Shortbread Crust (Sablé Breton)

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Shortbread crust is a buttery, crisp crust used in pies, tarts, cookie bars, and more. It is easy to make with only four ingredients needed. Learn how to make it with this super easy recipe!

I love shortbread crust because it is so much easier to make than most other types of crusts for desserts. Even compared to graham cracker crust. It may be delicious, but turning graham crackers into crumbs can sometimes just be one step too many.

This easy crust recipe doesn't need anything beyond mixing and it holds up well when pressed into your baking pans ensuring you get an even layer that is beyond delicious.

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What is shortbread crust
Ingredients
How to make
Expert tips
When to use
Recipe FAQs
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What is shortbread crust

This type of crust is a buttery, crisp crust that can often replace a traditional pie crust, graham cracker crust, or cookie crust. It is pressed directly into your pan as opposed to rolled out and laid into your pan.

You may also hear it referred to as a sablé breton, which is simply the French name for this type of crust. It gets its name because of the high butter content in the recipe that keeps the flour from forming gluten, which would end up leaving you with a chewy crust instead of the crisp, slightly crumbly crust we know and love.

sugar, flour, and salt mixed together in bowl

Ingredients

Flour - This is what binds the crust and creates the bulk of the structure of the crust. It is as important as the butter. You should use all-purpose flour, but you may substitute it with some bread flour, or whole wheat flour. Cake flour will typically be too tender to use for a crust.
Butter - Not only is the butter critical for that signature shortbread flavor, but it also acts like the glue keeping the ingredients together. It also prevents the flour from forming too much gluten which would make the crust chewy instead of crisp. Make sure to use room temperature butter

Sugar - Sugar is used to sweeten the crust as well as enhance the flavor of the butter and the ingredients used for your filling.
Salt - The primary reason we use salt is to bring out the flavors in the other ingredients to really make them pop. The same is true with this recipe.
Vanilla (optional) - I do not usually use vanilla in my shortbread crust, but it is a popular additional ingredient, so I wanted to mention it. Paired with the sugar and salt, it adds more dimension to the crust. You can also substitute the vanilla with other ingredients such as finely grated and chopped lemon zest, lavender, or herbs.

How to make

The best part about this recipe is how easy it is to make. You can use a food processor, but I usually find it is more fun to make it by hand.

Mix together the flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl.
Cut the butter into cubes and add to the flour.
Cut the butter using a pastry cutter, or use your hands and rub the butter into the flour mixture.
Continue until the mixture resembles crumbs. It will look dry, but will stick together when pressed.
Press the mixture into your pan, making sure it is pressed firmly into the sides and edges.
Bake. If you are baking your filling, you will only need to bake partially. If your filling will not be baked, bake the crust through.

Expert tips

The most important way to ensure you get the best results is to make sure you are correctly measuring your ingredients, particularly the flour. You should fluff up the flour and then spoon it into your measuring cup then sweep of the excess. If you want to make sure you get consistent results, you can convert the recipe to metric and use a kitchen scale.

shortbread mixture pressed into baking pan

When to use

You can use shortbread crust for a number of recipes. I think it works especially well as a crust for tarts, but it also works incredibly well with creamy or citrusy pies. It is also popular to use with cookie bars and cheesecake bars. If you would like to try it in one of my recipes, I think you would love it in this blueberry mascarpone tart or these sweet and tart lemon bars.

In reality, this can be used as the crust to just about any pie. If the pie filling needs to be baked, you must parbake the crust. If the filling does not need to be baked, fully bake the crust.

Recipe FAQs

Is this a true sable breton?

Sable breton is shortbread, just like this. The difference between making a sable breton crust like this and a sable breton cookie is the use of egg which adds richness. If you would like to make this closer to a true sable breton cookie as opposed to a crust, you may add two room temperature egg yolks.

Why do we need room temperature butter?

To fully incorporate the ingredients together, using room temperature butter is very important. This is not like a flaky pie crust where cold ingredients are essential. Instead, everything should be done at room temperature when making this crust recipe.

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