Belgian Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 8 ounces butter (2 sticks) I used salted
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ginger
- ½ teaspoon cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- granulated sugar, cane sugar or vanilla sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
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Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
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Place soft butter in a medium-size mixing bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula until nice and smooth. Add sugar and vanilla. Stir together until well blended. Add the spices and salt and stir until the spices are evenly incorporated.
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Add the flour and cornstarch. Stir until flour is incorporated and the dough is shaggy. Generously flour a work surface. Turn the dough out onto the floured surface and knead it a few times until it’s nice and smooth and no longer sticks to the work surface. Form the dough into a ball then divide the ball in half. Form each half into a round ball. Don’t be afraid to use more flour if the dough still seems sticky. Press each half with your hands to form a disc. Set aside one disc, covered with plastic wrap or a small bowl to keep dough from drying out.
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Keeping the surface and rolling pin lightly floured, roll out dough to ¼-inch thickness. Cut desired shapes and place on prepared pans, spacing 1 inch apart. (If the cutouts seem to be sticking to the work surface, dust the surface with a little more flour.) Re-roll scraps as many times as needed to use up the dough.
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Place the pan(s) with the cutouts in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (or up to 24 hours).
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When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350˚F. Remove cookies from refrigerator and bake one sheet at a time for 15-20 minutes or until evenly golden. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 2-3 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Recipe Notes
See Café Tips above in the post for more detailed instructions and tips to ensure success.
If you prefer to use Metric measurements there is a button in each of our recipes, right above the word “Instructions”. Just click that button to toggle to grams, milliliters, etc. If you ever come across one of our recipes that doesn’t have the Metric conversion (some of the older recipes may not), feel free to leave a comment and I will add it.
These cookies are sprinkled with sugar after 10 minutes of baking. Granulated sugar, cane sugar (a little coarser) or Vanilla Sugar all work well.