmas nonpareil sprinkles. These easy-to-make shortbread squares are perfect for holiday celebrations and gift-giving, offering a classic almond flavor and melt-in-your-mouth texture.
Ingredients
Scale
Shortbread Dough
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Decoration
- 3 teaspoons Christmas colored nonpareils
Instructions
- Preheat Oven and Prepare Pan: Heat oven to 325°F. Line an 8 or 9-inch baking dish with plastic wrap or parchment paper and set aside.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a bowl of an electric mixer, combine softened butter, powdered sugar, and almond extract. Beat until creamy, scraping the bowl often. Then turn off the mixer.
- Add Dry Ingredients: Very gently add all-purpose flour and kosher salt a little at a time. Beat until the mixture begins to form a dough. Be patient during this process to ensure proper texture.
- Incorporate Sprinkles: Stir in the Christmas colored nonpareils gently to evenly distribute the sprinkles throughout the dough.
- Knead and Chill Dough: Knead the dough a few times until it forms a ball. Place the dough evenly into the prepared pan and gently press throughout. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to firm up the dough.
- Cut Dough into Squares: Remove dough from the pan using plastic wrap or parchment paper. Transfer to a cutting board and cut into ½-inch squares. Carefully separate squares and place on ungreased cookie sheets.
- Bake Cookies: Bake for 12 minutes or until the edges are slightly browned. Monitor closely as shortbread can brown quickly to avoid burning.
Notes
- Almond extract can be swapped for ½ teaspoon vanilla extract if preferred, especially when using an 8x8-inch pan.
- If using salted butter, omit the kosher salt in the recipe to prevent over-salting.
- To double the recipe for a 9x13-inch baking dish, double all ingredient amounts accordingly.
- Add extra sprinkles on top of the dough before baking for more festive color and texture.
- Use the scoop and level method when measuring flour for consistent baking results.
- Customize sprinkle colors to suit different holidays or occasions such as blue for Hanukkah or red and pink for Valentine’s Day.
- For a chocolate twist, try using a chocolate chip shortbread recipe instead to make bite-size chocolate chip cookies.
- If short on time, you can skip chilling the dough, but chilled dough is easier to cut and handle.
- Refer to the blog post for additional tips and tricks to perfect your shortbread bites.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 mini cookie
- Calories: 35 kcal
- Sugar: 1 g
- Sodium: 10 mg
- Fat: 2 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.2 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0.6 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 4 g
- Fiber: 0.1 g
- Protein: 0.2 g
- Cholesterol: 5 mg
