Heidesand are German brown butter shortbread cookies. These tender slice and bake cookies are made with browned butter and rolled in turbinado sugar.
In Germany, Heidesand are a traditional Christmas cookie. These cookies are tender and buttery, with a nutty, caramelized flavor from the brown butter.
The edges are rolled in turbinado sugar or pearl sugar before baking. Simple touches like this help to elevate an otherwise plain cookie into something special.
These simple cookies are a well-loved classic and often a holiday favorite. Serve heidesand on your next Christmas cookie tray next to some zimtsterne, haselnussmakronen, and vanillekipferl.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Unsalted butter - Can be substituted with salted butter (omit the salt listed in the recipe)
- All purpose flour - I haven't tested this recipe with other types of flour, so instead of potentially wasting ingredients, I recommend searching for a recipe that's developed for the ingredients you'd like to use.
- Confectioner's sugar - I find that confectioner's sugar (also called powdered sugar, icing sugar, or 10x sugar) is easier to work with in shortbread cookie recipes. However, ¾ cup of confectioner's sugar can be substituted with ½ cup of granulated sugar if needed.
- Turbinado sugar - Can be substituted with pearl sugar or any large-grained sugar.
- Extracts/Seasoning - Vanilla extract and salt add flavor to your cookies.
- Heavy cream - Also called heavy whipping cream. Heavy cream, whipping cream, double cream, or even half & half would work as a substitute here. This ingredient is optional and should only be added if it looks like your dough is very crumbly and dry. This can happen during colder winter months when your home is very dry, or if too much flour has been measured into the dough. I've added this ingredient to the recipe after several readers had issues with dry, crumbly dough.
Tips and tricks
How to brown butter - Browning butter is as simple as melting your butter in a saucepan and allowing it to slowly brown and create caramelized bits at the bottom of the pan. Keep a careful watch over your butter, because it will brown fairly quickly. It can go from brown to burnt in an instant.
Stir occasionally - Whisk or stir occasionally so that your butter doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan. Once you see a good amount of brown specks collecting in the bottom, remove your butter from the heat.
Properly measure your flour - It is extremely important in baking, and especially for shortbread cookies, to properly measure your flour. I suggest using one of two methods. The most accurate way to measure flour is to use a kitchen scale. If you don't have a kitchen scale, I recommend using the spoon and level method. Use a spoon to fill your measuring cup with flour, then level off with a knife.
Dough consistency - Your dough will look slightly crumbly - this is normal. Try pinching some dough between two fingers - does it hold together? If so, your dough is the correct consistency.
Dough not holding together? - If your dough is dry and not holding together, add the listed tablespoon of heavy cream to bring the dough back together. This happens when too much flour is added to the dough.
Rolling and shaping - When rolling your dough, don't worry if it's not exactly round. I have a hard time with this and often my cookies turn out more like a rounded square or oval. That's okay because they'll taste great no matter the shape!
Slicing and sugaring - Slice each refrigerated tube of dough into about ¼ inch slices, then roll the edges in turbinado sugar (or pearl sugar). I found this was easiest to do directly on the counter top.
Frequently asked questions
If you've never had a shortbread cookie before, they have a different texture than your average chocolate chip cookie. Shortbread cookies do not contain any leavening agents, like baking soda or baking powder, so they don't puff up in the oven while they bake. They also don't contain eggs to hold the cookie together, so shortbread turns out very delicate and fragile, especially fresh from the oven.
Why make a cookie without all of these "standard" baking ingredients? Because shortbread cookies are incredibly tender, buttery, and sweet. They make the perfect pairing with a cup of coffee or tea.
Shortbread cookie dough will look slightly crumbly after mixing, but should hold together when pinched between two fingers. If your dough is so crumbly and dry that it doesn't hold together, it sounds like too much flour was added. To prevent adding too much flour, I highly recommend measuring flour using a kitchen scale and the weight measurements provided in the recipe card.
Shortbread cookies may spread in the oven if the dough is too warm. If your dough has been out of the refrigerator and feels warm, return it to the refrigerator to chill and firm up again. Dough can also spread if you've greased your baking sheet instead of using parchment paper. For this recipe (and most cookie recipes), I recommend using parchment instead of greasing your baking sheet.
Yes, your dough can be made a day or two ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator until you have time to bake your cookies.
Homemade cookies will keep for 5 to 7 days in a sealed container at room temperature. To help keep cookies fresh, place a slice of bread in the container with the cookies. Replace the bread slice as needed.
Yes, shortbread cookies can be stored in the freezer for up to three months. Allow cookies to come to room temperature on the counter top for about an hour before enjoying.
Recommended
📖 Recipe
Heidesand - German Brown Butter Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter
- ¾ cup (85 g) confectioner's sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour, measured properly*
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream, or whipping cream - optional (only use as needed)
- ¼ cup (45 g) turbinado sugar, for rolling
Instructions
Brown butter
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and stir frequently. Butter will begin to foam and boil. After 4 to 5 minutes you will see brown flecks appear in the bottom of the pan. Continue to stir until butter is golden and flecks are a medium brown color. Watch closely, butter will brown quickly. The entire process will take about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Remove butter from heat and pour into a bowl. Refrigerate for 15-25 minutes, or until butter is just solidified. You're looking for a room temperature or slightly cooler, solid butter.
Heidesand
- In a bowl, add brown butter, sugar, and vanilla extract. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat until light and fluffy, about a minute.
- In a separate bowl, sift (or whisk) together flour and salt. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix until a dough forms. Dough will be slightly crumbly, but will hold together when pinched between two fingers. (If too much flour is measured in, or your home is very dry, the dough may need more moisture. To bring dough back together, add a tablespoon or more of heavy cream and mix to combine.)
- Toss dough out onto wax or parchment paper and form into two logs, about 1 ½" wide. Refrigerate for an hour to chill and allow flavors to meld (up to 24 hours).
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Remove dough from refrigerator and unwrap. Using a sharp knife, slice dough into ¼ inch slices. Roll the edges in turbinado sugar and place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for about 12-14 minutes, or until cookies just begin to lightly brown around edges and the tops look set (baking times can vary based on your oven). Remove from oven and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- *It is extremely important to measure the flour properly and not accidentally add too much. Either measure by weight using a kitchen scale (this is what I do and recommend), or stir and fluff your flour, then gently spoon into a measuring cup and level off with a knife. Scooping into a bin with the measuring cup compacts the flour and adds up to 25% extra flour, making your dough very dry and crumbly.
- Cookies will keep for 5-7 days in a sealed container. To help keep cookies fresh, place a slice of bread in the container with the cookies. Replace the bread slice as needed.
- Raw cookie dough will keep in the refrigerator for 3 days. Cookie dough and baked cookies freeze well, up to 3 months in a sealed plastic container or freezer bag. Allow frozen dough to thaw for up to 10 minutes on the baking sheet before baking, or add 1-2 minutes to the baking time.
- Be sure to check out my 10 tips for baking cookies, based on reader comments and questions!
Any idea what temperature!!!!!
Hi Jon, in step 4 of the heidesand section you'll find the oven temperature - 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
I absolutely love these cookies! The only thing that I find difficult is letting the butter cool down & letting the dough chill! Thank you so much for a great recipe!
So glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe Terri!
I was very disappointed in these cookies. They just didn’t taste buttery and melt in my mouth like other shortbread cookies. Plus they were more work for a disappointing result.
We these are a bit fussy but so delicious!
The dough is pretty dry and I’m an avid baker so I measure everything by weight. I ended up adding a tablespoon of heavy cream and they came out delicious. Just hard to roll into a live, crumbled a bit when cut but still turned out very yummy. I will probably make them again. 💗
If you expect the dough to be “slightly” crumbly with this receipt as is you will be sorely mistaken.
I make shortbread all the time but I’ve never had a dough so crumbly that you can’t form it into a roll. Every time I tried to firm the roll it completely fell apart.
My solution was to add more browned butter until a dough formed in my mixer. Crumbly, yes. Falling apart, no.
Hi Tom, thanks for the feedback. Did you measure your flour by weight or using cups? There's a section above ("tips and tricks") describing how to add a bit of heavy cream to the dough to bring it together (which I am now adding directly to the recipe card for future readers), did you add cream or only additional butter?