An easy and delicious shortbread cookies recipe. Making shortbread at home doesn’t have to be a headache. You’ll reap all the rewards with these cookies!
You may be wondering (or not) why I haven’t posted a recipe in a while. Well, it’s been quite hectic here and I feel horrible from holding a recipe from you for so long. Yes, I’ve been holding this shortbread cookie recipe from you for over a week. I promise I’ll try not to do that again, but we’re moving and we’re doing a lot of packing. A LOT!
Besides holding this shortbread recipe from you, I have great news (like you haven’t heard those two words in while). Two days ago, I received an e-mail from one of my food blogging friend’s sister. The e-mail was written to Jaden Hair and I. The e-mail asked us to participate as the U.S. Wellness Meats featured chefs for their next month’s issue of their “Wellness Chefs” section. Additionally. In the e-mail, she also stated how her sister, Rachel (my food blogging friend) was a big fan of Jaden and I. So, I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Rachel Going and all of you for reading my blog on a regular basis! Even though I don’t have as many readers as Jaden, it’s still hard to thank everyone individually, so thank you so much! I really appreciate all of the support.
So, everyone, stay tuned for a recipe that will be featured on the U.S. Wellness Meats website (and of course I’ll be sharing it on here!). I’ll also be featuring two other recipes using grassfed meats from the U.S. Wellness Meats farms that they so kindly gave to me to try (and I got to pick out what I wanted!). I should be receiving the shipment of the meats tomorrow and the recipes should be coming in a while. I can’t promise any specific time, but I do promise that they’ll be on here soon (on to the shortbread in a minute)
With all of the good news aside, I’d love to give a gift to all of you- my shortbread cookie recipe. Who said christmas can’t come early? I make this recipe all of the time and I love dipping it in chocolate or in my tea. When I say all of the time, I mean at least twice a week.
Yield: Makes about 2 Dozen Cookies, Depending on Size
For shortbread, do not use anything but real butter. If you use margarine, or anything like that, your cookies are bound to taste awful and will definitely come out bad too. Trust me, when I read in one of my cookbooks to use nothing but butter, I needed to test it with margarine. And not to my surprise, the margarine messes everything up. So, lesson learned: don’t use anything but butter!
1 cup powdered sugar (icing sugar, confectioners sugar)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk
White granulated sugar for sprinkling
6 ounces of melted chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
Sift flour and salt together.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. If you’d like, you could cream the butter first, and then cream the sugar in.
Beat in the vanilla extract.
Without your electric mixer, gently stir the sifted flour and salt mixture into the creamed butter and sugar, until well blended. Mix in the milk.
Form the dough into a disk, then wrap it in plastic wrap, and chill it in the refrigerator for about an hour (or until the dough has firmed-up).
Preheat oven to 350ºF (remember to place the oven rack in the middle). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Take the dough out of your refrigerator (if you haven’t done so already) and roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to ¼ of an inch thick. Cut into rectangles, squares, rounds, or any shape that you’d prefer.
Place the cookies on the parchment lined baking sheets and place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, or until the cookies have firmed up. The colder the cookies, the more they’ll keep their shape in the oven.
Bake for about 10 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes on baking sheets before proceeding to cool the cookies on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes.
After the cookies have cooled, dip them in the melted chocolate and enjoy!
Butter is an emulsifier and it makes cookies tender. It also adds in the crispy-around-the-edges element. Adding too much butter can cause the cookies to be flat and greasy. Adding too little butter can cause the cookies to be tough and crumbly.
Cornstarch provides the shortbread with structure, but its biggest job is keeping the cookies extra soft, tender, and light. I love adding a small amount to chocolate chip cookies too. Optional Coarse Sugar Topping: For an optional sparkly crunch on your shortbread wedges, add a sprinkle of coarse sugar before baking.
And once you have cut out or shaped your dough make sure you chill it for at least 30 minutes before baking so that the butter can re-solidify before reaching the heat of the oven.
Shortbread is generally done baking when it starts to turn a slight golden brown, especially along the edges (if it's dark brown to black, you've cooked it too long, and if it's still white throughout you haven't baked it long enough).
Why is my shortbread crumbly after baking? If your butter and flour ratio is off, your shortbread may have the wrong texture. Butter is key, it contains a large percentage of water, and that water develops the gluten structure which gives strength and crunch to the biscuit.
The word "bread" comes from "biscuit bread" which was made from leftover bread dough that was sweetened and dried out in the oven to make biscuits. Why do you poke holes in shortbread? The holes allow the moisture to escape during baking and more even heat distribution. This helps dry out and crisp up the cookies.
-Chill unbaked shortbread cookies in the fridge for 30 minutes prior to baking in a 350 degree oven for 12-18 minutes. (Check on them at 10 minutes and ever 2 minutes thereafter.)
These proportions make shortbread a lot more dense compared to cookies, which means you could easily end up with shortbread that's hard and crunchy rather than buttery and crumbly. Per Cooktop Cove, this can occur when the dough has either been overworked or not chilled for long enough.
However, lipids, which are a component to food such as shortbread cookies are considered unhealthy because they are the most energetic nutrients in food and are a source of saturated fatty acids (SFA) (usually 40%) and sometimes also trans fatty isomers (TFA) [4,5,6].
Remove the wrap if you've used it, then use a fork to prick ("dock") the dough all over; this allows any steam to escape, and prevents the shortbread from bubbling as it bakes. Prick the dough in a random pattern, or create a pretty design.
Run a sharp, large knife until hot water for a minute or so. Then dry with a cloth and slice through the Millionaire's Shortbread. The heat with soften the layers and prevent the chocolate on top from cracking.
It's all in the quality of the ingredients. With such a short ingredient list, the quality makes a big difference. The perfect shortbread cookie should be crumbly, but not dry, buttery but not greasy and sweet but not sickly.
Traditional Scottish shortbread is a simple recipe made with sugar, butter, flour, and salt. Other shortbread styles will include leavening agents like baking powder and baking soda, which makes them crisp instead of crumbly like traditional Scottish shortbread.
Always start with cold butter straight from the refrigerator. This will keep the dough from warming up, making it greasy and difficult to roll out. If the dough does get soft or sticky as you're rolling or cutting it, just put it back in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes to chill the butter.
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Introduction: My name is Jerrold Considine, I am a combative, cheerful, encouraging, happy, enthusiastic, funny, kind person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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