About This Recipe
Honey brings a floral note to this butter shortbread, with a little powdered sugar alongside it. The dough is pressed into a square pan and cut into fingers while still warm. It needs time to cool before you judge the texture. Keep the pieces plain so the honey and butter remain the main flavors.
Recipe
Pressed Honey Shortbread Fingers
Press honey shortbread into a pan, score into fingers and bake until firm and golden. Includes chilling and complete cooling before serving.
7Ingredients
Yield: 12 servings
- 240 g all-purpose flour
- 30 g cornstarch
- 170 g unsalted butter, softened
- 63 g honey
- 30 g powdered sugar
- 2 g table salt
- 4 g vanilla extract
Ingredient amounts scale; instructions show the original batch. Cooking times and pan sizes may need adjustment. Season to taste. Honey grams use US measures at 20°C and 17.5% moisture, a density estimate; weigh your honey for precision.
Instructions
- 1Prepare the panLine a 20 cm (8 inch) square metal pan with baking paper, leaving enough overhang to lift out the shortbread. Whisk the flour, cornstarch and salt together.
- 2Mix the doughBeat the softened butter, honey, powdered sugar and vanilla just until smooth. Stir in the dry ingredients until a soft dough forms, without continuing to knead it once the flour disappears.
- 3Press and chillPress evenly into the lined pan, reaching the corners and keeping the middle the same thickness as the edges. Score into 24 fingers and prick each lightly with a fork. Refrigerate for 30 minutes while heating the oven to 325 F (160 C).
- 4Bake until the center is firmBake on the middle rack for 40 to 50 minutes, until the edges are golden and the center looks dry and feels firm when touched lightly. Honey colors the surface, so check the middle as well as the rim. If the center remains very soft, give it a few more minutes while watching the edges.
- 5Cut while warm and cool fullyLet stand in the pan for 10 minutes, then lift out using the paper. Cut through the scored lines with a sharp knife. Cool on a rack for about 50 minutes before serving. Divide into 12 servings of two fingers and store airtight only after completely cool. The total includes chilling and the full cooling hour.
Estimated nutrition per serving
210.54 calories · 11.69 g fat · 24.41 g carbohydrate · 2.2 g protein · 67.14 mg sodium
Serving: 1 of 12 servings
Calculated from ingredient weights and USDA FoodData Central: 168894, 169698, 173430, 169640, 169656, 173468, 173471. Estimates use ingredient input weights; actual portions, brands and cooking losses vary. Omitted nutrient values are unavailable, not zero.
A Dough Written for Honey
This formula uses honey with powdered sugar in a flour-and-cornstarch dough. Keep those quantities together for the first batch. Adding a larger pour of honey can leave the center too soft even when the edges have browned.
Clover makes a mild shortbread. Wildflower gives a stronger honey note beside the butter. There is no glaze or finishing drizzle: the honey is mixed into the dough, so each piece has the same balance.
Flavor intensity uses an editorial culinary scale: 1 is mild and 5 is bold. These are tasting suggestions, not laboratory measurements.
Sources: UC Agriculture and Natural Resources: cooking with honey; USDA FoodData Central: Cornstarch; King Arthur Baking: pressed and scored shortbread.
1 = mild, 5 = bold. Editorial pairing guidance, not laboratory measurements; jars vary.
- Clover
- Butter and vanilla
- Wildflower
- A fuller honey cookie
- Orange blossom
- A floral shortbread
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16 varieties on one page — color, flavor, best use and what a fair price looks like — from the 304 honeys we track.
Press to an Even Thickness
A square pan makes portioning straightforward. Press the dough firmly enough to reach the corners, but stop once the layer is even. A thick hump in the middle takes longer to dry than the thin edges.
The press-and-score technique is also used in King Arthur Baking's shortbread guidance. This version has a different honey dough, so use the stated pan size and baking checks rather than borrowing a time from a thinner cookie.
Give the Shortbread Time to Cool
The warm slab is delicate. Cutting through the score marks after a short rest makes tidier fingers than trying to divide a fully cold slab. Use the baking paper to lift it and support it on a flat surface.
Let the fingers cool completely on a rack. Their final texture is easier to judge cold. Close the storage container only after the pieces have stopped giving off warmth, and keep them separate from moist cakes.
Choose the Texture You Want
This is a pressed butter cookie with a fine, crumbly bite. If you want a softer drop cookie, see honey cookies. Honey oatmeal cookies add a different grain texture.
Serve the shortbread plain with tea or coffee. A topping changes the balance and is not part of the ingredient quantities here. For a baked chocolate option, try honey brownies.
Portions and Ingredient Estimates
The pan is divided into 24 fingers, with two per serving. The estimate includes the full dough, including all the butter and honey. It assumes the fingers are similar in size.
Crumbs left on the board still belong to the batch. If you cut larger squares or add chocolate, use a new portion calculation rather than treating the displayed serving estimate as unchanged.
Choosing the Honey
Use Clover Honey or Wildflower Honey for the flavor described in this recipe. See our honey selection guide for other culinary choices.
