Hopefully Walkers Shortbread Cookies won’t derail my weight goals in the coming year. Hubby particularly loves Walkers Shortbread Cookies. Prior to moving to the United States I usually made shortbread cookies with a recipe I adapted from Food Network’s show Barefoot Contessa. I love Ina Garten. Now Every year we look forward to Thanksgiving not only because of family time which we love so much but because that’s around the time Costco wholesale stocks up on this gigantic tin of decadent cookies that is Walkers Shortbread Cookies.
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I occasionally make Shortbread Cookies for my family during the year like these daisy shortbread cookies and these thumbprint cookies because they love it so much. You have to try these Valentine Linzer cookie hearts too.
The good thing is that shortbread cookies are so easy to make and require just 3 ingredients but the secret to a very delicious cookie is the quality of butter used. Now back to that Walkers Cookie Tin We had bought some during thanksgiving and even sent a few out as gifts. Sometime in the beginning of December we went to buy a tin for Christmas and my goodness it was all gone and it never came back ? How did we know ? Because we checked a couple more times after that. And that was it for the year. Ouch!
Since I was being lazy which was why I agreed to the purchase in the first place because those cookies are pretty pricey, I decided I would have to make some people happy by making some homemade ones. There is this particular set of cookies in the collection that are melt in your mouth with sugar sprinkled all over it. They are shortbread fingers and those my friends I would replicate today. After all it’s Christmas and I think Shortbread is the official Christmas cookie at least in my home ?I read on the pack of the tin that the Walkers Family usually cut their shortbread fingers while warm from the oven.
Cutting my cookies when I got them out of the oven fully baked was great until I read a post by Nagi of Recipetineats where she cut the cookies when the cookies were semi baked. I decided to try that method today and it made a difference with less cracks on my shortbread fingers. I prefer a thicker cookie just like the ones in the shortbread tin we buy from Costco. If you prefer a thinner cookie see my update below. Because of the use of confectioners sugar in this recipe, it is melt in the mouth and so delicious. The cornstarch in the confectioners sugar is a contributing factor. Because of the use of confectioners sugar this dough may be a bit too soft to roll out. You can pop dough into the refrigerator for about one hour to firm it up.
Update:
I have found that the quantity in this recipe works better with 10 by 15in or 10 by 14.5 cookie sheet. You If you are using a 9 by 13 pan adjust the recipe as follows
- 2 stick of butter (1/2 pound) of butter
- 3/4 cup of Confectioners Sugar
- 2 cups of All purpose flour
Table of Contents
How to make shortbread fingers.
- Cream butter and sugar till fluffy
- Add flour in two batches and mix
- Press dough evenly in a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
- Smoothen the surface of dough
- Bake for 20 mins bring out of oven and slice into fingers.
- Return back to oven and finish baking.
Tools needed to make Shortbread fingers.
Other Short bread recipes to try.
Have you tried making shortbread cookies at home? You have to give it a try it’s so easy to make that you would be wondering why you haven’t given it a go all year.
Merry Christmas beautiful people. Remember Jesus Christ is the reason for the season. Have a blessed and prosperous New year. ❤️
Love,
ChiChi
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Watch how to make Homemade Walkers Shortbread Cookies!
Walkers Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ pound salted butter
- 1 cup confectioners sugar
- 3-1/2 cups flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup white sanding sugar ( optional)
- 1 tsp butter flavor ( optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF
- Line you 15 by 10 inch cookie sheet with parchment paper making sure it overlaps
- With a hand mixer or stand mixer, mix the butter and sugar till fluffy then Mix in the butter and vanilla flavor.
- Add the flour in two batches. Mix in the first batch then add the second batch and mix till just combined. Do not over mix
- With your hand bring the dough together to form a ball.
- Transfer to the lined baking pan and press down dough till it takes the shape of the pan.
- You can use a small rolling pin to roll over the top to smoothen it or you use a fondant smoother to try to make sure it’s evenly pressed down.
- Put in the oven and allow to bake for about 20 mins bring it out and use a knife and slice it through to the finger size you want I got 36 shortbread fingers. Then prick surface lightly with fork. Sprinkle white sanding sugar all over surface.
- Put back in the oven and allow to bake for another 10 to 12 mins or until edges are golden brown. Turn off heat of the oven and allow cookies cool in the oven with the door ajar.
- After about 10 mins with the help of the overlapping parchment paper, lift out the cookies from the pan. Enjoy with warm milk.
- This is definitely the cookie Santa would love
Notes
Thank you, Chichi for the simple and quick shortbread recipe! I’ve probably made it 50 times!
I’m British living in the States. I make this recipe regularly for my 92-year-old very British Mum and gifts. I use my food processor and change it up by adding different flavours. I use vanilla essence as the base flavour and add a teaspoon or less of the following cooking essences: Anise, Rum, Chocolate plus cocoa powder, Peppermint with or without crushed candy canes, Lavender plus dried edible lavender, Lemon, Lime, or Orange with freshly grated peel, and Espresso/Coffee by adding instant when creaming the butter and sugar. I also add a dash of colour and/or use coloured sanding sugar if I want to be ornate for gift giving.
So easy and fun. When creating new combinations, I must {am compelled to} taste test the outcome repeatedly for quality control purposes. 😁
Thank you again!
Hi Alison,
Thank you so much for letting me know. Happy that you find the recipe helpful and that your beautiful mom loves it. We love it as well over here and make it all the time. 😀
Love your tips on flavor combinations. Would definitely try some.
Thank you for this recipe! I find whipping the butter till “fluffy” creates a bit of flakiness in these cookies, as is visible in your images. This certainly could be a personal preference, but traditional shortbread is just well blended then more packed down, crumbly, not flaky.
Hi Laura,
Thank you for your feedback. Whipping the butter makes it flaky with tender crumbs and crumbly. I guess it’s my personal preference. If you prefer it not flaky, cream the butter till combined and go from there.
Also this recipe is for the Walker’s shortbread fingers. If you notice, that cookie has a different texture from the others in the cookie collection.
Hope that helps. Thanks for stopping by. 😊
– Chichi
These shortbread cookies are delicious and the recipe and techniques couldn’t have been easier! I did not have butter flavoring but love the buttery flavor that came through from my salted butter.
As you mentioned before the recipe, I always purchased Kirkland’s Walkers Shortbread tin but could not go out to shop for them. Alas, they were never available through shopping apps or costco.com .
Thank you for providing a wonderful option during these Covid 19 times.
Hi Christmas Carol,
Yayy!!! Happy these cookies hit the right spots on your tastebuds. Yes these literally fly off the shelves in Costco lol.
And You are very welcome. Thank you for taking out time to leave me a comment. Stay safe and well! Happy Holidays 😀
– Chichi
I sent these out as Christmas cookies and they are absolutely divine, melt in your mouth! I subbed in about 100g of the AP flour with rice flour and cornstarch. The icing sugar makes all the difference imo. Also creaming the butter and sugar till fluffy before adding the dry ingredients was a game changer. I didn’t have salted butter so just added a 1/4 tsp of kosher salt. The dough was incredibly soft and pliable so I didn’t knead it much, I just refrigerated it overnight and stuck it in the oven in the morning – worked out great! Don’t skimp on the butter!
Hi H,
Thank you for your feedback. Adding some rice flour sounds like a great idea didn’t even think of that. Love all your tips as well.
This is truly one of my best cookies lol. Happy you enjoyed 😀 stay safe and feel free to try out my other cookie recipes. I think you would love them. Stay safe 😊
– Chichi
Will your recipe work with those fancy embossed rollers?
Hi Phoebe,
Yes it should. But you would need divide the dough, wrap in serenity wrap, chill for at least 30 mins then work in batches. Let me know how it goes. Thanks for stopping by.
– Chichi
Last Christmas I never got around to making the seasonal shortbread cookies so I thought I would give this recipe a try. I just made these cookies and they are fantastic. I substituted the white sanding sugar with raw sugar because I like the larger sugar grain.
Hi Ed G.
That’s so amazing. Thank you for your feedback, happy you loved the recipe. Shortbread cookies are my favorite and to be honest I make them year round.
Nice twist with raw sugar. I should try that too. Thanks for sharing. Stay safe!
-Chichi
do you use cold butter or do you use room temp butter?
Hi Allyson,
Either would work well. Do not use melted butter though. Thanks for stopping by 😊
– Chichi
Could these be made with whole wheat flour?
Hi Cathy,
I haven’t tried these with Whole wheat flour so I am not sure if it would work. But I don’t think so I’m sorry. Happy new year 😊
– Chichi