5 Ingredient Funfetti Shortbread Bites

Published August 16, 2016. Updated June 18, 2024

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5 Ingredient Shortbread Bites are the easiest festive snack! Crisp and buttery, rainbow-speckled mini shortbread squares. These are fun to make and everyone always loves them! They keep really well, I like to freeze them and put some in my kid’s school lunch.

Funfetti Shortbread Bites | Cooking ClassyThe Cutest 5 Ingredient Shortbread Bites!

I love these because they’re totally snack-able and indeed totally pop-able, they are perfectly portable, they are easy to make, and only require FIVE ingredients.

They have a longer shelf life than most baked goods and they don’t require refrigeration, they are perfect for holidays (with their customizable sprinkles, you can even find single colors online and mix and match to get the color combo you want).
Funfetti Shortbread Bites | Cooking Classy

They are the tiniest, cutest little cookies you’ll ever make, and of course, they are 100% irresistibly delicious (think perfectly buttery, birthday cake-like flavor, and crisp melt-in-your-mouth texture)!

So with all that said are you starting to see that you really need to make these Funfetti Shortbread Bites?? Do it. Everyone including yourself will thank you.

Funfetti Shortbread Bites | Cooking Classy

How to Make 5 Ingredient Shortbread Bites

  • Butter and line a 13 by 9-inch baking dish.
  • Cream butter and sugar in an electric stand mixer until combined. Mix in almond extract.
  • Blend in flour then 2 1/2 Tbsp sprinkles.
  • Press dough into an even layer in the prepared baking dish.

Funfetti Shortbread Bites | Cooking Classy

  • Sprinkle remaining 1 Tbsp sprinkles over top and lightly press into dough. Chill dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Preheat oven.
  • Lift dough from the pan using a parchment overhang on all sides. Cut into 1/2-inch squares.
  • Transfer about 1/3 of the cookies to an unbuttered baking sheet*** and scatter cookies out spacing cookies 1/2-inch apart.

Funfetti Shortbread Bites | Cooking Classy

  • Bake in preheated oven for 8 – 12 minutes.
  • Repeat the process with the remaining bites, adding them to a cool baking sheet. Cool completely then transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature.

Funfetti Shortbread Bites | Cooking Classy

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Funfetti Shortbread Bites | Cooking Classy

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4.45 from 25 votes

5 Ingredient Funfetti Shortbread Bites

Crisp and buttery, rainbow speckled mini shortbread squares. These are fun to make and everyone always loves them! They keep really well, I like to freeze them and put some in my kids school lunch. Yield: About 336 itty bitty bites.
Servings: 18
Prep20 minutes
Cook1 hour
Chill30 minutes
Ready in: 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Butter a 13 by 9-inch baking dish** and line with 2 sheets of parchment paper (one horizontally and one vertically. I also like to butter between parchment sheets so they stick) leaving a 1-inch over hang on all sides, set aside.
  • In the bowl of an electric stand mixer cream together butter and sugar until well combined (not light and fluffy, just well blended). Mix in almond extract. 
  • With mixer set on low speed slowly add in flour and mix until combined (it will take a while and will appear dry and sandy at first but it will start to come together). Mix in 2 1/2 Tbsp of the sprinkles.
  •  Press dough into an even layer in prepared baking dish (I did it with my hands first then used the bottom of a flat measuring cup to help smooth it out). 
  • Sprinkle remaining 1 Tbsp sprinkles over top and lightly press into dough. Chill dough in refrigerator 30 minutes. Meanwhile preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Lift dough from pan using parchment overhang on all sides. Cut into 1/2-inch squares using a large sharp knife***. 
  • Transfer about 1/3 of the cookies to an unbuttered baking sheet**** and scatter cookies out spacing cookies 1/2-inch apart.
  • Bake in preheated oven 8 - 12 minutes (keep remaining that aren't currently baking refrigerated). 
  • Repeat process with remaining bites, adding them to a cool baking sheet. Cool completely then transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature.

Notes

  • *Unsalted butter will work great too. Simply whisk in 1/2 tsp salt with the flour before adding if using unsalted butter.
  • **For slightly thicker bites a 9 by 9-inch pan can be used you just won't get quite as many cookies.
  • ***It works best to just cut long rows. Run large knife underneath cookies to help remove them from parchment as needed.
  • ****Don't line pan with parchment or silicone liners. The ungreased sheets give the cookies some traction so they'll spread less.
  • Recipe source: inspired by Land O Lakes
Nutrition Facts
5 Ingredient Funfetti Shortbread Bites
Amount Per Serving
Calories 198 Calories from Fat 90
% Daily Value*
Fat 10g15%
Saturated Fat 6g38%
Cholesterol 26mg9%
Sodium 90mg4%
Potassium 21mg1%
Carbohydrates 24g8%
Sugar 10g11%
Protein 1g2%
Vitamin A 315IU6%
Calcium 6mg1%
Iron 0.8mg4%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition values are estimates only. See full disclaimer here.

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124 Comments

  • Cee

    My dough was super dry and sandy, no matter how much kneeding I did, it didnt come together. I ended up adding about 2 tablespoons of milk to get it to come together.

  • Marla

    I’m not sure what I did wrong, but these spread out so much, they ended up totally flat and pretty unappealing looking. Nothing like the picture :( I kept them chilled in between, only used a cold pan (even put it in the freezer), right on the pan with no spray, foil, or parchment. Any ideas what might have gone wrong??

  • Samantha

    What can be substituted for the mixer? I have a hand mixer and my own 2 hands lol! I want to make sure they aren’t dried out but don’t want to go out and buy new machines. Any help is greatly appreciated!!

  • Megan

    These are awesome! I let my kids pick a dessert for thanksgiving since they don’t like pie and they saw these and immediately said “those”. I did orange sprinkles and they are darling!

    PS random side note….I love your lemon cheesecake mousse…I think it may be in my top 3 favorite desserts. Have you tried pumpkin cheesecake mousse yet? There’s my request????

  • Ally

    Not only are they fun to make, but they’re delicious too! My 11 year old daughter loved making them….so much that we just made a second batch, with Halloween sprinkles!

  • Jessica

    I was so excited to try these as a lunchbox surprise for my son, but they didn’t come out well at all :( The dough was super dry – sand like, and never came together. I tried to bake them anyway so that it wouldnt be a total waste of food, but now I just have hot sand.
    The only problem I can see is that I used a hand mixer, not a stand mixer (because I don’t own one). Maybe the butter didn’t get mixed all the way? Any suggestions? I really wanted these to work, they are so cute!

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      You could try mixing it and kneading by hand to bring it all together (it does seem kind of like a dry dough because of the cold butter) but it sounds like there was too much flour. So next time I’d recommend using a 1/4 cup less flour and be careful not to pack it in when measuring. Sorry they didn’t turn out perfect, fingers crossed for next time!