Indulge in the delightful flavours of our cherry shortbread recipe with almond. This easy-to-make treat combines buttery shortbread, sweet cherries, and a hint of almond for a delicious, sweet, nutty snack perfect for any occasion.
I love this old-fashioned cherry shortbread. To be honest, I love all shortbread, but adding that gorgeous Bakewell flavour just gives the biscuits something extra.
Shortbread is simple and tasty, and there’s so much that you can do with it. This Glace cherry shortbread recipe is fantastic if you have cracked plain shortbread and want to experiment with different flavours.
Why I Love Cherry Shortbread
I love this Easy cherry shortbread because:
- Bakewell shortbread is delicious.
- It’s a fairly subtle flavour and texture change, so you don’t lose the best parts of a traditional shortbread cookie.
- Shortbread is super easy to make.
- It’s a nice change from chocolate or plain biscuits.
Ingredients For Cherry Shortbread
This is a basic shortbread biscuit recipe, with a few very special added extras for that lovely buttery cherry Bakewell shortbread flavour! I use:
Butter – Some recipes insist on salted butter for shortbread, but I just use the normal unsalted that I’d use for buttercream. I’ve even made it with margarine, and while butter has a better taste and texture, margarine will work. You might just need to add a little more flour to get an easy-to–use ball of dough.
Almond Extract
Caster Sugar
Glace Cherriés
Plain Flour
Dark Chocolate—This is totally optional to decorate your cherry shortbread biscuits. You could swap for milk chocolate or skip it completely if you prefer the cherry Bakewell flavour without chocolate.
You’ll Also Need
I use an electric whisk, but you can do it all by hand.
I also use a sharp knife and chopping board, a large mixing bowl, a large baking tray, and reusable baking paper.
A rolling pin and cookie cutter will help you shape your cherry shortbread cookies.
How to Make Cherry Shortbread – Step-by-Step Instructions
Full, easy-to-follow instructions and quantities are available in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Step One
Chop the cherries into smaller pieces (maybe around 8ths. I just do it really roughly and don’t measure).
Toss the lightly in a handful of the flour.
Step Two
Place the butter and almond in a mixing bowl and beat until soft. If you do this with an electric whisk, it will get stuck and messy. This is actually how I do it, but if I’m honest, it’s probably better with a wooden spoon.
Step Three
Whisk in the sugar.
Step Four
Whisk in the cherries.
Step Five
Add 300g of the flour and whisk until it comes together in thick lumps.
Step Six
Lightly flour a work surface and tip the dough onto it.
Step Seven
Knead until it’s a workable ball, adding the rest of the flour if necessary. It will be sticker than plain shortbread because of the cherries and almonds, so don’t worry if you need to add quite a bit more.
Step Eight
Place on baking paper and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. You can also wrap it in clingfilm or just place it in a bowl.
Step Nine
Dust a work surface with flour and preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (fan-assisted).
Step Ten
Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. If you only have one tray, you’ll need to bake in two batches of six.
Step Eleven
Roll the dough out on the floured surface to around 5mm thick. Using a cutter, cut out 12 cookies, kneading and rerolling as needed.
You can make your cookies thinner or thicker. Just adjust the baking time accordingly. If they are much thicker, they’ll spread more, so make sure you leave space between them.
Step Twelve
Place the cookies on the baking trays (6 each), leaving a little space between each.
Step Thirteen
Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
Step Fourteen
Leave for a few minutes before carefully removing to a wire rack and leaving to cool completely.
Step Fifteen
If desired, carefully melt the chocolate in a pan or the microwave and roughly drizzle over the cooled cookies with a piping bag or spoon.
Variations
Shortbread is wonderfully versatile, so there are always a few things that you can do differently.
Add Chocolate Chips
You can skip the chocolate drizzle on top if you prefer, just leaving them cherry and almond.
Or, if you want even more chocolate, you can add some chocolate chips along with the cherries. I’d add 150g of each at most.
Chocolate cherry shortbread cookies are lovely, though.
Skip the Almond
I know that not everyone is into the cherry and almond combo. If it’s not for you, skip the almond entirely, and then either add chocolate or don’t. Cherry shortbread cookies are perfect, with or without the extras.
Add More Almond
This is a Cherry and almond shortbread, but the overriding flavour is that lovely buttery shortbread. The cherries and almond are just added extras.
You can add a little more if you want a stronger almond flavour. I wouldn’t add too much, though, or it will affect the texture.
Storage
Store your shortbread with cherries in a sealed tub or biscuit tin for 3-4 days.
You can freeze shortbread. If you want to thaw one at a time instead of all together, I recommend placing a sheet of baking paper between them in the sealed tub.
FAQ
They are similar, but shortcake has baking powder to make it cakey. The taste is similar, but the texture is a little different.
You can add vanilla to shortbread, like I’ve added almond to this recipe, but it isn’t essential; buttery shortbread is lovely as it is.
Other Recipes
I’m a big biscuit lover. So I’ve got a few other biscuit and cookie recipes that you might want to try:
- Air Fryer Chocolate Chip Cookies
- White Chocolate and Raspberry Cookies
- White Choc Chip Cookies
- Rocky Road Cookies
- Cream Egg Cookies
- Chocolate Orange Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oat and Raisin Cookies
- Lemon Shortbread
- Orange Shortbread
- Chocolate Orange Shortbread
- Choc Chip Shortbread
- Homemade Bourbon Biscuits
Cherry Shortbread (with Almond)
Ingredients
- 200 g Butter (cubed – at room temperature)
- 1 Teaspoon Almond Extract
- 100 g Caster Sugar
- 200 g Glace Cherries (roughly chopped into small pieces)
- 350 g Plain Flour
- 75 g Dark Chocolate (to decorate – optional)
Instructions
- Toss the diced cherries with a handful of the flour.
- Place the butter and almond in a mixing bowl and beat until soft.
- Whisk in the sugar.
- Whisk in the cherries.
- Add 300g of the flour and whisk until it starts to resemble thick breadcrumbs.
- Lightly flour a work surface and tip the dough onto it.
- Knead until it’s a workable ball, adding the rest of the flour if necessary.
- Place on baking paper and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Dust a work surface with flour and preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (fan-assisted).
- Line 2 baking trays with baking paper or lightly grease them with butter.
- Roll the dough out to around 5mm thick and use a cutter to cut out 12 cookies, kneading and rerolling as needed.
- Place the cookies on the baking trays (6 each), leaving a little space between each.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
- Leave to cool for a few minutes.
- Carefully remove to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
- If desired, carefully melt the chocolate in a pan or the microwave and roughly drizzle over the cooled cookies with a piping bag or spoon.
Notes
Any nutritional information is given as a general guide only and may not be accurate. The information is provided using an online calculator and is specific to my ingredients. Please make your own calculations if you want precise information.
