Jeez, Deanna, I read that header and thought, "Am I in trouble again?" I felt like the kid heading to the principal's office.

The recipe is my all-time favorite shortbread (and I am, unfortunately for my figure, a shortbread connaisseur). It's very delicate and crumbly, not a whole lot like you might think shortbread might be, but it is a great great cookie.

Well, enough accolades. Don't want to keep you in suspense. This comes from Alice Medrich's book, "Cookies and Brownies." It's out of print, unfortunately. Note the absolutely absurd used price on Amazon. As if.

She did a lot of experiments for the ultimate cookie in each category and discovered bleached flour does make a difference with some types. This is one of them. You decide. I know most people don't go the bleached flour route, but I buy it specifically for a few of these recipes.

Nut Shortbread

Categories : Desserts  Cookies Entertaining and Holiday

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour -- (bleached preferred)
1/2 cup nuts -- (pieces - toasted)
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons sugar
pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons sugar -- (for sprinkling on top)

Pulse flour and nuts together in food processor until finely ground.

In saucepan melt butter. Add sugar, salt and vanilla. Stir in flour/nut mixture.

9-inch round or 8-inch square pan or 9 1/2-inch fluted tart pan, greased or lined with foil. (Not necessary with stone pans.)

Pat shortbread in pan. Refrigerate at least two hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 300°. Place rack in bottom third of oven. Bake shortbread 65-75 minutes. (A few minutes less for tart pan.)

Sprinkle with sugar. Remove from pan and cut into pieces while still warm. Cool thoroughly.

Keeps well in a tight tin or can be frozen.

Description:
"Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies page 25."

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Grotesquely Overpriced Used Book

I just saved this in my "recipes to try" file. Your right Carol. Those are grotesquely overpriced!

Thanks, Carol. I too LOVE shortbread cookies.

Thanks Carol!!!
Sorry about that "principal" thing....LOL!

I appreciate the recipe and it will be on my "to do" list this weekend! Sounds wonderful.

Have you ever made them with walnuts? I've got those on hand.

Deanna

I usually do make them with toasted walnuts. But I was rummaging through the freezer and hit the toasted almonds, thought, "Hmmn," and that's what I used. I was very happy with the results.

Carol

I'll try the walnut version this weekend then!
Thanks again!
Deanna

I just made these cookies and they are AWESOME! Thank you Carol for posting the recipe. I didn't have bleached flour (never do) but they're great anyway with unbleached flour. Dh asked me to be sure to make these again!

Thanks!
Astrid

Stir in a small can of Solo Almond paste...

I have made shortbread cookies for years, as I tend to prefer rich over sweet. A couple of my favorite twists to a basic shortbread recipe:

Toast pecans in a dry pan, and then grind them to the texture of breadcrumbs and work them into the dough.

Toast sweetened coconut, flaked or shredded, in a dry pan until the edges brown, and work that into the dough.

Toast sesame seeds, the rounder, light brown ones used in sesame wafers and such, not the weird, thin, almost white, flat ones (what do they do to them, anyway?) and mix that in with the dough.

Mince dried fruit very fine. When making the dough, reserve a bit of the flour to dust the fruit with before mixing it into the dough (it helps to separate the dried fruit bits). I like to use dried apricots, cherries or cranberries and use almond extract instead of vanilla.

Shortbread is a wonderfully forgiving cookie. You can play all you want. :D