Shortbread

I've had a couple of people ask me, so I thought I'd post up the shortbread recipe that I make. There are no secret ingredients or anything like that, just butter, all-purpose flour and icing sugar. I use a food processor to mix the ingredients together. You could use a stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment. I've also used a hand mixer and that worked out OK. I have burned out the motors on  two of them though making shortbread, so that might not be the best way to do it though.

Preheat oven to about 275 degrees Fahrenheit.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup icing sugar

I cut the butter into little pieces and put them in the bowl of the food processor with the blade attachment then sift the ingredients in on top of the butter. Then I process the  mixture until it comes together. Here's where you'll have the problems. You want to mix enough that you can easily load in a pastry bag or a cookie press, but do it too long and it will get gooey and not work well. Then lay the cookies out on a cookie sheet. Leave a little bit of room between them because they will spread. I use a cookie press now, but in the past I have used a pastry bag with a star tip. Bake them until they are just baked. It is around 12 minutes, but watch the first couple of sheets carefully until you get a sense of your oven.

Variations: I've made batches with chunks of dark chocolate in them and dropped the batter by the spoonful on a cookie sheet that were pretty good. I've also made ones that I added bits of dried cranberries and dropped them by the spoonful on a cookie sheet and that was very good too.

Comments

[Mel]

Thank you so much!

[pcwong]

No problem. It takes time to master, but worth the effort.