Are you thinking about making some air fryer shortbread?
It’s as easy to make as it is in the oven, with only three ingredients needed.
Read on to see how easy making shortbread in an air fryer is.
How To Make Air Fryer Shortbread
Just like my easy shortbread oven recipe, air fryer shortbread only needs a few ingredients: flour, butter, and sugar.
What You Need For Air Fryer Shortbread
To print out this recipe, please scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
250g plain flour
150g butter (room temperature)
60g caster sugar plus extra for sprinkling
20cm x 20cm baking tin (see notes below)
Air fryer (see notes below)
Baking Tins For Air Fryers
I often get asked what bakeware can be used in an air fryer. The answer is that any oven safe tin or dish will also be air fryer safe. The only limitation is fitting it into the size of your air fryer.
For this recipe, I used a Cosori Air Fryer (the Dual Blaze, which is 6.4 litres in size) to fit a 20cm x 20cm tin inside the basket.
As I have tested several different models of air fryers over the years, I have also cooked this shortbread recipe in other air fryers of different shapes and sizes; I just had to use different sized baking tins.
Just remember that you may need to adjust the cooking time if the shortbread is thicker or thinner. The shortbread was about 2cm thick for this recipe, so it took about 12 minutes to air fry.
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03/13/2024 07:16 pm GMT
Making Air Fryer Shortbread
Grease a suitable baking tin or line it with parchment paper.
Add the butter and sugar to a mixing bowl and cream them together with a wooden spoon or electric mixer.
Sift the flour into the bowl and mix it all together.
Use your hands to combine the dough until a soft dough has formed.
Preheat the air fryer to 160°C and transfer the shortbread to the greased tin. Press the shortbread down with the back of a spoon so that the surface is level and flat.
Use a fork to make some holes across the surface of the shortbread; this will help the heat flow through the shortbread so that it can cook evenly.
Put the shortbread into the air fryer basket and air fry for 12 minutes. Check on it at 10 minutes to make sure it isn’t turning too brown; it is ready when it just starts to turn golden. The shortbread might feel slightly stodgy and uncooked to the touch, but it will harden up some more as it cools down.
Carefully remove the shortbread from the air fryer basket, leaving it in the tin to cool down.
You can gently score through the shortbread to slice it as it cools down. But don’t be tempted to take it out too soon, or the shortbread might crumble!
Optionally sprinkle with a little caster sugar before serving.
More Air Fryer Recipes
Are you looking for more air fryer baking recipes? Check out some of these for inspiration!
Air Fryer Flapjacks
Air Fryer Banana Bread
Air Fryer Scones
Air Fryer Carrot Cake
Air Fryer Shortbread
Yield: 12 Shortbread Biscuits
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Additional Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
If you love shortbread, you'll be excited to learn that it's easy to make air fryer shortbread! With just 3 ingredients it won't be long until you are tucking into your favourite biscuit treat.
Ingredients
250g plain flour
150g butter (room temperature)
60g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
Instructions
Grease a 20cm by 20cm baking tin (or tin that will fit your air fryer), or line it with parchment paper.
Add the butter and sugar to a mixing bowl and cream them together with a wooden spoon or electric mixer.
Sift the flour into the bowl and mix it all together.
Use your hands to combine the dough until a soft dough has formed.
Preheat the air fryer to 160°C and transfer the shortbread to the greased tin, spreading it out to reach all corners. Press the shortbread down with the back of a spoon so that the surface is level and flat.
Use a fork to make some holes across the surface of the shortbread.
Put the shortbread into the air fryer basket and air fry for 12 minutes. Check on it at 10 minutes to make sure it isn’t turning too brown; it is ready when it just starts to turn golden. The shortbread might feel slightly stodgy and uncooked to the touch, but it will harden up some more as it cools down.
Carefully remove the shortbread from the air fryer basket, leaving it in the tin to cool down.
You can gently score through the shortbread to slice it as it cools down.
Optionally sprinkle with a little extra caster sugar before serving.
Notes
I used a 20cm x 20cm baking tin to cook the shortbread in a 6.4L Cosori Air Fryer. You can use any baking tin that will fit your air fryer, just remember to keep an eye on it as it cooks, If the shortbread is rolled out thinner it will take less time to cook.
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.
The key with shortbread is not to overhandle it. Make the dough exactly as instructed, but don't mess around making shapes or over rolling the dough - you will end up with delicious but tough biscuits. Stretching and pulling the dough activates the gluten in the flour, making chewy cookies and not crisp ones.
A good way to check to see if the shortbread is baked is to see if they are set - they will be slightly firm around the outside, and may be just beginning to turn golden around the edges. You want to keep them nice and pale so make sure your oven is running at the temperature it says that it is.
Piercing the shortbread with a fork is not only for decoration, but it's meant for more even baking. Poking holes in the shortbread allows the heat to penetrate the cookie, hence more even baking. Notice I'm using powdered sugar here. You'll see lots of shortbread recipes using granulated sugar.
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.
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.
Step 3: The Secret to the Absolute Best Shortbread
After shaping the cookies, don't rush to the oven! Instead, chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or so (overnight is OK, too). A short stay in the fridge will firm up the cookies and solidify the butter. This will help keep them from spreading too much.
Irish Shortbread Is Distinct From Scottish Shortbread
Irish shortbread not only sometimes changes up the butter-to-sugar ratio (possibly going with 2/3 a cup of sugar to 1 cup of butter), but also adds cornstarch in place of some of the flour present in the traditional recipe.
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.
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.
But in this shortbread cookie recipe, it really makes a difference. Chilling the dough helps the cookies hold their shape. If you don't chill your shortbread dough, the cookies will spread as they bake.
Originally Answered: Can you put undercooked shortbread back in the oven again after it has cooled? You can but stand the chance of burning it on the outside. Lower the temperature slightly and watch it to make sure it doesn't over do.
It should never appear raw or slightly opaque in the middle. If it is under-baked in the middle, it will probably stick in the pan when you go to unmold it. Be sure to let the shortbread cool in the pan for 10 minutes before you flip the pan over to unmold it. This gives the delicate cookie a chance to firm up a bit.
With shortbread I always say it's better to “overbake” vs underbake. The beauty of shortbread is that it should crumble and melt in your mouth, so we don't want an underbaked center! When in doubt, leave the cookies in for an extra minute or two.
Place the cookies at least 2 inches apart on the prepared sheet pans and sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar evenly over each cookie. The dough should still be cool and firm to the touch. If it's not, chill both sheet pans in the freezer for at least 10 minutes before baking.
Start with a teaspoon of fat and mix your dough well. If the dough is still falling apart, you can keep adding more in small increments. And at the end of the day, you can always add a little bit of water as well if your shortbread still hasn't formed a cohesive dough.
Use your hands to form the dough into a flat disc, then wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for at least an hour. Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface until it is ⅛-¼” thick. Cut shapes with a cookie cutter, making the cuts as close together as possible.
Is shortbread supposed to be soft when it comes out of the oven? Yes, upon cooling it will firm up. Shortbread should have a soft and tender texture but be slightly crisp when you bite into it.
Introduction: My name is Wyatt Volkman LLD, I am a handsome, rich, comfortable, lively, zealous, graceful, gifted person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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COSORI Smart Air Fryer Oven Dual Blaze 6.4L
