Help me with this shortbread recipe, or better yet, share yours

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

I just tried making shortbread cookies. A friend shared his recipe, and the pic looks fantastic. BUT mine all crumbled and fell apart. A waste. I have shortbread crumbles.

Please critique the recipe. When I added the flour I had a bowl of crumbs, not doughy at all. I tried squishing some in my hands to make balls, but it's a disaster. I baked them anyway, so at least I'd have some flavour of shortbread. I'm showing what they *should* look like.

Perfect Shortbread Cookies

1 cup butter, room temperature

1/4 cup +2tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla together. Mix in the flour, 1 cup at a time (a stand mixer works great)

Roll into 1" balls and place 1" apart on cookie sheet. Flatten to 1/2" with a fork.

Bake 300° 25-30 minutes, cool 5 minutes on sheet before removing to a cooling rack.

Makes 24-36 cookies

I just have a hand mixer, but they should still have worked. Those cookies up there are a thing of beauty.

Mine LOL

ETA: I'm eating a couple and they taste great.

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Comments (31)

chloebud
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Jasdip, I'm not really sure, other than it's a bit more flour than my recipe. This is the recipe I've used for umpteen years. I promise it's an easy dough to work with and you won't have the crumble issue. Using salted butter here is a taste preference for me. The cornstarch and powdered sugar add more of a traditional shortbread texture IMO. I just got done mailing my last batch to family members. For Christmas, I like to cut the cookies into little stars. This year I used a 2" round cookie cutter with a fluted edge.

Shortbread

2 cups flour
2 T. cornstarch
Pinch salt
1/2 cup plus 2 T. powdered sugar
2 sticks salted butter, room temp.
1/2 tsp. vanilla

First, remove 2 T. from the 2 cups of flour and replace with the 2 T. cornstarch. Mix salt with flour/cornstarch. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Form into a disk and wrap in plastic. Chill for about 30 minutes to an hour. Preheat oven to 325. Roll dough out on lightly floured surface to about 3/8- to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut out shapes with a 1 1/2" to 2" cookie cutter. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet and bake about 15-18 minutes. Watch carefully, you want them to just barely get color (depending on your oven and cookie thickness. Start checking early). Remove from oven and let stand about 5 minutes. If desired, sprinkle with fine or granulated sugar. Remove to rack.

ETA - I agree your hand mixer is fine and I'm not surprised your cookies taste great!
roxanna7
3 years ago
I would imagine that your shortbread crumbs would make a lovely pie or tart crust...
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Help with shortbread recipe please
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I made Sharon's last night...and might have been the one asking for help till I re-read the recipe AFTER wondering why my very fine crumbs would not stick in the pan. (I have baked this in a 9" pan before.) AHA !!!! 1/2 lb, not 1/2 c of butter. I softened another stick of butter and then dumped the earlier batch in and mixed and voila...shortbread dough. I put it in the pan, chilled it overnight...thinking that by this time I might very well do something else wrong, and baked it today. I cut it into small fingers and it's delish. AnnT's recipe is also a reliable one and Annie had a post from Readinglady that makes enough to make three batches so you can vary the final product. (Annie or RL, correct anything that might be wrong pls.) DESSERT Scottish Shortbread in Three Variations Readinglady Carol sent me the recipe, then was kind enough to send me the rice flour, espresso powder and Callebaut chocolate to make it with. My favorite is the one with crystallized ginger chunks in it, but the mocha/dark chocolate one is really good too. Annie 1 large or 3 medium batches. "A truly great shortbread." 3 cups AP flour 1 cup rice flour (or sub cornstarch) 1 tsp. salt 2 cups good-quality fresh unsalted butter at room temp but not overly soft 1 cup fruit sugar (sub superfine sugar) Preheat oven to 325. Line at least 2 baking sheets with parchment and set aside. (Alternatively you can use shortbread pans [moulds] or cut with decorative cutters. If you use cutters, chill the mixed dough first.) Have ready any flavourings you plan to add. Sift the AP and rice flours (or cornstarch) together with the salt and set aside. Beat the butter until creamy. Gradually add sugar and cream until very light and fluffy. Add flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar in 4-5 additions, creaming thoroughly between each. I prefer to work in the dry ingredients by hand in a bowl large enough that I can use both hands to knead in the last bit of flour. Try to keep your palms off the dough as much as possible so the heat doesn't melt the butter and cause the dough to become oily. For plain shortbread, knead for 30 seconds after the last of the flour has been incorporated. For flavoured shortbread, divide the dough into 3 roughly equal parts and place each one in a separate bowl. Cover portions you're not working with with a piece of plastic wrap. Work flavoring ingredients into the dough as per the recipes below. Each will flavor 1/3 of the master recipe. For Moulded Shortbread: press the dough directly into the form. Prick dough all over with a fork and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until pale golden. Cool for 5 minutes, then invert the form onto a wooden board. Mark the divisions with a sharp knife to facilitate separating the pieces once the bread has cooled and set. 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plllog
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I would never put vanilla in shortbread. Hang on and I'll be back with my Scottish nanny's recipe. I've made many thousands of these. ETA—what was I thinking? Tens of thousands...
chloebud
3 years ago
Both vanilla and salted butter are taste preferences for me with shortbread. Easy to tweak...up to you, Jasdip!
plllog
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Okay, here's the recipe I've been making since childhood. Hold on to your seat. It's a lot of measuring, prep and finicky baking... ;) (That's a winky. The only finicky is the ingredients because it's so simple.)

Scottish Shortbread Cookies

2 c. Baking Sticks (100 Calories per TBSP) or fine butter (at least 82% fat) (I use salted, which is traditional, but you don't have to. Add a little extra salt if you want to press it in a pan for thicker shortbread, which is made similarly, bakes a bit longer, and must be cut while warm)

1 cup granulated cane sugar

4-5 cups of bleached white AP flour (unbleached cake flour might work)

Extra flour for the board if you're rolling out.

Paste color (opt.)

The ingredients matter. Not too much water. Not the wrong sugar for baking. Not the wrong flour for cookies.

Cream butter and sugar. Add flour gradually and incorporate. Use your hands if it’s beyond your beater. Add flour until it feels more cookie-ish than greasy. The exact amount depends on the fat you're using. It should hold the shape of your fingers when squished but feel doughy. Add optional color with your hands, working it through evenly (food service gloves help if you're a grown up). Chill several hours or overnight, wrapped tightly.

Preheat to 350 degrees F.

Make cookies. Roll into a log and slice, or roll out and use cutters, or do your squashed balls. Place on ungreased uncoated metal baking sheet (not non-stick or dark, preferably very thin). Decorate with colored sugars, sprinkles, etc. Dragets are beautiful but not nice eating. Sugar eyes are better. Press lightly on dimensional decor so it can fight gravity better, or just hang on even if they won't be hung.

This will stand up to three rollouts, but the third is too soft and floury really, so try to be conservative with your spacing to minimize waste. Work in smaller batches so you can hide the left bits with fresh dough for the next rollout.

Bake for 20-30 minutes depending on your oven and environment, The bottoms brown a little, but if the sides and top are browning, they're over-cooked. They do get a little darker white when fully baked because of the surface being dry. They should be firm to the touch in the center rather than squishy, but don't press too hard when they're hot or you'll squish through to the still soft middle.

Cool on the sheet on a rack until the sheet is fairly cool. At this point they should come up easily with a turner without getting bent out of shape. Let cool completely on rack.
Jasdip
Original Author
3 years ago
I love salted butter, so that's my preference. I did use the vanilla, but just a squirt.

Plllog, I have organic cane sugar, does it cream? It's granular (and a golden colour).

Chloebud, I have both icing sugar and cornstarch. :-)
plllog
3 years ago
The golden color probably means it's unrefined. It may be a little wetter than regular. I don't know why it wouldn't cream. I've heard people insist that you must use powdered sugar, but that's hogwash. It may be that the powdered was cane and their table sugar was beet, or something like that. Beet sugar makes lousy cookies. Some people have the knack of making it work, but it tends to come out way too dry and even sometimes funky tasting. Your sugar should work, but you might want to start with a known ingredient just to get a feel for it. If the sugar is too coarse to incorporate well, just keep beating it and it'll melt into the butter eventually, while you get some nice aeration, or you can run it through a food processor or spice grinder to make it smaller. Measure when it's close to normal.
plllog
3 years ago
@Chloebud, I'm sorry!! My posts sound like I'm coming after you, but I'm not! The vanilla was a shock, because it's not in traditional shortbread, but I'm sure your cookies are good, and I only meant that I never use it, not anything negative. I didn't even notice your powdered sugar as I skimmed the recipes, just what you said about it being optional. I've encountered many people who only use powdered, hence my guess about the caneness of it all. Surely the cornstarch is to force browning, which makes sense if you don't want an ivory/white cookie. Maybe the all powdered people really are counting on the cornstarch in the sugar?
colleenoz
3 years ago
You also need to knead shortbread dough a little, so the warmth of your hands makes the butter combine better with the flour and makes the dough smoother.
Jasdip
Original Author
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I didn't even notice the vanilla in Chloe's recipe, I know it's in the one I posted.

I came across a friend's that she gave me last week, It has brown sugar in it.

2 cups butter

1 cup brown sugar

4 cups flour
chloebud
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Jasdip, the icing sugar and cornstarch add to a more traditional texture in a shortbread cookie...buttery, sandy/crumbly (though NOT on your cookie sheets!), and melt in your mouth. Mine go through the mailing process without breakage, but I've had years of experience packing them extremely well.

Just thinking...you might also check Ina Garten's shortbread recipe, although I've only used it for tart crusts since it's a bit more sturdy.
Sammy
3 years ago
I’ve made this before and it’s absolutely addicting! (Note: I’m pretty sure that, as usual, I used pecans in lieu of walnuts.)

Walnut shortbread
Sammy
3 years ago
Regarding the use of vanilla: I think vanilla was omitted from traditional Scottish shortbread recipes not because it didn’t work but because it was too expensive! I’ll bet that if they could’ve used it, they would’ve used it.
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
MarthaStewart.com has a number of shortbread recipes that I'd like to try.

Here's her basic one for cookies:

https://www.marthastewart.com/332945/shortbread-cookies

The recipes I've looked at have only 2 cups flour to 1 cup butter. Looks like the problem was too much flour and that shortbread recipe is mite less than 'perfect' Jasdip 🙃

I thought confectioner's sugar was used because of its finer texture - plus the cornstarch?
Sammy
3 years ago
You know, she does have what seems like a lot of shortbread recipes, @carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b. Not that I’d want it any other way, though, since I think I’ve printed out all of them and put them into “must try” file!
plllog
3 years ago
Sammy, you could be right about the origins, but the flavor of shortbread is very specific. With vanilla, I'd think it would taste more like a sablé.

So, the iconic texture is slightly flaky, horizontally, not as rich as classic butter cookies, slightly crumbly, not melt in your mouth the way butter cookies are, but not the classically sandy of sablé. Shortbread proper, baked whole in a pan, as opposed to cut cookies, is harder and a bit crumblier.
plllog
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
ACK! I'm doing it again, Apologies to all for the tone. I don’t mean to be snippy or argumentative, just to explain my view, and it’s all wrong. I think I’ll make it worse if I try to fix it. Please don't be offended. I don't mean it that way!
Islay Corbel
3 years ago
Watch this. I don't know if shortbread cookies are supposed to be the same things as shortbread..... no screaming or liquid.....

https://youtu.be/UXM7BkAHuss for good old shortbread.
plllog
3 years ago
Yes, that's the stuff. Roll it thinner, maybe a bit more flour, and cut it out.
bbstx
3 years ago
This is the recipe I use. It is easy and tasty. I use a mixer. I do not dip it in chocolate. I’m a purist. I just want plain shortbread. It is from this website
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Interesting that recipe has even more flour than the original 'perfect' one, bbstx.

I understand that flour can absorb moisture from the air and that can affect baking results.
Jasdip
Original Author
3 years ago
Plllog, I 'liked' your comment upthread because I'm laughing at your apology. We know you don't mean to offend, and I don't think it comes across that way. You have a lot of knowledge about a lot of things, and you're always more than willing to share it.

As Carol mentioned, interesting that BBSTX recipe has even more flour than mine. Reading it, I could have stopped beating it when I had nothing but granules in the bowl, and tried kneading it. That is when I used my scoop and mushed the granules into it to try and form it into balls, then of course they fell apart so I squished them in my hand.
Islay Corbel
3 years ago
You can get pretty Scottish moulds to bake shortbread in, this is mine.
sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)
3 years ago
I was looking forward to congrats on the gorgeous cookies, lol. Oops, 😂

I noticed that also about the various flour quantities. Hmmm. Frustrating.

I must have gotten lucky when I was making shortbread. It has been years. Why I purchased the small tart pans initially. Now I have some small 5-6 inch. Nice gift. I stock different sugars now. So keeping some of the flour out during creaming so the recipe can be adjusted is a good idea. Trouble shooting later by adding more butter I would rather not.

I don't usually stock extra butter but did this year. Two days of nasty rain starts tomorrow. Lots of baking planned. Bread, crackers, matzo crack, and now shortbread. Thanks for the nudge.

Martha is a good teacher. This one came on after I watched the other video posted above. Link, HERE
chloebud
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
plllog, no problem at all. My recipe did not originally include vanilla. It just ups the taste for me. It also called for unsalted butter and no salt added. I have seen variations of shortbread recipes that contain vanilla, or other flavorings such as lemon zest. I always assumed the cornstarch and powdered sugar were for texture. I would say my cookies are more tender with a somewhat "sandy" texture. Some recipes, such as the one I mentioned from Ina, are also very good but better, IMO, for tart crusts or maybe Linzers.

Islay posted the cookie mold photo. I have several stoneware molds I bought in the 80's. The ones I have all came from a company called Brown Bag, such as these. Very pretty results but take a bit of patience, at least for me.
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I'm wondering whether, if the dough's too dry, adding a tiny amount of cold water might help? I mean like dripping in a few drops at a time and tossing and then gently kneading until it's holding together - like when making piecrusts.

And re: the original recipe - I would certainly use those crumbles for something - like streusel topping, perhaps.
chloebud
3 years ago
Ahhh...yes...keep those crumbles!
arkansas girl
3 years ago
I had to laugh at the original post jasdip! It reminds me of those funny "nailed it" memes about Pinterest projects gone horribly wrong...HAHA!
Jasdip
Original Author
3 years ago
Hahahha, Arkansas Girl, I never thought of that, but you're right!!!!

I'm eating the crumbles, they didn't go to waste :-)

Carol, that would have worked perfectly, I'm sure; a sprinkle of water. Hindsight...
sarahsocal
3 years ago
Another recipe option:

Shortbread

Really yummy! I have to get one of those molds!
colleenoz
3 years ago
If the dough is dry, try kneading it for about 10 minutes. This warms the butter and brings the dough together.

Help me with this shortbread recipe, or better yet, share yours

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