Buttery Cardamom Shortbread (Printable)

Delicate shortbread infused with cardamom and vanilla for a melt-in-your-mouth texture and buttery flavor.

# What You'll Need:

→ Dry Ingredients

01 - 2 cups all-purpose flour
02 - 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
03 - 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

→ Wet Ingredients

04 - 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
05 - 2/3 cup powdered sugar
06 - 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

# How to Make It:

01 - Preheat oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
02 - In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, ground cardamom, and salt until evenly distributed.
03 - In a large bowl, beat softened butter and powdered sugar together until light and creamy, approximately 2 minutes.
04 - Mix vanilla extract into the creamed butter mixture.
05 - Gradually add dry ingredients to the butter mixture, blending until a soft dough forms.
06 - Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to 1/2-inch thickness.
07 - Cut dough into rounds or desired shapes using a cookie cutter. Place cookies on prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart.
08 - Bake for 18-20 minutes until the edges are pale golden brown.
09 - Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

# Expert Hints:

01 -
  • They melt on your tongue in the most embarrassing way, disappearing before you even realize you've eaten three.
  • Cardamom is fancy enough to impress, but the recipe is so forgiving that even a tired Wednesday baking session turns out beautifully.
02 -
  • If your butter was too warm when you started, your dough will be soft and oily, and your cookies will spread too much and taste greasy, so really do let that butter sit on the counter until it's soft but still holds a fingerprint.
  • Baking temperature matters tremendously here because 325°F creates the gentle, even bake that keeps these cookies pale and tender, while a hotter oven will brown them too fast and dry them out.
03 -
  • Use a bench scraper when rolling out the dough because it prevents you from adding too much flour and also makes moving the rolled dough easier.
  • If you want them all the same size, use a ruler to mark the dough into a grid before cutting, which takes two minutes and results in cookies that bake evenly and look professional.
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