Shortbread has many aficionados, but like all intense passions, there is a great divide among enthusiasts about principle and purpose. Many fanatics argue over whether to work the butter into the flour toward the end of mixing, or cream butter and sugar together initially.In this version I use the latter method, and bake my shortbread in a pan for crisp, golden shortbread rectangles, or fingers as they are sometimes called.
After testing the recipe at several different temperatures, I found I liked the “low and slow” method best. I bake these at 300F [150C] until golden brown for a rich, crisp shortbread.
How this recipe differs from others:
I bake my shortbread a little longer, so it is golden brown, because I like it crisp, which is why I give a large baking time range in the directions. It does turn dark golden quickly, especially on the edges, so keep an eye on it if you are letting it bake a little longer.
I like to use bothgranulated and confectioners’ sugarand a good bit of salt,and also add an egg yolkto add both a little color and richness.
if you’re looking to make circular type shortbread cookies, I have this buttery vanilla version, chocolate shortbread, and thin and crisp shortbread.
Important Tips For Making Shortbread Cookies:
Butter is the major ingredient here, so make sure to use a brand of butter that you love.
I prefer to use unsalted butter so I can control how much salt I put into the cookie, but if you have a salted butter you love, you can use that instead; taste the finished dough before adding more salt. Make sure that the dough is completely combined, and use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the mixer.
Tender Shortbread Cookies (pan-style)
Servings: 12cookies
Prep Time: 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 30 minutesminutes
This shortbread is crisp and buttery, with plenty of vanilla flavor and a dusting of granulated sugar on top. The dough is pressed into a pan to make things easy and cut into long rectangles when finished baking.
Sarah Kieffer
5 from 8 votes
Print Pin Rate
Ingredients
1 cup [2 sticks or 227 g] unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup[130 g] granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1/3 cup[40 g] confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoonfine salt
2large egg yolks
2teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2cups[284 g] all-purpose flour
Instructions
Adjust an oven rack to the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 300F [150C]. Grease and line a 9 in [23 cm] square baking pan, see note.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the butter on low speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the granulated and confectioners' sugar and salt, and beat again until creamy and combined, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and mix again until combined, one minute. Add the flour and and mix on low until completely combined.
Move the dough to the prepared pan, and spread the dough into an even layer across the bottom of the pan. Spreading a piece of plastic wrap over the top of the dough helps with moving it and keeping it from sticking. Sprinkle the top with granulated sugar.
Place the shortbread in the oven and bake until the shortbread is pale golden and firm to the touch, 35 to 50 minutes (see notes). Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the top with more granulated sugar if desired. Let the shortbread cool for 15 minutes in the pan. Use the parchment sling to carefully remove the shortbread, then cut the warm shortbread into rectangle pieces. I cut the piece in half horizontally, and then cut each half into 6 rectangles. Let the shortbread cool for several hours. Shortbread can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 to 5 days.
Notes
*For extra crisp shortbread, use a 9 by 13 in [23 by 33 cm] baking pan. The shortbread bakes up much thinner, and and it takes a little more work to spread it in an even layer in the pan, but is still delicious.
*I bake my shortbread a little longer, so it is golden brown, because I like it crisp, which is why I give a large baking time range in the directions. It does turn dark golden quickly, so keep an eye on it if you are letting it bake a little longer. Traditionally shortbread should not be too golden.
*Throughout my recipes posted on this website, 1 cup of flour equals 142g. Please note that 1 cup of flour can range anywhere from 120g to 142g, depending on the baker or website. I found that after weighting many cups of flour and averaging the total, mine always ended up around this number. Weighing your flour instead of using cup measurements is the surest way to get the result I intended when developing the recipe.
Different brands of flour have varying levels of protein, ranging from low to high, which can result in very different outcomes when baking. I’ve found Gold Medal all-purpose unbleached flour to be the best option for many of my recipes; I use it in all the baked goods that don’t use yeast.
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.
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.
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.
Shortbread is similar to shortcake but doesn't include baking powder. Lots of rich butter gives shortbread a high fat content, resulting in a fine, crumbly texture. Shortcake and shortbread biscuits are delicious on their own, with fruit and cream, or simply topped with a delicate dusting of sugar.
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.
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.
In British English, shortbread and shortcake were synonyms for several centuries, starting in the 1400s; both referred to the crisp, crumbly cookie-type baked good, rather than a softer cake.
Why do you put shortbread cut-out cookies in the fridge before baking? This is to resolidify the butter. The butter is at room temperature when making the dough resulting in a soft dough. If baked straight away, the butter would melt away immediately when hitting the hot oven and the shortbread would spread.
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.
Butter – You'll need salted butter that's at room temperature. It can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour to bring the butter to room temperature, so make sure you give yourself enough time. If you don't have salted butter, unsalted butter will also work, simply add about ¼ teaspoon of salt to the cookie dough.
The name "millionaire's shortbread" appears to have originated in Scotland. The "millionaire" prefix to millionaire's shortbread or millionaires slice implies a level of decadence and wealth to the sweet treat, that it is an upgrade from regular shortbread.
So if you hear the term "Scottish shortbread," you might think it's a different version of the shortbread you're familiar with, right? Well ... actually, no. "Shortbread" is just Scottish shortbread; they're one and the same.
Shortbread is called short because of the traditional ratio of one part sugar to two parts butter that lends a high fat content to the dough. This yields a soft, buttery crumb that melts in your mouth, similar to short crust pastry. This ratio is also what makes shortbread so crave-worthy.
Nigella Lawson explains that they can turn out with the dreaded soggy bottom if they're pressed too thickly in a pan, cooked at too high a temperature, or cooked in a non-metal pan that doesn't quickly distribute the oven heat.
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.
Begin checking at the tail end of the cooking time. Undercooked shortbread will be doughy and chewy. Slightly overcooked and it will become chalky, brittle and hard.
Introduction: My name is Kelle Weber, I am a magnificent, enchanting, fair, joyous, light, determined, joyous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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