diff --git a/packages/dom/src/clone-dom.js b/packages/dom/src/clone-dom.js
index 89e752986..2f7c8b491 100644
--- a/packages/dom/src/clone-dom.js
+++ b/packages/dom/src/clone-dom.js
@@ -79,22 +79,21 @@ export function cloneNodeAndShadow(ctx) {
 
       // Handle <style> tag specifically for media queries
       if (node.nodeName === 'STYLE' && !enableJavaScript) {
-        let cssText = node.textContent?.trim() || '';
-        if (!cssText && node.sheet) {
+        let ownText = node.textContent?.trim() || '';
+        if (!ownText && node.sheet) {
           try {
             const cssRules = node.sheet.cssRules;
             if (cssRules && cssRules.length > 0) {
-              cssText = Array.from(cssRules).map(rule => rule.cssText).join('\n');
+              let cssText = Array.from(cssRules).map(rule => rule.cssText).join('\n');
+              if (cssText) {
+                clone.textContent = cssText;
+                clone.setAttribute('data-percy-cssom-serialized', 'true');
+              }
             }
           } catch (_) {
             // ignore errors
           }
         }
-
-        if (cssText) {
-          clone.textContent = cssText;
-          clone.setAttribute('data-percy-cssom-serialized', 'true');
-        }
       }
 
       // We apply any element transformations here to avoid another treeWalk
diff --git a/packages/dom/src/serialize-cssom.js b/packages/dom/src/serialize-cssom.js
index d885829f3..fb8cbc23c 100644
--- a/packages/dom/src/serialize-cssom.js
+++ b/packages/dom/src/serialize-cssom.js
@@ -27,8 +27,7 @@ function styleSheetsMatch(sheetA, sheetB) {
   // Only treat as mismatch when the live sheet has MORE rules than the
   // clone — that signals rules were added via CSSOM (insertRule/adopted)
   // and must be re-serialized. When lenA <= lenB, the clone already
-  // contains all of the live rules (often duplicated by clone-dom's
-  // <style> textContent handling); trust the clone's source text so that
+  // contains all of the live rules; trust the clone's source text so that
   // CSS shorthand semantics (e.g. `all: initial; border-radius: var(...)`)
   // survive — `cssRule.cssText` expansion appends logical longhands like
   // `border-end-end-radius: initial` AFTER the shorthand, which silently
diff --git a/packages/dom/test/serialize-css.test.js b/packages/dom/test/serialize-css.test.js
index 6cecac6cb..e9edb61ea 100644
--- a/packages/dom/test/serialize-css.test.js
+++ b/packages/dom/test/serialize-css.test.js
@@ -44,8 +44,8 @@ describe('serializeCSSOM', () => {
       it(`${platform}: serializes CSSOM and does not mutate the orignal DOM`, () => {
         let $cssom = parseDOM(serializeDOM(), platform)('[data-percy-cssom-serialized]');
 
-        // linked and unmodified stylesheets are not included
-        expect($cssom).toHaveSize(3);
+        // linked, unmodified and plain authored stylesheets are not included
+        expect($cssom).toHaveSize(2);
         expect($cssom[0].innerHTML).toBe('.box { height: 500px; }');
         expect($cssom[1].innerHTML).toBe('.box { width: 1000px; }');
 
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ describe('serializeCSSOM', () => {
         cssomSheet.deleteRule(0); // Remove all rules to make it empty
         const serialized = serializeDOM();
         let $cssom = parseDOM(serialized, platform)('[data-percy-cssom-serialized]');
-        expect($cssom).toHaveSize(2); // should skip the empty stylesheet
+        expect($cssom).toHaveSize(1); // should skip the empty stylesheet
       });
 
       it(`${platform}: preserves media queries inside CSSOM`, () => {
@@ -463,23 +463,14 @@ describe('serializeCSSOM', () => {
 
   describe('regression: cloned <style> text-node duplication', () => {
     // serializeCSSOM decides whether to re-serialize each in-memory CSSOM
-    // stylesheet via styleSheetsMatch(liveSheet, cloneSheet). Cloned <style>
-    // elements in real snapshots can end up with the original text node
-    // appended twice (clone-dom assigns clone.textContent = ... and the
-    // subsequent generic walkTree re-clones the original text node). The
-    // parsed cloneSheet then has 2x the rules of liveSheet.
-    //
-    // Strict length equality (`lenA !== lenB`) treats that as a mismatch
-    // and forces re-serialization via Array.from(liveSheet.cssRules).map(
-    // r => r.cssText), which is NOT semantically identity-preserving:
-    // Chromium expands `all: initial` into hundreds of longhands and
-    // emits logical-property longhands (border-end-end-radius: initial,
-    // ...) AFTER the shorthand it sat next to in source, silently
-    // overriding `border-radius: var(--x)` with 0.
-    //
-    // styleSheetsMatch must therefore tolerate lenB > lenA when every
-    // live rule still appears in the clone (re-serialization is only
-    // required when the live sheet has rules the clone is missing).
+    // stylesheet via styleSheetsMatch(liveSheet, cloneSheet). It must
+    // tolerate lenB > lenA when every live rule still appears in the clone:
+    // re-serialization via Array.from(liveSheet.cssRules).map(r => r.cssText)
+    // is NOT semantically identity-preserving — Chromium expands
+    // `all: initial` into hundreds of longhands and emits logical-property
+    // longhands (border-end-end-radius: initial, ...) AFTER the shorthand
+    // it sat next to in source, silently overriding
+    // `border-radius: var(--x)` with 0.
 
     it('skips re-serialization when clone <style> text duplicates the live rules — preserves `all: initial; border-radius: var(--x)` semantics', () => {
       withExample('<div class="box"></div>', { withShadow: false });
@@ -492,8 +483,7 @@ describe('serializeCSSOM', () => {
       const clone = document.createDocumentFragment();
       const cloneOwner = document.createElement('style');
       cloneOwner.setAttribute('data-percy-element-id', 'dup-regression');
-      // Duplicate the source rule — what clone-dom currently produces.
-      // styleSheetFromNode will parse this into a sheet with 2 rules,
+      // styleSheetFromNode parses this into a sheet with 2 rules,
       // while the live sheet has 1.
       cloneOwner.textContent = liveRuleText + '\n' + liveRuleText;
       clone.appendChild(cloneOwner);
@@ -549,5 +539,18 @@ describe('serializeCSSOM', () => {
       expect(reserialized).not.toBeNull();
       expect(reserialized.textContent).toContain('.live-only');
     });
+
+    it('does not duplicate authored <style> text, preserving `background: var(--x)` shorthands', () => {
+      withExample('<style id="var-shorthand">.box { all: initial; background: var(--x); background-clip: text; }</style>', { withShadow: false });
+
+      let liveStyle = document.getElementById('var-shorthand');
+      let liveText = liveStyle.textContent;
+
+      let $ = parseDOM(serializeDOM(), 'plain');
+      let clonedStyle = $('#var-shorthand')[0];
+
+      expect(clonedStyle.innerHTML).toBe(liveText);
+      expect(clonedStyle.getAttribute('data-percy-cssom-serialized')).toBeNull();
+    });
   });
 });