259 shortbread cookie recipes

Buttery thumbprint cookies with a gross-out Halloween twist: pale, tender shortbread rounds dimpled and filled with dark blackberry jam that looks like a 'blackhead.' Easy, funny, and good enough to disappear fast.

Swedish butter cookies are slice-and-bake shortbread topped with browned butter frosting. Five ingredients in the dough, nutty caramelized butter on top, and the kind of crisp-edge melt that makes Christmas cookie tins worth opening.

Bizcochitos are the official state cookie of New Mexico: lard-based shortbread perfumed with anise and sweet wine, dusted in cinnamon sugar, and baked into delicate flaky rounds. The traditional Christmas and wedding cookie of the Southwest.

Buttery walnut shortbread scored into elegant wedges with a tender, sandy crumb. Just 5 ingredients and one pan for a cookie that melts on your tongue.

Finnish fingers (sokerikakkusormet) are short, buttery shortbread sticks brushed with egg white and rolled in pearl sugar for a crunchy, sparkling exterior. Classic Scandinavian Christmas cookie.

Buttery coconut shortbread pressed into tart pans and baked golden. Made with unsweetened coconut, chilled butter, and vanilla for a crisp, sandy cookie with tropical flavor.

Holiday almond wreath cookies piped from a star tip and decorated with red and green candied cherries. Buttery almond shortbread in a festive Christmas-tin shape.

Toffee squares with a buttery brown sugar shortbread base, melted chocolate on top, and chopped nuts. A sheet pan cookie bar that's rich, crunchy, and easy to make.

Mandel-Halbmonde are German almond crescents: buttery shortbread cookies shaped like half-moons, baked pale, then rolled twice in powdered sugar. The kind of melt-in-your-mouth Christmas cookie every German bakery puts on the holiday plate.

Lemon love notes are buttery shortbread bars studded with coconut and bright lemon zest, finished with a tart lemon glaze and a flurry of toasted coconut, then cut into triangles. Bake-sale cookies that look as pretty as they taste.

Espresso-hazelnut shortbread cookies with real coffee grounds, toasted hazelnuts, and cold butter baked low and slow. Sandy, crumbly, and deeply aromatic with a bold coffee bite.

Filled lemon cookies sandwich thin, buttery shortbread rounds with a bright lemon filling. Slice-and-bake icebox dough with a tea party finish dusted in powdered sugar.

Caramel apple cookies are buttery shortbread balls on toothpick sticks, dipped in melted caramel with apple juice concentrate, and pressed into chopped walnuts. Miniature caramel apple treats.

Macadamia butterballs with chopped chocolate chips and macadamia nuts rolled in powdered sugar. A melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookie that makes five dozen for holiday gifting.

Filled butter ring cookies sandwich apricot preserves between two shortbread rounds, the top one cut with a thimble window, dusted with powdered sugar. Linzer-style holiday classic.

Holiday fruit bars: a brown sugar shortbread crust topped with a chewy raisin, candied cherry, and lemon-zest filling. Cookie-tin classic for Christmas and gift trays.