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shortbread cookie

shortbread cookie

1 1.6
A rich biscuit made with lots of butter and sugar, crisp and crumbly
  • noun
  • /ˈʃɔrtˌbrɛd ˈkʊki/
  • US
translation icon : galleta de manteca
  • It's a kind of very tender shortbread cookie and not overly sweet.
  • pecan shortbread cookies
  • almond shortbread cookies
  • lemon shortbread cookies

I'm so excited. Now I do just love a classic plain shortbread cookie, but I also love a chocolate shortbread cookie. So

Examples

  • She was lighter than me too, kind of butter-colored, like the shortbread cookies.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • The recipe for these shortbread cookies calls for two sticks of unsalted butter.

  • Unfortunately, Don's gonna have to bake shortbread cookies on this one.

  • You'll love these shortbread cookies, Patty...

  • I'm still trying to get S to make me matcha shortbread cookies, because I really think that would be delicious.

    Blog text (32)
  • I'm so excited. Now I do just love a classic plain shortbread cookie, but I also love a chocolate shortbread cookie. So

  • I love shortbread cookies that are so full of butter I can feel my arteries clogging with every bite.

    Blog text (24)
  • Secret #2: Flour doesn't taste like much, so, like shortbread cookies, pie crust gets its flavor from the fat you use.

    Blog text (29)
  • She sipped herbal tea, nibbled some shortbread cookies, and stared at the screen.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • At the tea party, we served buttery shortbread cookies alongside fresh fruit.

Synonyms

shortbread
vsshortbread cookie
8 2.2

A rich, crumbly sweet cookie made with a lot of butter

is a general biscuit lacking the specific Scottish association
butter cookie
vsshortbread cookie
  • US
5 1.0

A small crisp cookie made with a lot of butter

is thicker and crumbly rather than mainly crisp

How Crunchy

rusk
5 5.9
biscotto
5.8
shortbread cookie
  • US
1 1.6
cookie
  • US
774 1.0

Surface Forms

Morphology

shortbread + cookie

The phrase is directly compositional: 'shortbread' names a specific buttery biscuit and 'cookie' indicates a small sweet biscuit, so together they denote a cookie made from shortbread. This follows ordinary noun-noun compounding patterns (and similar constructions in other languages), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Shortbread cookie gets its name from the baking word short and the old word bread. In baking, short means 'crumbly' or 'breaks easily' because lots of butter makes the dough rich and crumbly, so the name tells you it is a small, buttery, crumbly cookie.