4 Ingredient Shortbread

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups salted butter (softened, cut into pieces)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 300°F.

Line the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish with parchment paper. (Pro Tip: To cut parchment paper just the right size, set the dish on top of the parchment and draw around its outline with a pencil. Then cut the paper on the outline.)

Put butter and powdered sugar into a stand mixer bowl or large mixing bowl. Beat with a mixer on low speed to blend, then switch to medium speed and beat until soft and light. On low speed, beat in vanilla. Add flour one cup at a time, blending until fully combined. Scrape sides of bowl as needed.

Press dough into prepared baking dish using a flat hand and fingers until dough is a smooth, even layer about 1/2 inch thick. With a fork, dock dough across the short side of the dish in lines about 1 inch apart. Freeze dish for 5 minutes. (Pro Tip: Shortbread cookie dough should be cold before it goes into the oven to help keep its shape.)

Bake shortbread on middle rack of oven until golden brown, 40-50 minutes. Check to see that shortbread is done. Remove from oven or add time as needed. Cool shortbread on a cooling rack for 5 minutes.

Starting from a long side, cut shortbread in the dish into 1-inch strips. Working from a short side, cut strips in quarters to create rectangular cookies. Let cool completely in dish, about 2 hours. (Pro Tip: After cooling, if the shortbread pieces in the center of the dish aren’t quite as done as you’d like, transfer them to a 9-inch square pan and bake at 300° about 15 minutes.)

Gently remove cookies from dish using a small offset spatula. Serve cookies, or store in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 week, or freeze in an airtight container up to 3 months.