Description
These Christmas Shortbread Bites are buttery, tender cookies speckled with festive colored nonpareils, perfect for holiday celebrations and gifting. The delicate almond extract enhances their flavor, making them a classic seasonal treat that's easy to make and fun to customize with your favorite sprinkles.
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
- 3 teaspoons Christmas colored nonpareils (sprinkles)
Instructions
- Preheat Oven and Prepare Pan: Heat your oven to 325°F. Line an 8 or 9-inch baking dish with plastic wrap or parchment paper and set it aside.
- Cream Butter Mixture: In a bowl of an electric mixer, combine the softened butter, powdered sugar, and almond extract. Beat until creamy, scraping the bowl often to ensure even mixing. Then turn off the mixer.
- Add Flour and Salt: Slowly add the all-purpose flour and kosher salt, a little at a time. Beat gently until the dough begins to form. Be patient as the dough comes together.
- Incorporate Sprinkles: Stir in the Christmas colored nonpareils evenly to distribute the festive colors throughout the dough.
- Knead and Shape Dough: Knead the dough a few times to form a ball. Press the dough evenly into the prepared pan, smoothing it gently with your hands.
- Chill Dough: Place the pan with dough in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to firm it up for easier cutting.
- Cut Dough into Squares: Remove the dough from the pan using the plastic wrap or parchment paper as a lift onto a cutting board. Cut the dough into ½-inch squares carefully.
- Arrange Squares on Baking Sheets: Place the cut squares on ungreased cookie sheets, spacing them slightly apart to prevent sticking.
- Bake Cookies: Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes, or until the cookies turn slightly browned at the edges. Watch closely as they can brown quickly.
- Cool and Serve: Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool before serving. Enjoy your festive Christmas Shortbread Bites!
Notes
- You can substitute almond extract with vanilla extract; if using vanilla, use ½ teaspoon for an 8x8-inch pan.
- If using salted butter, omit the added kosher salt in the recipe.
- To make a larger batch in a 9×13-inch pan, simply double all ingredient amounts.
- For extra festive flair, sprinkle additional nonpareils on top of the dough before baking.
- Measure flour by scooping with a tablespoon into the measuring cup and leveling it off with a butter knife for accuracy.
- Customize sprinkles to match different holidays: red and green for Christmas, blue for Hanukkah, red and pink for Valentine’s Day, green for St. Patrick’s Day.
- For a variation, try chocolate chip shortbread by using a chocolate chip recipe instead.
- If short on time, you can skip the chilling step, but chilled dough is easier to cut cleanly.
- See the blog post for additional tips and recipe tricks.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 mini cookie
- Calories: 40 kcal
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 15 mg
- Fat: 3 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 1 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 4 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 0.3 g
- Cholesterol: 7 mg
