real estate adviser: Week 3: Sugar Cookies, Butter Cookies, and Shortbread

Week 3: The Difference Between Sugar Cookies, Butter Cookies, and Shortbread Is in Your Ingredient Ratios

This week, we're making the dreamiest Austrian Linzer cookies, also known as Helle Linzer Plaetzchen in German—which literally translates to "bright Linzer cookies." We'll be sandwiching two buttery shortbread cookies together with a jam that peeks out through a cutout in the top half.

But you know the drill. First, a lesson in cookie magic. Today we're talking about the three ultimate cookie-baking essentials—butter, sugar, and flour—and how adjusting the proportions you use will yield a different type of cookie.

Shortbread cookies can be made with those three basic ingredients and nothing else. They have a higher ratio of butter to flour and are more rich and tender than the other two cookies on this list. Their crumbly texture makes them too fragile to shape and decorate.

Butter cookies are similar to shortbread but with a higher flour and sugar ratio, which makes them a bit sturdier and easier to roll and cut.

Sugar cookies have the highest ratio of flour to fat, making them the sturdiest of the three. They also tend to have a longer ingredient list which can include eggs, a leavening agent, vanilla, or salt. They're the kind of cookie we'd recommend if you plan on cutting shapes and decorating.

As you'll notice, the shortbread cookie recipe we're using today deviates from the classic three-ingredient version. Feel free to adjust the butter to flour and sugar ratios a bit and see how it changes your cookie. If you do, let us know what differences you noticed in the comments section of the recipe! Remember, the more flour and sugar you use, the sturdier your cookie will be.

Next week: decorating. Right now, all the shortbread goodness.

Hello, Cookies

Ingredients

4 ounces unsalted butter (at room temperature)
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1/2 cup raspberry or red currant jam

Let's Make Some Dreamy Linzer Cookies

1. In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer on medium speed to beat 4 ounces room-temperature butter together with 3/4 cup of confectioners' sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of almond or vanilla extract, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the egg to combine.

2. Stir 1 cup of all-purpose flour into the creamed ingredients and knead with your hand just until mixture forms a ball.

3. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes (or up to several days).

4. Heat oven to 350 F. Line a cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper.

5. Dust work surface with confectioners' sugar and roll out cookie dough to about 1/8-inch thick. Using a Linzer cookie cutter, cut an even number of bottoms (without the cutout) and an even number of tops (with a hole in the middle). Transfer with a spatula to the lined cookie sheet(s).

6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges turn golden brown. Remove from oven. Let cool on cookie pans for 5 minutes. Then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

7. Sift confectioners' sugar over the cooled cookie tops (the ones with a hole) and set aside. Spread the bottom half of the cooled cookies with 1 teaspoon jam. Immediately place a dusted cookie top on the jam-coated bottom-cookie and press lightly to adhere.

More Cookie Recipes to Try

Spanish Polvorones

Vanilla Sugar Cookies

Melt Away Butter Cookies

Dairy-Free Sugar Cookies

The Spruce Eats on YouTube

Sugar Cookies 3 Delicious Ways

Watch & Learn

This Week's Baking Essentials

10 Freezer Jam Recipes That Don't Require Canning

What Are Leavening Agents and How Do They Work?

Edible Chocolate Cookie Dough

Did somebody forward you this email? Sign up for A Cookie a Day by the Spruce Eats

Have feedback? Send us an email at contact@thespruceeats.com, subject line: Newsletter Feedback.