Melt-in-your-mouth buttery shortbread sets the stage for a variety of flavors perfect for winter gatherings, or pair some with a warm mug of your favorite morning beverage. This simple shortbread recipe can be baked into a delicious vanilla cookie (aka biscuit, for you “Ted Lasso” fans), or used as a recipe for mixing up a batch of shortbread variations to delight your taste buds. We’ve altered the recipe to make batches of matcha, orange, and chocolate shortbread, an eye-catching trio of festive seasonal treats.

The simple, elegant Butter Shortbread Cookie recipe makes pliable, easily workable dough that can be patterned with the use of old-fashioned stamps and cookie molds—or baked in a baking pan scored into traditional shortbread squares.

Butter Shortbread Cookies

Makes 16–20 cookies or biscuits, enough cookie dough for two shortbread molds or 9- by 9-inch pans, or 16 stamped cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.

2. In a stand mixer, combine the flour, cornstarch, sugar, butter and egg yolk. If using any add-ins to flavor the dough, include them at this step as well. On low speed, use the paddle attachment to mix the ingredients into a cohesive dough with the texture of Play-Doh—this should take about 3–4 minutes.

3. To bake in a pan or shortbread mold: Press half of the shortbread dough into a lightly greased 9- by 9-inch baking pan or shortbread mold. If using a baking pan, score the dough into 9 cookies, cutting down about ⅓ of the way through the dough to score the bars. Whether using a decorative shortbread mold or a baking pan, prick the surface of the dough all over with a fork.

4. Bake the cookies for 20–25 minutes, until they are turning a light golden brown around the edges of the pan.

5. Let the cookies cool in the mold for 10 minutes, then gently flip them over onto a cooling rack. Wash and dry the pan or shortbread mold, lightly grease it once again, then bake the second batch.

6. Let the cookies cool to room temperature (about 1 hour), break apart along their scored lines or as indicated by the pattern of the shortbread mold.

7. To make stamped cookies: Using a 2½-tablespoon cookie scoop, portion out 16 scoops of dough, roll each one into a smooth ball and place them on bare cookie sheets, 8 to a sheet. They should be at least 2 inches apart.

8. Lightly flour a cookie stamp, tap off the excess and press it firmly onto a ball of dough, until the dough has spread all the way out to the edges of the stamp. Rock the cookie stamp back and forth gently and lift it off. Flour it again between stamping out each cookie. If you like, you can use a paring knife to trim the edges of the cookies, for cleaner edges.

9. Bake the cookies for 9–11 minutes, until they are just turning golden brown around the edges. Let them cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheets, then transfer them to a cooling rack and let cool to room temperature.

Recipe Variations:

If baking another shortbread variation—see below for Chocolate, Orange, Matcha shortbread recipe exchanges—you can substitute vanilla extract with another extract or fluid, along with adding other ingredients as noted below.

Fragrant Orange Shortbread

Omit ½ teaspoon vanilla, add ¼ teaspoon orange flower water + zest of ½ navel orange

Chocolate–Chocolate Chip Shortbread:

Add additional ½ teaspoon vanilla extract + 2 tablespoons cocoa powder + ¼ cup mini chocolate chips

Matcha Green Tea Shortbread:

Omit ½ teaspoon vanilla, add 1 tablespoon culinary-grade matcha green tea powder