3 Ingredient Flower Shortbread Cookies

These melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookies are shaped as flowers without the need for any special molds or cookie cutters. They are just 3 ingredients and easy to make. They can also be customized with different colors, shapes and designs.

These spring flower cookies are great for upcoming holidays and events such as Easter, baby showers, weddings, Mother’s Day, birthdays and more. I love that you don’t need any special tools to make them.

Ingredients

• Cake flour: Cake flour gives these cookies a more tender and light crumb. You can also use a combination of all purpose flour and cornstarch if you don’t have cake flour on hand.
• Butter: Unsalted butter is used to give these cookies their melty shortbread texture.
• Powdered Sugar: Powdered sugar is used to sweeten the cookies. Powdered sugar is used instead of regular sugar because it melts better and helps create a more melty texture for the cookies. You can also dust the finished cookies with more powdered sugar.

How to Make Flower Cookies

• The butter and sugar are first creamed together. The cake flour is then mixed in.
• If tinting the dough with food coloring, add in the food coloring now and mix on low speed until it is evenly incorporated into the dough. If you want to make multiple colors, you will need to divide the dough first and then tint each dough.
• Place the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes to let it firm up.
• Once chilled, divide the dough into small pieces and roll into smooth balls. Arrange the balls into a flower pattern onto your prepared baking sheets. If desired, you can also add more intricate designs to each petal or just leave as they are.
• Bake cookies until done.

Texture

These cookies have a firm texture that is buttery, crumbly and melt-in-your-mouth as you eat them, like classic shortbread. The cookies are only very lightly sweetened. You can dust them with powdered sugar for more sweetness.

Expert Tips

• Make sure to carefully measure the flour for this recipe. Adding too much flour will cause the dough to be too dry and adding too little will make the cookies spread too much. If using cup measurements, first fluff up the flour in the bag, then spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level off the measuring cup.
• You can make the cookies bigger or smaller depending on personal preference. Baking time will vary if you change the size of the cookies.

More Spring Dessert Recipes

• 3 Ingredient Sugar Cookies (No Eggs)
• 3 Ingredient No Bake Lemon Flower Pies
• 4 Ingredient Lemon Shortbread Cookies

3 Ingredient Flower Shortbread Cookies

Servings: 14 cookies

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes minutes

Total Time: 42 minutes minutes

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

These 3-ingredient flower cookies are light, buttery, and delicately crisp with a melt-in-your-mouth texture. Made with just butter, powdered sugar, and cake flour, they come together easily and bake into an adorable floral shape. The flower shape and simple ingredients make them perfect for spring gatherings, afternoon tea, or a fun baking project.

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Ingredients

• 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter softened
• 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp (86 g) powdered sugar
• 2 1/4 cups (256 g) cake flour see note before starting

Instructions

• In a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer, add butter and sugar. Using the flat paddle attachment on the mixer, cream at low speed until butter and sugar are incorporated and then increase to high speed until light and fluffy (this should only take about 1 minute). Make sure to stop and scrape the sides of your bowl a few times in between mixing to make sure all the sugar and butter gets mixed.
• Once your butter mixture is ready, thoroughly scrape all the butter from the sides of the bowl and from the paddle attachment and get it into the middle of the mixing bowl. This is an important step because it will help ensure the butter is evenly distributed. If you leave butter on the sides of the bowl or the paddle attachment, you'll end up with extra butter in parts of the dough which will cause some of your cookies to spread too much. Add in cake flour. Using the lowest speed, mix the flour into the butter mixture just until a dough forms.
• If you plan on adding color to your dough, do it now by mixing a few drops of food coloring into the mixer and mixing on low speed until the dough is uniform in color. If you plan on making your cookies more than one color, you will need to divide the dough and then tint the individual doughs. To make your cookies the same colors as mine (no color added for the center, pink and purple petals): set aside a scant 14 teaspoons of the dough. Divide the remaining dough in half (I recommend using a scale). Tint half of the dough light/pastel pink and half of the dough light/pastel purple. Do this by mixing the dough on low speed in your stand mixer with a few drops of food coloring added in.
• Cover the doughs in plastic wrap and place into the fridge to chill for about 30 minutes or until firm.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Divide the dough into scant 1 teaspoon pieces. If you are making the colors I made, you will divide each tinted dough into 42 pieces (so you should end up with 42 pink petals, 42 purple petals, and 14 plain balls for the center of each flower). You can use a teaspoon measuring spoon to help scoop the dough, but I do recommend weighing the dough balls so you have uniform cookies and don’t end up with some flower petals bigger than others). Roll each dough piece into a smooth ball.
• On the prepared baking sheet, arrange the dough balls to form flower shapes. I placed one untinted ball in the center and then surrounded it with six of the same colored balls to create the flower petals. Make sure each of the balls touch. They don’t need to pressed together but they do need to touch. You should have enough to make 14 flowers total. Leave about 1.5 to 2 inches of space between each flower to allow for even baking.
• Bake for 12–15 minutes, or until the tops and edges of the cookies look set (the cookies won't really brown but they should look cooked and have some small cracks on the surface). Allow the cookies to fully cool before removing them from the baking sheet.
• Store uneaten cookies in an airtight container for 1-3 days at room temperature or longer in the fridge or freezer.

Notes

• Cake flour note: I used Swans Down cake flour* which contains 2 grams of protein per 1/4 (28 g) cup. You want to use a cake flour with the same amount of protein. I have not tested with King Arthur cake flour but I do know that King Arthur cake flour has higher protein compared to most cake flours and this could cause the dough to be too dry. When measuring out cake flour using the cup method, make sure to fluff up the flour in your flour bag with a spoon and then spoon it into the measuring cup and level off the measuring cup. This will help prevent adding too much flour to the recipe. Or you can use a scale if you have one. If you don't have cake flour on hand, you can use the substitute below.
• *These product links are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
• Homemade cake flour substitute:
  • 2 cups all purpose flour (make sure you use an all purpose flour with a regular amount of protein, 3 grams per 1/4 cup. King Arthur, Bob's Red Mill and some other brands make a higher protein all purpose flour which may not work well for this recipe)
  • 4.5 tablespoons cornstarch
  • Whisk the all purpose flour and cornstarch together until evenly combined and then use for the recipe.
• You can make the cookies smaller or larger if you want. Baking time will vary if you change the size of the cookies.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie, Calories: 203kcal, Carbohydrates: 20g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 13g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Sugar: 6g, NET CARBS: 20

The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.

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