Sweet, simple and super buttery! Add this gluten free shortbread recipe to your must-make cookie list and enjoy! These secret to success? Make sure to use high-quality butter for the rich and creamy flavor.
⭐What’s Great about this recipe⭐
- 3:2:1 Ratio: Overall this is a super simple recipe that follows the 3:2:1 ratio principle for making shortbread with a few small tweaks to make it gluten free.
- Bake in a Pan: Save yourself the extra faff of chilling, shaping and slicing the shortbread by baking in a pan. After baking and cooling, slice up, serve and enjoy!
- Easy to Dress Up: Add chocolate, nuts, zest or more – there are so many different ways to add flavour depending on your mood or occasion.
How to Bake Gluten Free Shortbread
Traditional Scottish shortbread adheres to the classic 3:2:1 ratio for creating a basic cookie dough:
- 3 parts flour: 2 parts butter: 1 part sugar
What does that look like in this recipe?
First, take note that we measure by weight, not volume.
- 3 parts flour: 2 1/3 flour cup + 2 tbsp cornstarch = 350 grams
- 2 parts butter: 1 cup butter = 227 grams
- 1 part sugar: 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp sugar = 125 grams
Why measure by ratio?
Baking is all about the balance between ingredients.
How much fat, protein, and sugar do you need to end up with your desired result?
If you can understand the underlying ratio of ingredients needed to make something, you can then start to play around with the recipe itself to make something totally new.
BTW: If you’re interested in learning more about how to bake by ratio, I highly recommend Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman.
Ingredients
All you need are a few simple ingredients:
- Butter: I prefer salted butter but you can absolutely use unsalted butter if you prefer. If you do use unsalted butter, make sure to add 1/2 tsp salt when you add the flour.
- Sugar: Use white granulated sugar or caster sugar. It’s technically the more authentic choice if you’re aiming for a Scottish style shortbread and it’s easier to work with since you don’t need to worry about sifting it first.
- Gluten-Free Flour: Use a basic, gluten free all purpose flour blend. I used the Gluten Free Plain White Flour from Freee, but you can use your favorite basic flour blend here.
- Xanthan Gum: Even if your flour blend already has a little bit of xanthan gum, I do recommend adding more to the recipe for the additional binding.
- Cornstarch: The idea here is to essentially make a very basic DIY cake flour by adding a small amount of corn starch. The goal is to lighten up shortbread, soften the texture and provide a bit more structure.
- Vanilla Extract: You can actually leave out the vanilla extract. Traditional recipes don’t bother with the added vanilla, but I think it adds a lovely flavor.
Flavor Variations
- Chocolate: Add 1/3 cup (60 g) mini chocolate chips or chopped chocolate to the gluten-free shortbread dough. Alternatively, drizzle a bit of melted chocolate over the top of your cooled shortbread.
- Nuts: Toast 1/2 cup (60 g) chopped nuts then stir into the shortbread cookie dough along with the other dry ingredients.
- Zest: Stir in 1 tbsp fresh lemon zest or orange zest to bright up the flavor.
- Spice: Add 1 tsp ground spice. Try cinnamon, apple pie spice, gingerbread, chai spice or pumpkin spice!
- Instead of mixing spice into the dough, mix with caster sugar and sprinkle over the top of the cookies to finish.
Recipe Tips
- Weigh the ingredients if possible: Invest in a reliable kitchen scale – it will make your life gluten-free baking SO much easier and more accurate.
- Don’t forget to prick the dough before baking: Just as you need to do when baking a pie crust, it’s important to poke holes across the dough. By giving the steam somewhere to vent, you’ll prevent the shortbread from bubbling up in the middle too much.
- Use a quality butter: If you’re in the US, look for grade AA butter or butter with minimal ingredients (avoid added ‘natural flavors’ and preservatives). European butter is usually +82% fat while American butter is usually around 80% fat. You really need a good butter here to really emphasise the delicious buttery taste!
More Gluten Free Cookie Recipes
Looking for another gluten free Christmas cookie recipe to try out for all our cookie exchanges this year?
- Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies
- Gluten Free Sugar Cookies
- Vanilla & Almond Mushroom Cookies
- Gluten Free Red Velvet Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
- Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vanilla & Almond Mushroom Cookies
- Rosemary Lemon Christmas Tree Cookies
Enjoy!
Let me know if you try this gluten-free shortbread cookie recipe! Leave a comment and review with your thoughts. I always appreciate the feedback and serving suggestions that you come up with!
Recipe
Gluten Free Shortbread Cookies
Yield:
16 squares
Prep Time:
15 minutes
Cook Time:
20 minutes
Total Time:
35 minutes
Sweet, simple and super buttery! The secret to success? Make sure to use high-quality butter!
Ingredients
- 1 cup room-temperature butter, salted or unsalted (227g)
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp white sugar (125g)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/3 cup gluten free all purpose flour blend (330g)
- 2 tbsp cornstarch or potato starch (16g)
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- *more white sugar to sprinkle on top after baking
Need help converting to weights? Check out my cups to grams Conversion Guide.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C) and line an 8x8 inch baking pan (or similar sized pan) with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the flour, starch and xanthan gum until combined. Set aside.
- Add butter and sugar to a large mixing bowl or to the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix with an electric mixer/stand mixer on a medium-high speed until well combined.
- Add the vanilla extract and mix until just combined. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Switch to a low speed and gradually add the flour mixture until just combined. The dough might look a bit dry and crumbly, but if you clump it together it should stick.
- Transfer the cookie dough to your prepared pan. Press the dough into the pan until it's spread in an even layer OR roll the dough out in between two pieces of parchment paper (don't flour the paper) then place in the pan. Press evenly across the bottom and sides of the pan. Use a fork to poke holes across the top of the shortbread to let steam escape as it bakes.
- Place the pan in the oven. Bake cookies for about 18-20 minutes or until the edges are starting to lightly golden. Remove and sprinkle with sugar while it's still hot.
- Leave in the pan to cool completely before removing and slicing. Give them an hour before you slice in to them - if you cut them too soon they're more likely to crumble. After an hour or two they'll be fine to slice, plate or pack up without worry.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for a week.
Notes
- Butter: If you're in the US, look for grade AA butter or butter with minimal ingredients (avoid added 'natural flavors' and preservatives). European butter is usually +82% fat while American butter is usually around 80% fat.
- Dairy Free/ Vegan: Use a good, vegan butter block - not a spreadable butter from a tub. I recommend Stork vegan baking block or Flora plant based butter block.
- If you want to use unsalted butter make sure to add 1/2 tsp fine grain salt.
- Make sure to leave a bit of the paper hanging over the sides so you can easily lift the shortbread out later. If you're using a loose-bottom pan, no need to line - just grease the pan.
- Making these cookies in hot weather/ hot kitchen? Chill the dough about 30 minutes before baking to firm up the butter.
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
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