Ready for Christmas Whipped Shortbread Cookies

Print Recipe

5 from 9 votes

Ready for Christmas Whipped Shortbread Cookies

Whipped shortbread is fun because it's more of a drop cookie than a traditionally rolled and cut shortbread.

Prep Time15

Total Bake Time12

Total Time27

Course: Cookies, Holiday, No-Eggs

Cuisine: American

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: cookies

Calories: 83kcal

Ingredients

1 cup (227 g) Butter unsalted room temperature
1 ½ cups (187.5 g) All-purpose flour
¼ cup (32 g) Corn starch
½ cup (60 g) Powdered sugar
½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) Vanilla Extract
Candied Cherries Cut in half as many as needed

Instructions

To start I cut my cherries in half and set them aside. If your oven takes a while to come up to temperature turn it on now to preheat (mine always needs about 25 min to reach the correct temperature).
Weigh out your flour, corn starch, powered sugar and sift together into a bowl and set it aside.
Add your butter to a stand mixer (I use a KitchenAid Stand Mixer). Beat till light and fluffy. It could take 3 or 4 minutes on medium to medium-high speed.
Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and just turn the mixer back on to blend in all the butter. Add vanilla extract and blend till incorporated. Turn off the mixer and add the entire bowl of the dry mixture (flour, corn starch, and powdered sugar). Turn your mixer on low so you can blend the dry into the buttercream. If you turn it on a higher speed you will end up with flour everywhere.
After it is blended together turn the mixer on high to whip the dough till light and fluffy and it becomes just a little stiff. You need to be able to roll this into balls. You will want to have ungreased and unlined cookie pans ready.
I take a teaspoon and scoop out enough dough to make a 1" to 1 ½" ball. I got 12 on a cookie sheet. Just make them consistent whichever size you choose. I take a small bowl and add just a little flour to it and using a fork dip it into the flour. Tap off the excess flour and press down on each ball just enough to make fork lines. The flour helps the fork from sticking. Take a half cherry and press into the cookie middle slightly.
Bake at 350°F (175°C or 180°C) for 12-14 minutes. Leave on the cookie pan for 5 minutes after pulling from the oven. They will look pale on top but just slightly golden brown on the bottom. I left mine in the oven till I just saw the bottom edge turn a little golden. After transferring to a cooling rack leave them there for at least 45 minutes if you handle them when they are still warm they will crumble. Since they are whipped they have a lot of air in them so they need to sit for a little while. I add some powdered sugar on top just to make them pretty.

Notes

These cookies are really like air since they are whipped. They need to stay on the pan for at least 5 minutes after you pull them out of the oven. If you try and move them too soon to a cooling rack they will crumble. They need time to cool down. :-)

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