These simple 6-ingredient brown sugar shortbread cookies are a sweet, flavorful take on traditional shortbread. Made in 1 bowl without eggs or leavening, this buttery shortbread is soft yet dense with crisp, crumbly edges. We’ll use the simple slice-and-bake method, which helps guarantee thick cookies. No rolling pin required!
Brown Sugar Shortbread Is Back & Better
I used to have a recipe for brown sugar shortbread cookies on my site, but removed it because readers were reporting that their cookies always overspread. But there must have been something about those cookies that many liked, because it is the most frequently requested “old recipe” I get asked for!
So my team and I decided to give the recipe another try, and see if we could solve the overspreading problem and improve this recipe. After a few test batches, we determined that reducing the amounts of butter and sugar made the biggest difference. I’m happy to report that this recipe for brown sugar shortbread cookies is BACK, and truly better than ever!
Some of my other favorites include these flavored cherry almond shortbread, pecan shortbread, lemon shortbread, & chocolate pistachio shortbread.
Why You’ll Be Glad This Cookie Recipe Is Making a Comeback
- A 1-bowl cookie recipe
- Only 6 ingredients total
- Brown sugar flavor with a shortbread texture
- Thick, dense, and buttery with crisp/crumbly edges
- Coated in sparkly, sweet, crunchy coarse sugar
- Easy slice-and-bake style
- Great make-ahead cookie recipe
Just 5 Ingredients for Brown Sugar Shortbread Dough
Shortbread cookies don’t require eggs or leavening agents, which makes the ingredient list super short! All you need for the dough is:
- Butter: Make sure to start with proper room-temperature butter. While a traditional shortbread has twice as much butter as it has sugar, these are brown sugar shortbread cookies, so the flavor emphasis is more on the brown sugar. Expect a sweeter cookie than these shortbread wedge cookies or almond crescent cookies.
- Brown Sugar: You can use light or dark brown sugar, or a mix of both.
- Vanilla Extract: Feel free to use homemade vanilla extract here!
- Flour: All-purpose flour provides the cookies’ structure.
- Salt: A little salt balances out the sweet.
You’ll also need a coarse sugar, such as coarse sparkling sugar or turbinado sugar (like Sugar in the Raw), to roll the cookie dough logs in. This gives the edges of your cookies a dazzling sparkle, as well as a sweet crunch.
How to Make Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies
Make the cookie dough in 1 bowl. Beat butter and sugar together until very creamy. If you need some extra guidance on this step, here is my tutorial on how to cream butter and sugar. Next, beat in the vanilla, then add the dry ingredients. The dough will be very crumbly, and you will probably need to finish bringing it together with your hands.
This is what it will look like:
Pour it out onto a work surface, and squeeze the dough together with your hands until it forms a thick dough. If it’s still too crumbly and not sticking together, try getting your hands wet or sprinkling a few drops of water onto the dough. That should do the trick!
Roll into logs. Divide the dough in half on a floured work surface. Do your best to roll each half into a log.
Roll the logs into coarse sugar. This sparkly coating makes for pretty cookies, but also gives the most fantastic sweet crunch—you’ll love the texture addition! You can use coarse sparkling sugar or something like Sugar In The Raw.
Chill the logs. Wrap each log in plastic wrap, then chill for at least 4 hours. A long chill time is mandatory for these “icebox”-style cookies.
Slice & bake. Slice each log into about 12 cookies, arrange on cookie sheets, and bake.
A Great Make-Ahead Cookie Recipe
Slice-and-bake, aka icebox, cookies are particularly suited to making ahead of time because the dough logs need to chill for at least 4 hours minimum, but can also hang out in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
So make the dough in advance, and then when you’re ready for fresh-baked cookies, simply pull one of the dough logs out, slice, and bake!
Planning to make a lot of cookies at the holidays, and want to get ahead? Make several batches of slice-and-bake cookie dough and freeze the dough logs for up to 3 months. I have a full tutorial, including a video, on how to freeze cookie dough with all the details.
More Icebox-Style Cookies to Slice & Bake
- Icebox Slice & Bake Cookies (1 Dough, 5 Flavors!)
- Pecan Shortbread
- Sprinkle Slice & Bake Cookies
- Cranberry Orange Icebox Cookies (my favorite!)
- Pinwheel Cookies
- Cinnamon Roll Cookies
- Pumpkin Spice Roll Cookies
You can browse all of my shortbread & icebox cookie recipes here. And here are more one-bowl baking recipes to try.
Print
Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies
- Prep Time: 4 hours, 30 minutes (includes dough chilling)
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours, 45 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These simple 6-ingredient brown sugar shortbread cookies are a sweet, flavorful take on traditional shortbread. Made in 1 bowl without eggs or leavening, this buttery shortbread is soft yet dense with crisp, crumbly edges. Careful not to over-bake these. No rolling pin required!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For Rolling
- 1/2 cup (100g) coarse sugar (such as this or Sugar in the Raw)
Instructions
- In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar together on medium-high speed until completely smooth and creamy. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) Add the vanilla and beat until combined.
- Add the flour and salt and beat on low speed until incorporated. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and beat until the dough comes together. If the dough is too crumbly and won’t come together after a couple minutes of beating, stop the mixer, pour the dough crumbles on a work surface, and use your hands to bring it together. (I often have to do this, so don’t worry.) You can also try sprinkling the dough with a few drops of water and then beat again; or get your hands wet, then press the dough clumps together tightly until it forms one large clump of thick dough.
- With lightly floured hands, divide the dough in two. (If you want to be precise, the dough should weigh about 650g, so each half will be about 325g.) Roll and shape each piece of dough into an 8-inch log.
- For Rolling: Pour coarse sugar onto a large plate. One at a time, roll the logs in the sugar until the exterior is fully coated.
- Tightly wrap the logs in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours and up to 5 days. Chilling is mandatory for this cookie dough. I always chill mine overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) Set aside.
- Remove logs from the refrigerator. Slice each log into 12 equally thick cookies and place cookies on baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies for 14–16 minutes, or until set and lightly browned around the edges. Do not over-bake. Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.
- Cover and store leftover cookies at room temperature for up to 1 week. After day 1, the cookies will taste crunchier.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Baked cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature, if desired, before serving. You can make/assemble the cookie dough logs and chill in the refrigerator for up to 5 days (see step 5). Cookie dough logs freeze well too, up to 3 months. Allow the logs to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then continue with step 6. See How to Freeze Cookie Dough if you’d like to see a video tutorial for freezing various types of doughs.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Coarse Sparkling Sugar | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack
- Old Version: The old recipe called for: 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1 cup (2 sticks; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature; 1 cup (200g) packed light brown sugar; 1/3 cup (67g) packed dark brown sugar; 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract; optional: 2/3 cup (135g) coarse sugar, for rolling. Same baking instructions. The cookies usually over-spread, so I updated the amounts of ingredients.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
These are the bomb! I have an egg allergy so don’t get cookies since my grandmother passed away. These taste just like hers, and Ive tried quite a few looking for one like hers.
She made hard candy and kept it in a beautiful glass jar, and would take out several pieces and put in the grinder to crush them and roll the logs in that, butterscotch usually.
Thank you so much for the recipe, I’ll be in cookie heaven now!!
Can this dough be rolled out and cut into shapes?
Hi Gloria! We don’t recommend it. Here’s our brown sugar cut-out cookies recipe.
Too dry, so had to add more butter
Hi Anne! How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
These are very good with coffee or tea! The dough was alarmingly crumbly at first but came together after a couple minutes of mixing. I used wax paper to roll up the log and that worked really well. Stuck it in the freezer for a couple hours and had no spreading at all. I made half with sugar coating and half without. I liked them better without it.
Tasty! I made these a couple of days ago. My issue with a brown sugar shortbread is always that it is hard to tell when they need to come out of the oven because of the color they have going in – it doesn’t change much! I felt like my first tray was in too long – they were too hard. I cut the bake time by a minute for the second tray and that was better. Love the coarse sugar exterior!
Why did my cookies spread out flat when baked?
Hi Tina, Flat cookies are usually caused by butter that is too warm or under measuring flour, even if they are sufficiently chilled. This post on how to prevent cookies from spreading will also be a helpful resource.
These are a fun twist on regular shortbread. I mixed 3 parts light and 1 part dark brown sugar and they ended with a lovely hint of molasses to them. I couldn’t find coarse sugar anywhere (guess it’s not a thing in Australia?) so substituted the same ratio of regular light and dark brown sugar to roll my cookies in, and found that it worked a treat. My only critique is that this dough is pretty finicky. I measured all my ingredients by weight so know they were correct. Yet when I split the dough in two, one ball rolled out immaculately and the other rebelled against the cause and turned refused to stay together. I suspect this was due to using slightly more flour on my counter for the second lot when rolling. I found I needed a thin layer to help roll (my countertops are evil, yours may not need this) and added slightly more for the second lot. The difference was minimal, so the fact that it made such a difference to the dough indicates this is a temperamental, less forgiving dough than your average cookie. It fixed up fine by wetting my hands a couple of times as suggested when rolling, but I can see why some of the commenters may have found their dough less cooperative if they had larger ingredient ratio discrepancies.
Perfect recipe for kids! My 7 year old daughter made these cookies herself. They were a delicious project to share
What could I uses instead of the coarse sugar? Or do you have to coat it.
Hi Emily, you can skip the coarse sugar coating. Or use finely chopped nuts or sprinkles.
This recipe is so easy and delicious and is a new addition to our Christmas cookie gift boxes that my daughter and I make each year!
Throughout the re joe at different points it says it’s 6 ingredients (1st line and other places) and others it says 5 (by photo of ingredients)
Hi Amanda, with the coarse sugar, it is 6 ingredients. The dough requires just 5.
I love the pecan shortbread cookies and I just mixed up the dough for this one. Logs are chilling. I have trouble getting the sparkling sugar and/or pecans (on the other recipe) to stick to the logs. Do you have any tips?
Hi Judy, if the sugar or pecans are not sticking, you can lightly brush the exterior of the dough logs with a little water or with beaten egg white.
These cookies are excellent! The dough was a little tricky to work with but the end result was excellent! Using brown sugar gave these cookies a unique flavour that was loved by all! I will definitely make these again!
Hi! My dough seems super hard out of the refrigerator….it has been chilling for 4 days. Do I need to let it warm prior to cutting and baking or do these go straight in the oven out of the refrigerator? Thank you!!
Hi Amy! If you can slice them, go ahead and do so and bake them from there. If they seem too hard to slice you can let them sit a bit first.
This dough was a pain! I stopped adding flour at the 2 cup mark and needed to add probably 1/4 cup of water to get it to come together. They’re in the fridge now but I’m not optimistic
Hi Diane, how did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t over measured. It sounds like there may have been too much flour in your dough, especially if you stopped at 2 cups and had to use that much water to bring it together. The dough should just need a few sprinkles of water if it seems too dry.
Update on earlier comment (which hasn’t been posted yet)… I spread the dough in an 8×8 square pan, baked at 350 for about 30 minutes. Scored the shortbread into 36 pieces while still hot. Once cooled, it came out of the pan easily. It tastes great–bottom and sides crispy, center a little chewy (not really shortbread texture, but pleasing). I will try the recipe again, and know I have a work around if it doesn’t come together as expected.
Hi Kathryn! I don’t see any previous comment/question from you, my sincere apologies! Maybe it was marked as spam and removed? Would you mind asking again? Regardless, I’m glad that the recipe worked well for you in the 8-inch square pan.
Mine came out hard on the outside and chewy on the inside. Not shortbread-like at all. And the flavor was just ok.
First time your recipe has not turned out. Log would not cut even though it was in the fridge the required time . Just crumbled.♀️
Hi Jackie, how did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t over measured, which can dry out the cookies and make them more difficult to slice.
I did that exactly . I ended up putting them in a a round cake pan and pressing it in a bit baked and cut it into triangles . Thanks for the feedback.
It’s true that the dough isn’t easy to work with, but these turned out really good. So delicious. I didn’t have Sugar in the Raw, but I had course sparkle sugar. It was hard to make it stick to the dough so most of it fell off, but it worked ok. I am guessing the issue with them getting too hard is probably due to over baking. 13-14 minutes worked for me with my gas oven. They didn’t look done at first, but then I saw the edges were a little brown. After sitting on the pan for 8 minutes, they were perfect when I moved them to the rack. I made them last night and I had one this morning with my coffee, expecting them to be hard, but they were just crisp on the edges and nice and soft. Still wonderful!
I was so excited to try this recipe…I have to say I’ve never had one of the cookie recipes from this site not turn out. My dough was so crumbly, even with your suggestions for working with dry dough, I could not get it to come together. So I have delicious cookie crumbles for ice cream or yogurt topping. I made 2 modifications: used 1/2 c brown sugar plus 1/2 c toffee bits and gluten free 1:1 flour. One of those changes could have been the problem. The flavor is wonderful!
I made this recipe yesterday and tasted the cookies while they were still warm. They were soft and delicious. When they had cooled completely I tasted the cookies again. They were really hard. I was so disappointed. Your timing says 14-16 minutes. I chose 14 minutes. What do you think happened?
Hi Edie, they crisp up as they cool. That is completely normal and expected for this type of shortbread cookie.
Delicious cookie especially for tea. I’m a big fan of brown sugar and the flavour comes through. I think I may have over baked a touch since the inside didn’t drop like in the picture. Looking forward to getting reviews from my family this weekend. Likely will add to my Christmas baking list.
Would you recommend this recipe to make thumbprint cookies?
Hi Sarah, no, I do not recommend it. Instead, try these caramel apple spice thumbprint cookies or these peanut butter jam thumbprints.
These are amazing!! I made them exactly as the “updated” recipe is written (refrigerated them for a little bit less than 4 hours because of time constraints on my end, but still a good amount of time) and they turned out PERFECTLY. They were even delicious the next day (after being in an air tight container). Total win of a recipe and so easy!
These remind me of a shortbread cookie (w/regular sugar) my Scottish neighbor used to make. She baked her cookies in a 8 inch square pan. Can these cookies be baked in a square pan, as well?
Hi Liz! I’m sure they can without a problem! I would use this dough and then use my shortbread wedge cookies baking instructions.
Does that lovely little rim around the edges of these delicious sounding cookies just happen fortuitously, or have you pressed the cookies with a glass bottom or something?
Hi John, the edges are quite thick and after cooling, the centers slightly sink down. You do not need to press them down!
These cookies sound delicious. The question I have is how do you get that little ridge around the edge of the cookies?
Hi Debra! You’ll roll the sides in coarse sugar. The cookies are quite thick and after cooling, the centers slightly sink down. You do not need to press them down or anything!
Have you tried this without the coarse sugar ? My family isn’t into the crunchy feel of it.
Hi Pam, you could leave the coarse sugar off the sides of the cookies if you wish. Hope your family enjoys the cookies!
Can I add chocolate chips or chunks as soon as they come out of the oven? Thanks as always for great tasting recipes.
Hi Jeannie, you could press in some chocolate chips or chunks after they are removed from the oven. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
This is a strange question but here goes. In your infinite baking wisdom do you think this recipe can be baked into a pie crust? I have been using a pre made short bread crust for pumpkin pie and the brown sugar twist sounds like a delicious pairing!
Hi Meg! Not a strange question. I don’t see this as a successful pie crust; I fear it’s just going to be too soft. But let me know if you try it. I have not!
Do you think this would work baked in a shortbread pan? I have an older one and always looking for recipes to use it with. Love your recipes btw.
I can’t see why not! Thank you so much. Let me know if you try it.
Has anyone adjusted this recipe for gluten free?
I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but I love Sally’s Shortbread Wedges, and I have made that one with gluten free flour. It comes out a tiny bit more crumbly than with wheat flour, but just as delicious.