Brown Sugar Shortbread

These rich, brown sugar shortbread cookies are a great variation to the classic shortbread cookies. They are so easy, anyone can make them!

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These brown sugar shortbread are truly classic shortbread cookies with a twist. Using only 3 ingredients, these shortbread can be rolled and cut into any shape and make great cookies for gifting too!

A stack of round cookies tied in blue ribbon

I love these brown sugar shortbread. They are a simple variation to my classic 3 ingredient shortbread here and are absolutely easy to make.

Making these brown sugar shortbread is exactly the same as making my classic shortbread. They require only 3 basic ingredients, and those are flour, butter and brown sugar.

In the classic shortbread recipe, the ratio of flour, butter, and sugar is 3:2:1. For these brown sugar shortbread, however, the same ratio cannot be applied. Sugar needs to be increased slightly as brown sugar tends to be less sweet than white sugar, hence needs to be adjusted accordingly.

Other than that, this brown sugar shortbread dough is mixed in the same way as my classic version. For these cookies, however, I choose to roll and cut them into circles instead of bars.

These eggless cookies are absolutely rich and buttery and have a lovely crumbly, melt in your mouth texture, just like how shortbread are meant to be. Try them!

How to Make Brown Sugar Shortbread

Ingredients

Plain flour
Butter (salted)
Brown sugar
Vanilla Essence

Mixing the shortbread dough

A poster of 4 images showing how to mix shortbread dough

Measure flour into a bowl. Add in the butter.
Mix both until they become crumbly. You can mix them with a cake mixer or rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the butter is all mixed into the flour and the mixture is crumbly. Add in the brown sugar and vanilla essence.
Mix until well combined. You can do with with the mixer or a large spoon. Make sure it’s well distributed with the butter and flour.
Turn it out onto a clean workspace and press it together to form a dough. Do not knead the dough, suffice if you press it together into a ball.

Rolling and shaping the brown sugar shortbread

A poster of 4 images showing how to roll and cut a cookie dough into round cookies

Divide the dough into smaller sections (for easy rolling and cutting). Place the brown sugar shortbread dough in between 2 sheets of parchment paper. And roll it to the desired thickness. For consistency, I always place 2 dowel rods on either side of my dough, making sure they are positioned within the width of my rolling pin.
And I literally roll on the dowel rods. That way, my shortbread dough does not get any flatter than the diameter of the dowel rods, which is the thickness I want for my cookies. You can also use rolling pin guide rings to help in rolling the dough to a consistent thickness.
Use a round cutter to cut the cookies.
Use a spatula to lift them off the parchment paper onto a lined baking tray.

Design on the shortbread

A poster of 6 images showing how to make hole pattern on a round cookie

I decorated my shortbread circles with simple dots around the edges using the back of my cake decorating brush.
For consistently spaced holes, start with 4 holes in each quarter of the circle.
Next, add one hole in between each of the 4 holes. You should have 8 holes.
And finally, add one hole in between all the 8 holes.
That should give you 16, equally spaced out holes on each of the cookies. If your cookies are smaller, you can reduce the number of holes, it’s entirely up to you. The cookies don’t rise during baking, so it is ok to put them close to one another (so long as they are not touching one another).
Bake the shortbread for about 10 minutes until the sides start turning golden brown. Remove them from the oven and let them cool completely on a wire rack before serving. Store leftovers in an airtight container.

Recipe Notes

Can you use unsalted butter?

The butter I used in this shortbread recipe is salted. You can use unsalted butter too, but remember to add about ¼ tsp fine salt when rubbing in the flour and the butter.

Can the brown sugar be replaced with white sugar?

These shortbread are called brown sugar shortbread for a reason – for the use of brown sugar. However, if you wish to make them with white sugar, the amount of sugar used must be adjusted as brown sugar tends to be less sweet than white sugar. You can use my 3 ingredients shortbread recipe here if you want to use white sugar.

How to avoid the dough from sticking to the rolling pin when rolling?

The best way to avoid the dough from sticking to the rolling pin is to roll it between 2 sheets of parchment paper.
And when lifting the cut shortbread onto baking trays, use a spatula or an icing scraper to move the shortbread. This is really helpful in retaining the cookie sizes as you move them.

Do you need to space the cookies out on the baking tray

This recipe does not call for the use of any leavening agents. Hence the cookies do not rise during baking. They do puff up a little, but it’s almost negligible. Hence, when placing these cookies in a baking tray for baking, you can place them near to one another. A mere gap of about 1cm to 2 cm is sufficient, for easy handling.

Why are the cookies sometimes not crumbly?

To ensure the shortbread turns out crispy and crumbly, do not overmix the dough after adding in the sugar. Suffice if you press it together to form a ball. Working the dough for too long causes the gluten in the flour to become stretchy, and there is a tendency for your shortbread to lose their crumbly texture. They will still be crispy, but not crumbly.

Why are the cookies not crispy?

If your shortbread is not crispy, it could be due to them being underbaked.
The baking time indicated in the recipe card below is for round cookies measuring approximately 4cm. The thickness is about ½ cm. If your cookies are larger or thicker than this, the baking time would need to be increased accordingly. And if they are smaller, then the time needs to be reduced as such.

How to store the brown sugar shortbread

This brown sugar shortbread recipe yields cookies that last well. I have tried keeping them for 3 weeks, and they were fine. Just remember to store them in an airtight container to retain their crispiness.