How To Make Shortbread Cookies
Of all the cookies I love to dunk, a favorite are the shortbread cookies. I speak of dunking these cookies in plural as I cannot muster the courage or self control to dunk just one. At this writing, I have already dunked one in a smooth cold brew coffee. Oh the butter, Oh the buzz! It has been said on this blog about many a food, but everyone should know how to make shortbread cookies. At their core is simplicity – lightly sweet, buttery flavor with a hint of vanilla, and baked into a crumb that melts in the mouth.
How To Make Shortbread Cookies – Achieving Tenderness
To achieve the buttery sweetness is fairly obvious. Plenty of butter and sugar. In this case, powdered sugar is the preferred sweetener. It blends well with the butter and there is no worry about reaching full incorporation. The tenderness of the cookies is also easily achieved. Stirring flour into the butter sugar mixture does the trick naturally. By coating the flour with fat, it will bake up tender because of that whole gluten formation blocking thing which, like gravity, is real nice to have. The vanilla, of course, comes from vanilla. Use as much or as little as you want. The whole world seems to only allow 1 tsp of vanilla in a recipe. For this, I use 2. I like vanilla flavor.
How To Make Shortbread Cookies – The Shapes
You can shape your short bread cookies numerous ways. The easiest way is to pour the mixture into a round pan and score it into wedges. You can also spread it out in a square pan and score it into sticks. Or, with a little more work, roll the dough into a log with parchment paper, refrigerate, then slice rounds. All these are pretty easy ways to get the shape you want. It is best to score before baking then cut when the cookies are still warm. This just helps make nice cuts. Docking the dough with a fork before baking is also a good idea. This helps a little steam to release and brings a little density to the cookies.
How To Make Shortbread Cookies – The Next Level
There is much you can add to a shortbread cookie. The addition of some candied ginger is very nice as is some lemon or orange zest. Let’s face it, chocolate chips would do no harm either. Just stir these additions into the dough before placing it in the pan. You could also leave the cookies plain, then dunk them in caramel and chocolate sprinkles for a real treat! This is a nice holiday do.
The ‘How To Make Shortbread Cookies” video is below and the full recipe follows.
- 1 stick of butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup of powdered sugar
- 2 tsp of vanilla
- 1/4 tsp of salt
- 1 cup of flour
- Preheat the oven to 325F.
- In a large bowl and using a hand-mixer, whip the butter, vanilla and powdered sugar together until fluffy.
- In a small bowl, mix salt and flour together.
- Using the hand mixer, slowly mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients until fully incorporated and the dough comes together when pressed.
- Pour the dough into an 8 inch cake or spring form pan. Press the dough flat with floured fingers.
- Using the back of a knife, score the dough in wedges. This will make it easier to cut into cookies later.
- Dock the dough all over with a fork.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until it begins to get golden brown.
- Let cool 5 minutes. Turn out the shortbread and slice into wedges.
- Let cool completely. Serve.
Keep Eating! Keep Innovating!
Did you know How To Make Shortbread Cookies? How does this recipe compare to others you have used? Let me know in the comments or on Facebook.
The Culinary Exchange can also be found on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+ and YouTube.
Come On! Follow Along!
