There's nothing like biting into a buttery slice of shortbread fresh out of the oven, whether you've made a classic Scottish shortbread, a flavored variety, or something a bit more unique. However, to get those results, you've first got to mix your dough, which can sometimes be a bit more challenging than you might think.
Shortbread typically contains just a few ingredients — flour, sugar, butter, and salt. With no extra liquid, it sometimes might be tough to get your dough to a smooth consistency and you can wind up with dry and crumbly dough instead.
If you're facing this issue, Ina Garten offers a tip on her blog, Barefoot Contessa, that might just solve your worries: "If the shortbread dough feels dry, I add a teaspoon or two of water until it's easier to work with." The extra moisture can help to bring the dough together and give it a smoother texture.
As Ina Garten explains, "Different butters have different water content, and some can be drier than others." Butter contains between 16 and 18% water, and that water content is partly what's responsible for hydrating the flour, allowing for it to cook. It also helps to hold your shortbread cookie dough together.
You don't have to stick to just water to hydrate the dough, however. You can also use a bit of milk, vanilla extract, or even eggs to help get your dough back to the right consistency. Just remember that other ingredients can also wind up affecting the flavor of your cookies. Water's neutral taste makes it a good pick for keeping harmony between the different tastes in your biscuits while still adding in some necessary moisture.
Whichever choice you go with, remember that you should start with just a little and slowly add more as your dough needs it. This prevents you from overcorrecting and winding up with a gooey dough.
Figure In More Fat
While Ina Garten adds a bit of water to solve the crumbly shortbread conundrum, that's not the only solution to try. Sometimes, dry shortbread occurs because you don't have enough fat in your dough. Fat, and namely butter, helps to retain moisture and give the dough its consistency. If that's the case, you'll need to add some back in.
A bit of vegetable oil can work here, or if you've used a butter shortbread recipe and don't want to combine fats, some melted butter can also do the trick. Not only does this introduce more fat, but it also incorporates it as a liquid, helping bind together the dough.
Just like with adding water, a little can go a long way. Start with a teaspoon of fat and mix your dough well. If the dough is still falling apart, you can keep adding more in small increments. And at the end of the day, you can always add a little bit of water as well if your shortbread still hasn't formed a cohesive dough.
This is a common problem with recipes that use all-purpose flour. To fix this, you can add more fat to the dough. This can be in the form of butter, shortening, or even olive oil. Just add a little at a time until the dough comes together and is no longer crumbly.
To avoid this, try using as little flour as possible while preparing to roll your dough. Dry – “Dry” or “Crumbly” dough is a product of over-mixing or using too much of any ingredient during the mixing process. This can be reversed by adding one to two tablespoons of liquid (water, milk or softened butter) to your mix.
The most common mistakes when making shortbread are over-working the dough, and incorporating too much flour. The less you work the dough, the more crumbly and melt-in-your-mouth your shortbread cookies will be.
If a dough seems dry it could be because the liquid isn't evenly distributed. The center of the dough can often be wet while the outside is dry. Give the dough a little extra kneading, just until it comes together, and that alone might be enough to fix it. If using a stand mixer, try finishing the dough by hand.
What happens if you increase the amount of sugar called for in cookies? Conversely, when you increase the sugar in cookies, you'll get cookies that spread more and have an ultra moist and chewy texture in addition to a sweeter flavor.
If your recipe doesn't use much fat, you may end up with crumbly dough. To fix this, add in a bit more fat a teaspoon at a time, and mix after each addition. This is a great option if you have shortbread cookie dough that's too dry. Add more liquid ingredients in small amounts.
Originally Answered: What can you do when your shortbread dough is too crumbly? Add a tiny bit of water, literally just drops.Dip your fingers in a bowl of water and flick it from your fingers into the dough, then work it in. 2 or 3 times and the dough should suddenly come togther.
The finished shortbread dough will be a crumbly texture, but when you start to form it together with your hands, it should come together just fine. (The heat of your hands will help with this!)
It's important to avoid over-mixing shortbread dough, which will develop gluten and make the finished product tough, not tender. To make sure that the flour mixes completely with little effort, sift the flour first to get out all of the lumps.
Why do you put fork holes in shortbread? Creating little holes in the top of the shortbread helps any moisture escape from the dough so it cooks more evenly, this also helps create the very 'short' texture of the biscuits. In baking terms, 'short' means crumbly with a melt-in-the-mouth texture.
If it's too warm, the butter and sugar cannot properly cream and the cookies will taste dense. Many shortbread recipes call for cold butter worked into the dry ingredients and that gives you a wonderfully flaky cookie but if not mixed properly, the results can be inconsistent.
It's important to avoid over-mixing shortbread dough, which will develop gluten and make the finished product tough, not tender. To make sure that the flour mixes completely with little effort, sift the flour first to get out all of the lumps.
The cookie dough should be crumbly but hold together when squeezed. Turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper and knead lightly until it holds together. Shape the dough into a ball.
Don't overbeat. To make shapes, form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic and freeze or refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, until firm. Roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it is ¼ inch thick.
Introduction: My name is Corie Satterfield, I am a fancy, perfect, spotless, quaint, fantastic, funny, lucky person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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