Vanilla Bean Shortbread Cookies are a simple, buttery, and utterly delicious cookie perfect for afternoon tea, an after school snack, or any occasion.
vanilla bean shortbread cookies are subtle but delicious!
If you’re looking for a soft spoken, elegant cookie to pair with coffee or tea, look no further than vanilla bean shortbread cookies. These demure cookies speak in the hushed tones of floral vanilla bean, they quietly crunch and then melt away in your mouth. After you eat one or two, you’ll wonder why you’d ever need anything else in a cookie.
5 simple ingredients for vanilla shortbread
- butter ~ I use unsalted
- sugar ~ confectioner’s or granulated
- flour ~ all purpose
- vanilla bean
- vanilla extract
easy step by step for making vanilla bean shortbread dough
- Cream the butter and sugar along with the vanilla and vanilla bean seeds. This can be done by hand, or with electric beaters, or in a stand mixer.
- Blend in the flour until a soft crumbly dough comes together.
- You can chill the dough in a disk for cut-out cookies, or in a log form for slice and bake cookies.
more shortbread please
- Lemon Shortbread
- How to Make Pansy Topped Shortbread Cookies
- Sparkly Strawberry Shortbread Cookies
- Chocolate Dipped Orange Shortbread Cookies
- Lilac Sugar Shortbread
- Butter Pecan Shortbread
Vanilla Bean Shortbread Tea Cookies
Vanilla Bean Shortbread Cookies are a simple, buttery, and utterly delicious cookie perfect for afternoon tea, an after school snack, or any occasion.
Servings: 24 cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
- seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean, or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 2 cups all purpose flour
Instructions
- Set oven to 350F.
- Cream the sugar and butter together with the vanilla and the vanilla bean seeds. Blend in the flour. Keep stirring until the dough comes together.
- Turn the soft dough out onto a floured surface and for into two disks, like for pie dough. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about an hour.
- Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick and cut out the cookies. Place them on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet.
- Put the baking sheet in the refrigerator while you clean up.
- Bake the cookies for about 13 minutes until firm.
- Cool on a rack.
Nutrition
Calories: 117 kcal · Carbohydrates: 11 g · Protein: 1 g · Fat: 8 g · Saturated Fat: 5 g · Trans Fat: 1 g · Cholesterol: 20 mg · Sodium: 1 mg · Potassium: 14 mg · Fiber: 1 g · Sugar: 3 g · Vitamin A: 236 IU · Calcium: 4 mg · Iron: 1 mg
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
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and i am so glad i finally switched over to using vanilla bean paste instead of pods–far cheaper!!! and just a tasty!
As I sit here drinking my cup of Jasmine tea and cookie-less, I’m salivating over these cookies. Can’t wait to try them!
Such a lovely cookie and I like your blue and white accessories!
These look super amazing! I can’t ever, ever, ever have too many shortbread recipes! This one will most definitely go into my collection! Would it be okay if took the blue tea cups too? I love those, so pretty!
I actually make a variety of vanilla bean shortbread that is my favorite! But yours are different than mine…and they do look so demure and dainty sitting there. I’ll be trying yours next time!
I’ll check your blog to see if you’ve posted them…I’d love to try another version. I’ve become such a vanilla fiend this year that I’m going to buy some beans in bulk.
Aloha! I love all types of shortbread but have never made a recipe with confectioner’s sugar — can’t wait to try this one!
Can you confirm if it’s 1 pound or 2 sticks of butter, please? I thought there were 4 sticks in pound.
Mahalo!
This recipe calls for 1 cup of butter.
How beautiful are these? I love all the vanilla bean specks. I’ll be that the confectioners sugar makes these super tender. Drool.
You can use either kind of sugar, and I also like the kind of sandy texture that regular sugar gives them. I sometimes alternate.
I never make shortbread in favor of the more ooey and gooey type cookies. I need to change that up. The flavor in these is right up my alley.
Well, luckily there’s room in this world for shortbread AND the ooey gooey cookies 😉
My favorite kind of cookies..So pretty w/ blue and white:)
OMG, I posted a photo in the sidebar of my blog of the most wonderful little bird cookie pictures….I do believe your cookies would be the perfect base, and I KNOw I can easily convert to gluten free!