German Shortbread Cookies - Heidesand

"Heidesand" cookies are traditional German brown butter Shortbread cookies. But don't be fooled by their basic look! The browned butter and the fact that they're made without eggs give them a very unique buttery soft and tender texture. These are one of my all-time favorite holiday cookies!

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You can find these German shortbread cookies all year long in different flavor variations, in small and in large, in German bakeries. However, The Christmas season is cookie season and these easy-to-make Christmas cookies are a staple for my family during the holidays.

They pair wonderfully with a hot tea, coffee, hot cocoa or a glass of mulled wine 😉 This shortbread recipe can also easily be modified, by adding chocolate chips, Matcha, cocoa, ginger and lemon for a zesty twist.

Why we love this Shortbread Recipe

• Super easy to make and therefore perfect to bake with the kids.
• The recipe can easily be modified for different flavors.
• These cookies are egg-free.
• Unique texture that will amaze you.
• Dough stores well in the fridge and freezer.

What you need

Here are the ingredients you'll need to make these German brown butter cookies. All detailed measurements can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.👇

Butter is the most important ingredient for this recipe and these cookies need lots of it. We need good quality, unsalted butter to make these shortbread cookies. I cannot recommend any alternative, since it would change the taste and possibly texture of the cookies significantly.

Sugar - some traditional recipes suggest the butter-sugar ratio to be 1:1. I personally find that too sweet and therefore use less sugar. However, you can increase the amount of sugar up to 1:1 butter to sugar.

As for Flour, I use unbleached all-purpose flour. Any all-purpose flour will work just fine for this recipe.

We also need a little bit of Milk for the texture. You can use, almond, coconut, soy or oat milk instead.

A small amount of Baking Powder. Can be left out if not available.

Some Vanilla Extract for the flavor. I personally prefer extract from vanilla pods instead of artificial flavoring. You can use vanilla sugar instead.

A pinch of Salt to make the flavors pop.

How to make it

These shortbread cookies are very easy to make, simply follow the instructions and the step-by-step pictures below:

1. Place a pot on the stove. On medium heat, melt the butter slowly until it turns gold brown and starts to smell fragrant.
2. Remove the butter from the heat and transfer to a heat resistant bowl. Let it cool down for approximately 1 hour until it has reached room temperature.
3. Add the sugar, vanilla extract, milk and salt to the butter and mix using the hand mixer until creamy.
4. Next, add the flour and baking powder gradually and continue to mix on medium power. The dough mix will be very crumbly.

5. Subsequently, continue to knead the dough with your hands until all ingredients are mixed well.
6. Split the dough into 3 even parts. Out of each part, form a roll that is roughly 1 ¼ inch / 2.5 cm thick and wrap it in plastic wrap or aluminum foil.
7. Let the cookie dough rolls chill in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours, alternatively overnight.
8. Preheat the oven to 360℉ / 180 ℃. Take the shortbread dough rolls out of the fridge and remove the wrap. Cut the dough into roughly ¼ inch / 6mm thick slices and place the cookie dough slices on a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven until the outside corners turn slightly golden.

Tip! If the dough is too brittle to cut, let it sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before proceeding. The butter is too cold and the dough will fall apart. Allowing the cookie dough to warm up slightly will solve the problem.

Variations

While my personal all-time favorite are the classic German brown butter cookie, there are many ways to modify this recipe for different flavor variations, such as:

• Matcha Shortbread Cookies (See Pictures)
• Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies
• Lime Shortbread Cookies
• Chocolate and Vanilla Shortbread Cookies (See Pictures)
• Orange and Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies
• Zesty Lemon and Ginger Shortbread Cookies

I listed the ingredients for Matcha Shortbread, Chocolate and Vanilla Shortbread, as well as Lime Shortbread Cookies in the recipe card below.

Since the dough is split into three parts, I usually make three different flavor types to have a variety of cookies with one batch of baking.

Some More Cookie Favorites

• German Butter Cookies - Fraenkisches Butterzeug
• Matcha Cookies with White Chocolate and Macadamia Nuts
• Vanilla Crescents with Nuts
• German Spritz Cookies with Bitter Chocolate and Orange

FAQ, Storage and Food Safety

See guidelines at USDA.gov for instructions on the safe handling of fresh ingredients.

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