A perfect treat for anyone at anytime; Stamped Shortbread Cookies are buttery and delightfully bright and vibrant to match the holiday season! Using a cookie stamp is a great way to make a simple, homemade shortbread a beautiful cookie!

Do you ever wake up on a cold, snowy Saturday morning and think to yourself that the day is just perfect for cooking and baking? That happens to me quite often! In fact, it happens to me on bright, sunny summer mornings too. (But, I’m weird that way.) When those moods strike, and you want to bake because it brings you joy, and not out of necessity, these Stamped Shortbread Cookies are the cure. These beauties allow you to bust our your rolling pin and your cookie cutters.
They allow you to use simple ingredients that you already have on hand. They allow you to get flour all over your kitchen and onto your clothes. But, more importantly, they allow you to eat delicious, homemade, pretty cookies!

DO I NEED A COOKIE STAMP TO MAKE THESE?
No, indeed you do not! If you don’t have any cookie stamps at home, you can just roll out the dough and use a cookie cutter to cut out rounds or any shape you want for that matter.
Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of cookies that have been rolled out using a patterned rolling pin. If you don’t have a cookie stamp, but have one of those rolling pins, it would work well for this cookie too.
Now, just in case you have not heard heard of cookie stamps, let me tell you a bit about them. Basically, they imprint a design onto a cookie and turn it into a lovely work of art!
If you can’t find them in a store, just do a search on Amazon for cookie stamps. You can find them in almost any design or pattern. I have quite the collection of Christmas cookie stamps, but I also have a number of Halloween cookie stamps as well.

MORE CHRISTMAS COOKIE RECIPES!
Did you know that I’ve been posting a 24 Cookies of Christmas series for a few years now? There are over 100 Christmas cookie recipes that you can find right here at Lord Byron’s Kitchen! To make it easier to find, I have created a page for each series. Just click on the image below and you’ll find the full series for that volume all one page!
HOW TO GET THE PERFECT COOKIE:
I have a few tips that I want to share with you on how to get the perfect stamped cookie. I have seen many times a rolled cookie that has that unsightly baked flour residue on it. Who wants to eat that?
You will note in the Stamped Shortbread Cookies recipe instructions that there’s a lot of dusting with flour. It’s important to dust the rolling surface with flour to prevent sticking. You’ll also dust the rolling pin and the top of the dough with flour. Then, you’ll dust the stamp too. That’s a lot of excess flour!

Once you have rolled out the dough to the 1/4 inch thickness, use a pastry brush to lightly brush off the excess flour. It’s important to use one with a hair tip rather than a silicone tip. Silicone pastry brushes will leave marks in the rolled dough and will not leave it as clean.
Next, you must dust the stamp with flour as well. To do this, I just dunk the stamp into my flour jar and tap the handle of the stamp against the rim of the jar to tap off the excess flour.
Once again, after the cookie has been cut out and transferred to a baking sheet, gently and lightly brush off any excess flour with a pastry brush before baking.

MORE CHRISTMAS CONFECTIONS!
In some cases, we want more than a cookie. That’s why I have two more Christmas-themed collections you might want to consider. The first, is my 12 Bundt Cakes of Christmas, and the second is my 12 Biscotti of Christmas. Click on the image below to see each collection all on one page with links to each recipe!
CAN I DECORATE THESE COOKIES?
You most certainly can! I have baked cookies before using this same recipe where I have added sprinkles before and after baking. I’ve also frosted them. Stamped Shortbread Cookies are quite versatile that way!
Once the dough is rolled out flat, top the dough with sprinkles. It is imperative that you use small sprinkles and use sprinkles that do not melt in the oven. Some sprinkles are not meant for baking, just decorating!
Roll the rolling pin over the sprinkles, which will push the sprinkles gently into the cookie dough. Cut the cookies out and bake as per usual.
Once the cookies are baked and cooled, you also have the option of glazing the cookies with a simple icing and adding sprinkles to the icing before it dries. The possibilities are endless!

STORING, PACKAGING, AND FREEZING
These cookies will stay fresh for about 3-5 days in a covered container and in a cool place. But, if you plan to freeze these cookies, use a food-safe container that can be frozen. You’ll want to ensure a very tight fitting lid too. (I use these quite often when freezing baked goods.) I like to place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top of the container before pushing the lid on. This helps to create a better seal. The goal is to keep all of that cookie freshness locked in!
You can freeze these cookies for up to three months. They will come out of the freezer looking just like they did when you put them in there. Once you thaw them, they will taste just as fresh, and be just as soft, as the day you first baked them.
When ready to thaw, remove them from freezer and take out as many as you need at that time. It’s never a good idea to thaw all of them and put them back in the freezer again. Set aside for 20 minutes or so. These look great in cellophane bags with a festive ribbon. They make great gifts for friends and neighbours! Don’t package them in cellophane until the day you are giving them as a gift.



Stamped Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups butter, softened
- 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
Instructions
- In a large bowl, use a hand-held mixer to combine the butter and sugar until well blended.
- Add the flour and blend into the butter until just incorporated. Do not over mix!
- Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and wrap tightly. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
- In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare a baking sheet by lining it with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Set aside.
- Dust a flat surface, such as your counter top, with flour and roll the chilled dough out with a rolling pin to 1/4 inch thick.
- Dust the cookie stamp by pressing the stamp end gently into the flour. Tap the stamp gently on the counter top to get rid of the excess flour.
- Holding the stamp as straight as possible, press the stamp into the dough just slightly to make the indent. (This might take a time or two to practice how hard you need to press to get a deep enough indent.)
- Next, set the stamp aside, and use a round cookie cutter to cut around the stamped dough.
- Transfer the dough to the baking sheet using a flat, slotted, metal spatula. Leave 2 inches between each cookie.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven promptly and allow cookies to rest for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.
- Re-roll the left over dough, and bake the next batch.
Nutrition

Jan Spalding says
Would you mind advising what type of snowflake stamp you used on your shortbread cookies? Your cookies turned out beautiful! I see many snowflake stamps on line, but don’t see one like the one you used. Thanks so much!
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Thank you, Jan. I am providing a link here for you to see the stamp visually. I didn’t buy mine online, but this is exactly the one that I used. 🙂
https://www.goldaskitchen.com/cookie-stamp-set-homemade-ornament-snowflake/
Andrea Howe says
These look and sound lovely! What a treat to give or receive them. Can’t wait to give them a try 🙂
Rebekka says
Hi Byron, what kind of sprinkles can go in the oven? I have both the coloured sugar sprinkles and the kind used in confetti cake or the sprinkle donuts from Timmies. My guess would be that the sugar sprinkles can go in the oven but the confetti type sprinkles are only for decorating after. Is that right?
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Hi Rebekka – no, not all sprinkles can go in the oven. The coloured sugar will work well, as well at nonpareils and jimmies. Larger, more decorative sprinkles, will not fare well in a hot oven.
Mary Kaldahl says
Can I add my favorite extract to it, even though it doesn’t call for extract?
Nicole Krause says
Would this recipe work for an emboised rolling pin?
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Hi Nicole – yes, they would certainly work very well. 🙂
Amanda says
I used snowflake pie crust cutters and they turned out super cute and had a nice mildly sweet flavor. They did turn out a smidge dry, could I perhaps reduce the baking time? Also could I add an extract for flavor or would that compromise the recipie?
Luanne says
I really REALLY want this snowflake cookie stamp! Apparently Golda’s kitchen is no longer, and I would love to find this stamp. Any help you can give would be appreciated!
Tonya says
Nordicware makes some great cookie stamps. They have a set of 3 snowflakes or Starry night might work for you.
Betsy says
Love these. Mine turned out amazing!