Recipes · Baking

Olive Oil Shortbread

Buttery, crisp-tender shortbread made with extra-virgin olive oil and finished with golden sugar and flaky salt.

Why This Recipe Is Here

There are recipes that make you want to add things.

This isn't one of them.

A little butter, good olive oil, flour and sugar become the kind of cookie that belongs beside coffee in the afternoon or on a plate after dinner when no one really needs dessert but everyone reaches for one anyway.

The olive oil doesn't make it taste unusual. It makes it taste a little more interesting.

And sometimes that's enough.

Prep: 15 minutes
Chill: 30 minutes
Bake: 28–32 minutes
Total: About 1 hour 15 minutes
Makes: 18–20 fingers

What You'll Need

For the Shortbread

2 cups (240g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (57g) confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened
6 tablespoons (80g) extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Top

1 1/2 tablespoons coarse or turbinado sugar
Extra-virgin olive oil, for a very light brushing or drizzle
Flaky sea salt

The Simple Method

Start with the Good Stuff

Beat the softened butter, confectioners’ sugar, granulated sugar and salt just until smooth and creamy, about 1–2 minutes.

Don’t whip it until fluffy. We aren’t trying to introduce lots of air.

Add the Olive Oil

With the mixer on low, slowly drizzle in the olive oil and vanilla.

Mix just until smooth. It may look slightly looser than ordinary shortbread dough.

Add the Flour

Add the flour and mix on low only until the dough begins forming soft clumps.

Stop before you’re tempted to keep going.

Shortbread rewards restraint.

Press, Don’t Roll

Line an 8-inch square metal pan with parchment, leaving enough overhang to lift the shortbread out later.

Press the dough evenly into the pan.

Use the bottom of a measuring cup to gently smooth the surface.

Give It a Short Chill

Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 325°F.

Add the One Good Thing

Brush or drizzle the surface very lightly with olive oil.

Scatter with the coarse golden sugar and a small amount of flaky sea salt.

Prick the surface lightly with a fork.

Bake Until Just Golden

Bake for approximately 28–32 minutes, until the edges are golden and the center looks set.

The shortbread should be lightly golden rather than deeply browned.

Cut It While It’s Warm

Let the shortbread rest in the pan for about 10 minutes.

Use the parchment to carefully lift it from the pan.

While still warm, cut into 18–20 fingers.

Let cool completely before separating.

A Few Things That Make This Easier

Don’t Cream It Like Cake

Smooth and combined is enough. Too much incorporated air works against the dense, tender texture we’re after.

Use a Metal Pan

It gives the shortbread more predictable browning and those crisp little edges.

The Dough May Look Different

Olive oil makes this dough softer than traditional all-butter shortbread. That’s okay.

Go Easy on the Salt

We want occasional little flakes against the sweet cookie, not a visibly salted crust.

Cut While Warm

Once completely cool, shortbread becomes much more likely to crack when you try to cut it into neat fingers.

The Next Day Is Very Good

Shortbread keeps beautifully, and the flavor settles in as it sits. Store it in an airtight container once completely cool.

The Part I Like Best

It's the sugar along the very top.

Some of it stays crisp. Some melts slightly into the olive oil. And every so often you get one little flake of salt with it.

That's the piece I'd break off first.

One Last Thing

Put these somewhere you can see them.

A covered plate on the counter. A tin near the coffee. Something that makes it very easy to take one when you walk past.

Not everything worth making needs an occasion.

Olive Oil Shortbread

Buttery, crisp-tender shortbread made with extra-virgin olive oil and finished with golden sugar and flaky salt.

Prep: 15 minutes
Chill: 30 minutes
Bake: 28–32 minutes
Total: About 1 hour 15 minutes
Makes: 18–20 fingers