We have a lot of Christmas traditions that we love to celebrate each year. One of them is preparing home baked Christmas treats to give to our family and friends. Each year we always make a big batch of Christmas shortbread – it wouldn’t be Christmas without our shortbread stars!
What we love about this recipe for Christmas shortbread, is that it is really easy to prepare and makes a huge batch of approx 120 stars. They look festive and are the perfect size to have with a cup of tea or to leave out for Santa.
Shortbread stars can be packed for gift giving in a small jar or cellophane bag. This year we have used some jars from Ikea. A couple of years ago we used Bonne Maman jars. I tied a scrap of my favourite Liberty fabric to the jar lid, and added a small tag attached with bakers twine. I was recently given my Mum’s old portable manual typewriter, and it was perfect for making some labels. Love the vintage feel that the fabric and typewritten tag add to this gift. The turquoise fabric was perfect for our winter wonderland colour scheme.
- 250 g (2.2 sticks) butter
- ½ cup caster (superfine) sugar
- 2¼ cups plain (all purpose) flour
- ¾ cup rice flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Gradually work in flours . Knead on a floured surface until mixture is smooth.
- Divide mixture in half. Roll our one half until mixture is approx 5 mm thick (1/4 inch). Cut our shapes with cookie cutters and place on lined baking sheets. Sprinkle with extra sugar.
- Prick the surface of the shortbread with a fork. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes at 160 deg C (320 deg F).
For more Christmas baking ideas, check out our round-up of 15 Christmas Cookies.
great photos and thanks for sharing your recipe x
Thanks Amanda! have a wonderful Christmas.
Delícia receber um mimo assim, feito com tanto carinho!
Abraços.
I’m going to give these a try . . . . looks delicious! Thank you both.
Just discovered your fab blog. I’d love to make the Star Shortbread for Christmas – any chance you could convert the recipe to grams? Us brits don’t bake in cups!
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