Breakfast Shortbread Cookies add a touch of sweetness that makes every morning special. Accompanied by a steaming cup of coffee or a glass of fresh milk, they offer a moment of genuine and authentic pleasure. For these reasons, I always try to make them at home and this time I had an exceptional helper, you’ll see in the photos the little hands that followed and executed each step of the recipe, making this experience even more unique.
We prepared crispy shortbread cookies with a crunchy texture thanks to the sugar on the surface and a soft heart ideal for dunking. It’s a perfect balance between crunchiness and softness that makes the shortbread irresistible at any time of the day. With their round shape and slightly golden surface, they were able to bring a smile to anyone who tasted them.
As soon as they came out of the oven, they released an irresistible aroma of butter and lemon that made our mouths water, so we ate them right away for an excellent snack as well as storing them for breakfast.
The recipe is very simple to make; you can knead it by hand directly on a work surface or, like we did, use a stand mixer with the flat beater ideal for kneading cookies, shortbread, and choux pastry.
For those who love homemade breakfast, I also remember other recipes that you can make with the help of your children
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 35 Minutes
- Portions: 30 cookies
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Energy 146.39 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 18.55 (g) of which sugars 7.06 (g)
- Proteins 2.20 (g)
- Fat 7.50 (g) of which saturated 4.68 (g)of which unsaturated 2.72 (g)
- Fibers 0.37 (g)
- Sodium 1.90 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 31 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 lemon zest (grated)
- 1 cup butter
- 1/2 packet baking powder
- 3.5 tbsp milk (for brushing the surface)
- to taste sugar (for sprinkling the surface)
Tools
- 1 Stand Mixer
- 1 Cookie Cutter
- 1 Cookie Stamp
Preparation
Let’s prepare the dough by mixing the flour with the sugar, then add the egg yolks, grated lemon zest, and baking powder in the center and start mixing to absorb everything. Then begin adding the butter one piece at a time; there is no need to soften the butter beforehand because we’ll add it in pieces.
When you get a nice homogeneous dough, it’s ready to be used.
Roll out the obtained dough on a lightly floured parchment paper sheet, cut the cookies, and stamp them on the surface with the appropriate stamp. I recommend lightly flouring the stamp occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the dough.
When you have prepared all the cookies, you will need at least two baking sheets to bake them all, turn on the oven to heat it up, and in the meantime, prepare the cookie surface to make it crispy.
Brush the milk on each cookie with a silicone kitchen brush; they should only be moistened, do not leave too much milk on the cookie, but brush well.
Now sprinkle each cookie with a bit of granulated sugar, do not overdo it with the sugar, just a uniform sprinkle on each cookie.
As you’ll see from the small video above, small pinches of granulated sugar are sufficient.
Bake in a preheated oven at 356°F (180°C) for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.
NOTES
These little delights are ideal at any time of the day, they keep well for several days if stored in airtight cookie containers. Also ideal to take to school or sports as a snack.
To stamp the decoration on the cookie well, I recommend occasionally dusting the stamp with flour during use so it doesn’t stick to the dough. However, as you can see from the photo, it doesn’t matter if the final result is a bit irregular; they are beautiful because they are artisanal, and as you can see, some are made by my little niece because if you guide them through the dough-making process, they will manage to do the other steps independently, and they will always be unique and exquisite creations.
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