Cheese shortbread is savory flavored with a sharp parmesan taste that offers a delightful alternative to sweet shortbread. Made from a buttery shortbread base then sprinkled with a dry rub spice mix and grated cheese combo these savory shortbread cookies hold their own. You won't want to wine and cheese without them!
Recipes like the Mini Shortbread Cookies, Macadamia Nut Shortbread and the Lemon Curd Shortbread Cookies all have a sweet flavor profile.
The Caramelised Onion Tarts, Brie Cranberry Tarts and the Caramelised Onion Sausage Rolls deliver savory delights that are especially good to entertain with.
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🤍 Cheese Shortbread
I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about the cheese shortbread biscuits in the points below:
- Simple ingredients: everything you need to make the recipe can easily be sought from your local supermarket.
- Flavor profile: make the cheese shortbread as described or play around with your favorite dried herbs and spices to customize it to your liking.
- Straight forward: we don't use any rising agents like baking powder, yeast or self raising flour for the shortbread. We keep things very basic and straight forward.
- Versatile: pairs exceptionally well with the Chilli Tomato Jam, Tomato Bacon Jam or the Honey Pecan Cream Cheese and Honey Walnut Cream Cheese spreads.
🥗 Ingredients
The photo below is to show you everything you need to make the recipe. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific ingredient measurements as well as detailed instructions.
As you can see the recipe calls for:
- Brandy.
- Butter: we want to use unsalted butter. This is because we use salt as a separate ingredient (see below) in the spices that go on top of the shortbread. I always chop it into small cubes as I find it easier to cream when it is. I also pour the brandy (vanilla if making sweet shortbread) over the top so that I can use cold butter without waiting for it to come to room temperature.
- Icing sugar: this is pure icing sugar. It is a different ingredient to the softer icing mixture that you will find alongside it at the local grocery store. The icing sugar will be labelled 'icing sugar' whereas the icing mixture that will be in a larger packet and is softer is called 'icing mixture'.
- Plain flour: I don't sift this.
- Parmesan: I use my food processor to grate the parmesan cheese from a block of it. You could also grate it using a hand held grater or purchase store bought grated cheese to keep things easy.
- Salt: see my point above about not using salted butter.
- Black pepper: freshly cracked.
- Paprika.
- Dried thyme.
- Garlic powder.
- Dried onion: these are chunky dried onion flakes, they are different to onion powder. But if you only have that you could use it (1 teaspoon). You will find them in the cooking aisle where the herbs and spices are. It will be labelled either 'dried onion' or 'onion flakes'.
😉 Variations
Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:
- Cheese: where I am using parmesan cheese you can use pecorino romano or a sharp cheddar cheese as an alternative.
- Dried herbs: where I am using dried thyme you might like to use dried rosemary.
- Paprika: either smoked paprika or ground paprika will do the job. You can use your favorite.
👩🍳 How to Make Cheese Shortbread
To make the shortbread we start by adding the spice ingredients to a small bowl and then stirring until consistently combined. Once this is done you can set the spice mix to the side whilst you make the shortbread batter.
🍳 Instructions
- Add spice ingredients to bowl (Photo 1)
- Combine (Photo 2)
- Add butter to bowl (Photo 3)
- Pour over the brandy (Photo 4)
Next add the chopped butter to a large mixing bowl. Then pour the brandy over the top. Use electric beaters to cream this till the butter is pale and soft.
- Add the icing sugar and combine (Photo 5)
- Add half of the flour and combine (Photo 6)
- Add the remaining flour and combine (Photo 7)
- Push together to form the dough (Photo 8)
Next add the icing sugar and use the beaters to consistently combine. When it is add half of the flour and again combine. Then add the rest of the flour and continue mixing till there is no visible flour in the bowl.
Once done use a spatula and push the crumbly texture together to form a dough like you see in the photos above.
- Transfer dough to parchment paper (Photo 9)
- Cover with baking paper (Photo 10)
- Roll (Photo 11)
- Add spice mix (Photo 12)
Next place another sheet of baking paper on top of the dough then use a rolling pin to flatten like you see in the photos above.
🧀 Savory Shortbread
Once you have flattened the dough sprinkle (about ½ as we will do this process again) the spice mixture over the top. Then sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top like you see in the photo below.
- Add the cheese (Photo 13)
- Roll and chill (Photo 14)
- Cut with cookie cutter (Photo 15)
- Bake (Photo 16)
After adding the cheese to the top of the shortbread pull the top layer of baking paper back over it and use the rolling pin to 'push' the cheese and spices into the dough.
Next place the dough into the fridge to chill for about 30 minutes.
Once the dough has chilled remove it from the fridge. Then use a cookie cutter to cut the dough into small cookies like you see in the photos above. Keep this process going by using the rest of the dough and rolling it back together, adding the spice mix and cheese and re cutting it until all of the dough is used up. Some of the spice mix and parmesan cheese will get folded into the shortbread as you do the 2nd/3rd roll and cut, but this is totally find and adds to the flavor.
Place the cut cookies onto a silicon baking mat and then into the preheated oven. Let the shortbread bake for 10 to 12 mins then use an oven mitt to remove and set on a heatproof surface. Let the shortbread cool for a couple of minutes to begin then move to a wire rack to finish cooling.
🍽 Cheese Shortbread Serving Suggestions
When it comes to serving your parmesan cheese shortbread you will find them versatile and able to lend themselves to a wide variety of ideas.
One of the ways that I like to share them is stuffed with Chilli Tomato Jam, Tomato Bacon Jam, caramelised onion relish or pepper jelly. But of course, if you want to enjoy them plain with butter and a glass of wine that will work too 😉👌.
They won't go astray on a Grazing Platter or on the side of the Baked Camembert Platter and work well in place of the pita bread with the Baked Feta With Honey. They will also pair well with mature cheddar or blue cheese and work well as a party appetizer.
👍 How to Guide
How to Store
Store the shortbread in a sealed, airtight container and place in the fridge. This is the best way to keep the shortbread firm as the butter in the cookies solidifies whilst in the fridge.
The shortbread is also suitable to freeze.
💡 Tasty Tips
Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you so that you master the recipe from the get go:
- To chill or not to chill: chilling the dough does a couple of things. It helps to prevent the shortbread spreading as it cooks. It also makes it a little easier to cut the cookies as the dough is so firm. I do like to chill the dough for this recipe but only for about 30 minutes. When recipe testing I tried 1 hour chill time and found the dough simply too firm to work with. If you don't chill it at all you will will find that the cut cookies are very soft and pliable in your fingers but, if you are careful you can still make this work if you don't want to (don't have the patience or time) to chill the shortbread.
- Baking paper: after much testing and repetitive making of shortbread cookies I have found that the best technique to use is one where you place the dough in between 2 sheets of baking paper. It doesn't stick and the best thing is that you don't have to add flour to the bench which alters the taste of the shortbread. We also for this recipe use the top sheet of baking paper as a cover over the spice mix and cheese which we roll into the shortbread. No spice mix or cheese gets onto the rolling pin and it is a nice clean and easy technique.
- Rolling pin: you can use a regular rolling pin that doesn't have disks if that is the type you have. The disk version tends to make the shortbread more even across the batch, however both types will work.
🤓 Cheese Shortbread FAQ's
Savory crackers can be used in a variety of ways. They are a great choice when making a cheese platter, charcuterie board or simply snack plate.
I'm an ideas woman and a thinker. It didn't take me too long after making countless batches of sweet shortbread to consider making a savory version. So I gave it a red hot go and was pleasantly suprised through the testing process of the robust savory flavor. Minor tweaks here and there progressed to the finished recipe.
No it is not. The cookies will be easier to cut and there is less chance of them spreading when baking if you chill the dough. However, they will still turn out ok if you skip this step.
Absolutely you can! Making cheese shortbread is a great alternative to sweet shortbread and has many versatile uses like on charcuterie boards or simply your favorite block of cheese.
😍 More Easy Sweet And Savory Recipes
If you love nothing more than getting your bake or no bake on in the kitchen then I have a wide variety of both sweet and savory flavors for you to try. These each have different cook times, methods and ingredients.
- More savory recipes: Caramelised Onion Sausage Rolls, Brie Cranberry Tarts, Caramelised Onion Tarts, Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Bites, Cheese And Bacon Bread.
- No bake recipes: Tim Tam Slice, Baileys Cheesecake Balls, Rum And Raisin Fudge, Mint Aero Fudge.
- Blondies recipes: Oreo Blondies, Butter Pecan Blondies, Birthday Cake Blondies, Raspberry And White Chocolate Blondies.
It is time to whip up our cheese shortbread my friend! You can also find all of my appetizers or baking recipes in the one place.
Adrianne
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📖 Recipe
Cheese Shortbread
Ingredients
Spice Mix
- 1 tablespoon dried onion Note 1
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika Note 2
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme Note 3
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Cheese
- 1 cup parmesan cheese shredded
Shortbread
- 250 grams/ 2 sticks and 2 tablespoons butter Note 4
- 1 teaspoon brandy Note 5
- 1 cup/ 150 grams icing sugar
- 2 cups/300 grams plain flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven: preheat the oven to 160°C / 320°F / Gas Mark 3. Place a silicon mat onto 2 large baking sheets. Note 6
- Spice mix: add the dry onion, garlic powder, paprika, thyme, salt and black pepper to a small bowl and whisk to consistently combine. Then set side.
- Butter and brandy: add the chopped butter and brandy to a large mixing bowl and use electric beaters to cream until pale and soft.
- Icing sugar: next add the icing sugar and beat until consistently mixed in.
- Plain flour: pour half of the flour into the bowl and use the beaters to mix this in. Then add the other half and combine until there is no visible flour in the bowl. Use a rubber spatula to push the dough together.
- Transfer: transfer the combined dough to a sheet of baking paper. Push it down to flatten slightly then pull a 2nd sheet of baking paper over the top.
- Roll, spices and cheese: use a rolling pin with disks on either end to roll the dough into a flat layer. Next remove the top layer of baking paper and sprinkle (about ½) the spice mixture over the top. Then sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the spice mixture. Now place the top layer of baking paper back on the dough and again roll to push the spices and cheese into the shortbread.
- Chill: place the rolled dough into the fridge and let it chill for approximately 30 minutes.
- Cut and bake: remove the chilled dough from the fridge. Use a 1 ½ inch cookie cutter and cut the dough into small cookies. Place these onto a silicon mat on a baking tray. Place the shortbread into the oven and let it bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Once the cook time is up use an oven mitt to remove the baking trays and place them onto a heatproof surface. Let the shortbread cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Video
Notes
- Note 1 - Dried onion: these are chunky dried onion flakes, they are different to onion powder. But if you only have that you could use it (1 teaspoon). You will find them in the cooking aisle where the herbs and spices are. It will be labelled either 'dried onion' or 'onion flakes'.
- Note 2 - Smoked paprika: or ground paprika.
- Note 3 - Dried thyme: or you can use dried rosemary in place of this.
- Note 4 - Butter: my preference is to always use unsalted butter as then we can control the additional salt in the recipe. However, if you only have unsalted butter and want to use that then omit the salt as a separate ingredient. A standard block of butter in Australia is 250 grams. A stick of butter in the USA is 113 grams. So you can use 2 sticks which will give you 226 grams or 2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons of butter to be more precise.
- Note 5 - Brandy: when I make sweet shortbread, I use a teaspoon of vanilla. When I was developing this cheese shortbread recipe I wanted to use something in place of the vanilla that led to a more savory flavor profile. Bring on the brandy! It is the perfect little drop of gold stuff that enhances the other flavors in the shortbread. You could substitute with the equivalent amount (1 teaspoon) of scotch or rum. Omit if not wanting to use a spirt in the recipe and don't use vanilla re above, it pushes the flavor to sweet when our goal is in the creation of savory.
- Note 5 - Icing sugar: this is pure icing sugar. It is a different ingredient to the softer icing mixture. I get it from Woolies in Australia. I haven't see it at Aldi.
- Note 6 - Preheating the oven: you can do this just before you start to cook the short bread if you wish too. ie that way it isn't on whilst you prep and chill the dough will will take around 45 minutes.
- Note 7 - Cookie cutter: I use a rolling pin with plastic disks. This helps to ensure that the dough is consistently flat and even. For the cookies that you see in the photos throughout the post I use 6mm discs which are the 2nd largest on my rolling pin. I then use a 1 ½ inch or 38 mm cookie cutter. You will see it in the video. It has a round edge on one side and a fluted curly edge on the other side. I like to keep these cookies with the round edge to stick with the savory flavor profile.
Danielle says
I love this idea. Those cookies look delicious.