Recipe This | Air Fryer Shortbread (2024)

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Air Fryer Shortbread. How to air fry Scottish shortbread fingers, round shortbread biscuits and shortbread balls.

But did you know that this traditional Christmas Scottish biscuit recipe can also be the base for many cookies and has just three ingredients? You can even shape it for any season with any cookie cutters.

We originally shared with you how to make shortbread in an air fryer back in 2016, 2017 and 2019 and have updated it for you again in 2021. Just because its an excuse to eat it again!

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Table of Contents

Homemade Shortbread

I love shortbread in the air fryer. I don’t think I said that loud enough I LOVE shortbread. The way it melts in your mouth, the way it breaks away when you eat it, how rich it is because of the butter and of course how easy it is to make.

When I was growing up my mum and dad had this lovely book keeper to help them with their accounts.

He was called Jim and at the time he was in his 60’s and had a really broad Scottish accent and I used to love the way he would say “Samantha” it just sounded do much better than the way my mum would screech it around the supermarket.

At Christmas as a Christmas gift he would always bring us someScottish homemade shortbread and it tasted amazing. It would always be gone in10 minutes and we all thought it was the most delicious cookie we had evereaten.

Ever since then we have becomeaddicted to shortbread. However due to the high quantity of butter in it we haveto save it for special occasions otherwise we would end up super fat and superunhealthy.

But for a treat once in a while,it is delicious and well worth making. Oh, and did I mention the preparation onit is super-fast?

Plus, as well as our free newsletter, we also have a free air fryer mini course. It is ideal for air fryer beginners or those that want to get more confident with their air fryer. The free course runs for 5 days with a new lesson delivered each day to your inbox.

Can I Bake Biscuits In My Air Fryer?

Yes, you sure can. Any air fryer biscuits UK or air fryer cookies US, can be cooked in the air fryer.

Though in my biscuits and cookies recipes, I do recommend you add a layer of foil, like you see below:

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This then creates an area for them to sit on, without them sticking to the air fryer basket and keeping your air fryer clean.

What IsShortbread?

If you are not familiar with shortbread it is the Scottish biscuitor as Americans call it, cookie. Famous throughout Scotland and the world,shortbread is rich thanks to its high butter content and perfect for afternoontea.

Shortbread consists of just butter, sugar and flour. Due to the high level of butter, the butter binds it together without the need for milk or eggs.

It also saves washing up as you don’t need one bowl for dry ingredients and one bowl for wet ingredients.

3 Ingredient Air Fryer Cookies

Because shortbread is just 3 ingredients and can be flavoured or can be left as it is, it serves as a fantastic 3 ingredient air fryer cookies recipe.

Something that you can use in so many different ways.

You can make Scottish shortbread fingers, Scottish shortbread cookies, or you can use it as the base of something totally different.

For example, I always make shortbread balls with the leftovers.

I will make the shortbread and do whatever style the season suits, then the leftovers will have a few chocolate chips added to the centre and then air fried.

They are delicious!

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Or if I wanted some basic air fryer butter cookies but wanted them in a Christmas tree shape to serve for Christmas, I would just follow this recipe and then use my tree cutter.

You really can not get an easier air fryer cookies recipe than this!

It just combines the 3 ingredients and nothing else is used in the recipe. That is butter, flour and sugar.

The flour and sugar are added to the bowl first and the fat is rubbed into the flour. It creates incredibly thick breadcrumbs that with a bit of kneading will become a beautiful soft shortbread dough ball like you see below:

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Air Fryer Shortbread Recipe Ingredients

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Butter – If you want to know the secret to good shortbread, then its lot of quality butter. You know that thing of how everything tastes better with butter. Well, shortbread has more butter than any other cookie.

Flour – If you can, use a quality flour like bero. Its amazing and it makes your air fryer Scottish shortbread taste so much better and be nice and light and never heavy.

Sugar – The third ingredient is the sugar. Any white sugar you regularly use for baking will work perfectly in this recipe. Avoid brown sugar as it will make the shortbread taste bland.

And that really is it! No kidding this is 3 ingredient air fryer cookies at their best!

Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this shortbread in air fryer, it has just been our Cosori Air Fryer. We have this one and its wonderful for many types of air fryer recipes and perfect for an easy air fryer cookie recipe.

How To Make Air Fryer Shortbread?

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  • Load. Into a bowl load your three ingredients. Aim for your butter in small chunks and then it makes the process even faster.
  • Mix. Using your hands rub the butter into the sugar and flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then form it into a soft dough ball. Because of the high butter in Scottish shortbread it doesn’t need water or milk to bind.
  • Cut. Sprinkle your worktop with flour and roll out your shortbread dough. Then use a cookie cutter to do whatever shapes you want. Such as using an angel or a tree for Christmas or a pumpkin at Halloween.
  • Cook. Load into the air fryer on a bed of foil and cook for 8 minutes at 180c/360f.
  • Cool. Allow to cool before decorating or serve plain.

Can You Make Shortbread With Self Raising Flour?

You will be surprised to learn, that I recommend shortbread with self raising flour. One of the secrets to the best shortbread recipe UK is that you use self raising over plain flour.

That is because it puffs it up and makes it much bigger once cooked. It also means you need less dough to make a good batch.

Apart from my recommendation for using self raising over plain this is very much a traditional shortbread recipe that people in the UK have been making for many decades.

How Long To Cook Shortbread?

Shortbread is very quick at cooking in the air fryer and takes JUST 8 minutes. You don’t need to preheat the air fryer, as that’s 8 minutes from placing them in a cold air fryer.

More Air Fryer Cookie Favourites

  • Air Fryer Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • Air Fryer White Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • Air Fryer Oatmeal Cookies
  • Air Fryer Gingerbread Cookies
  • Air Fryer Smartie Cookies
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Air Fryer Shortbread

Air Fryer Shortbread. How to air fry Scottish shortbread fingers, round shortbread biscuits and shortbread balls.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time8 minutes mins

Total Time18 minutes mins

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: Air Fryer

Servings: 6

Calories: 408kcal

Author: RecipeThis.com

Ingredients

Kitchen Gadgets:

Air Fryer Shortbread Recipe Ingredients:

MetricImperial

Instructions

  • Load into a bowl your flour, sugar, and butter. If you have not done so already, use a knife to chop your butter into small chunks as it will make the prep quicker.

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  • Using your hands rub the fat into the flour and sugar until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then combine together and knead a little until it makes a soft shortbread dough.

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  • Flour a clean kitchen worktop and flour a rolling pin too and roll out your shortbread.

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  • Use cookie cutters if making festive shortbread or use rounds for traditional shortbread cookies and cut into your desired shapes.

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  • Add a layer of foil into the air fryer basket and then place the shortbread over it.

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  • Air fry for 8 minutes at 180c/360f then allow to cool.

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Notes

Festive. If decorating wait until cool before adding decorations to your shortbread.

Size. You can do any shape or size that you want. You can also make shortbread balls with the leftovers like I do.

Additions. You can also add in extras such as chocolate powder, chocolate chips, vanilla essence etc.

Thanks for reading our air fryer shortbread recipe on Recipe This. We have many more air fryer recipes for you to check out next. Though if you would like to try more air fryer baking recipes, I recommend you try our air fryer chocolate cake next.

Nutrition

Calories: 408kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 63mg | Sodium: 209mg | Potassium: 49mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 730IU | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition InfoPlease Note: Nutrition values are our best estimate based on the software we use at Recipe This and are meant as a guide. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.

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FAQs

Why is my shortbread not crispy? ›

The longer a dough has to rest and chill, the easier it is to work with, the less it will shrink, and the crispier the result. In contrast, baking soft, warm dough will produce an oily-textured biscuit.

Why is shortbread cooked at a low temperature? ›

One thing that all shortbread cookies benefit from is a slow bake in a consistent oven. Since they're such a crumbly cookie without much in the way of a binder, they need that time for the sugar to melt and bring everything together without getting too deeply browned.

Why do you chill shortbread before cooking? ›

Chill Before Baking

The goal is to ensure the butter in the dough is cold when it goes into the oven. This will prevent the shortbread from spreading.

What should shortbread look like before cooking? ›

The dough before cooking will be a creme-yellow colour, have a soft and smooth (slightly floury) kind of texture and as it bakes it will hold the colour. The longer it cooks the darker it will get, sort of caramelising the sugars contained in the dough.

What are the most common mistakes when making shortbread? ›

The most common mistakes when making shortbread are over-working the dough, and incorporating too much flour. The less you work the dough, the more crumbly and melt-in-your-mouth your shortbread cookies will be.

What is the trick to shortbread? ›

For great shortbread, regardless of your chosen recipe: Sift the flour before mixing to help remove lumps. Avoid over-mixing the dough. Score the surface for even baking without bubbles or cracks.

Why poke holes in shortbread? ›

The word "bread" comes from "biscuit bread" which was made from leftover bread dough that was sweetened and dried out in the oven to make biscuits. Why do you poke holes in shortbread? The holes allow the moisture to escape during baking and more even heat distribution. This helps dry out and crisp up the cookies.

What happens if you put too much butter in shortbread? ›

Greasy mess: Extra butter means more fat, making the dough greasy and difficult to handle. Spreading like crazy: Cookies lose their shape, spreading thin and flat instead of staying nice and round. Uneven baking: The excess fat can burn easily on the edges while leaving the center undercooked.

Why do you put shortbread in the fridge before baking? ›

It comes from using a high proportion of fat (or shortening) to flour and is also where shortcrust pastry gets its name. Why do you put shortbread in the fridge before baking? Chilling the dough before baking will help the shortbread keep their shape while cooking.

What is the difference between shortbread and Scottish shortbread? ›

Traditional Scottish shortbread is a simple recipe made with sugar, butter, flour, and salt. Other shortbread styles will include leavening agents like baking powder and baking soda, which makes them crisp instead of crumbly like traditional Scottish shortbread.

How to tell if shortbread is done? ›

Bake the shortbread until it's a light golden brown across the top surface and a deeper golden brown around the edges, about 35 minutes. Remove the shortbread from the oven and turn it out of the pans and onto a clean work surface.

What happens if you don't chill shortbread? ›

6 Ingredient Shortbread Dough

If it's too warm, the butter and sugar cannot properly cream and the cookies will taste dense. Many shortbread recipes call for cold butter worked into the dry ingredients and that gives you a wonderfully flaky cookie but if not mixed properly, the results can be inconsistent.

Why put egg in shortbread? ›

Adding hard-boiled egg yolks to a basic shortbread recipe makes cookies more tender with the perfect buttery-soft texture.

Why is my shortbread raw in the middle? ›

If the edges burn and the center is undone, it means the heat didn't have enough time to reach the relatively cool center before the edge was too hot. The temperature gradient depends on the amount of heat from your oven and the size of your cookie - and to some degree on the thermal properties of your cookie sheet.

How to crisp up shortbread? ›

Medrich says that the secrets to tender, buttery, crunchy shortbread are letting the dough rest in the pan for at least two hours, or overnight, before baking and adding a second baking, to toast the cookies ever-so-slightly for extra flavor and crunch.

Why is my shortbread still soft? ›

There are a variety of reasons why the shortbread could be damp underneath but it is most likely that either the dough is being pressed out too thickly, the pan is not metal so heats up too slowly, or the oven temperature is too high causing the top to brown before the bottom has cooked sufficiently.

How to fix undercooked shortbread? ›

Problem eight: Once cooled, if I know my biscuits are underbaked can I put them back in the oven? Jo's solution: You can. Also, if you don't eat shortbread within a few days and they go soft, you can refresh them in the oven, too.

Why are my shortbread cookies dry? ›

If your cookie dough is too dry and crumbly, it might not have enough fat. This is a common problem with recipes that use all-purpose flour. To fix this, you can add more fat to the dough. This can be in the form of butter, shortening, or even olive oil.

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