The Best Simple Shortbread Recipe with the perfect crunch

Everyone should be able to make a simple shortbread. It is a wonderful classic biscuit that is always a crowd pleaser. But perfecting it can be tricky here is my foolproof recipe that works every time.

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History of Shortbread

Not surprisingly the history begins in Scotland. When you hear the term shortbread most of us automatically think of this part of the world, most packages sport the classic Scottish tartan pattern. So where did the story of shortbread begin?

It dates all the way back to the 12th Century, but the first printed recipe didn’t appear until 1736 by a Mrs McLintock. Shortbread became a luxury treat back in the early days because of its ingredients and because of this it was obviously found in royal residences.

Mary queen of Scots has been a name closely related to shortbread despite the fact the is little evidence of this. But the story goes that shortbread was one of her favourite cookies and actually helped in the refinement in the making of the shortbread we know today.

“The jewel in the crown of Scottish baking” – John Quigley

Variations to try out

Variations can come in the form of shape and flavour so what do these include.

Different shapes? You can pretty much cut shortbread into any shape that you like. But there are a few classics that include. Fingers, circles, and petticoats. But you can also use shortbread molds to create some amazing designs in the shortbread too.

You can also add your own details by using a fork, knife and even your fingers to pinch in designs. The options are truly endless. So why not get creative.

Different flavours to try:

Why not add in some lemon rind and a dash of juice for more of a zesty cookie.

Lavender for a rich floral cookie

Ginger, for some spiciness, in fact adding ginger dates back a long way and were actually called parliament cakes, because they were apparently eaten in the house of parliament in Scotland.

Add some almonds for a nuttier shortbread

With so many spices, herbs, nuts and fruit, this cookie is very versatile and easy to adapt.

Tools and Ingredients

Tools

• Mixing bowl or a stand mixer
• Rolling Pin
• Knife or cookie cutter or another cool option would be to use a shortbread mold, this is on my own wish list.
• Baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

Ingredients

• All purpose Flour
• Fine pre-cooked cornmeal,
• Salted butter, unsalted is fine to I would maybe add a pinch of salt with the flour and butter
• Granulated sugar, you could also us a castor (berry) sugar but maybe reduce the amounts a little to offset the sweetness. Do not use powdered sugar I know some people do but it is too sweet and wont add anything to the overall texture.

Cornmeal Alternatives

• The main ingredient change you can make in this recipe that would affect the end result the most is the cornmeal.
  • This recipe calls for pre-cooked cornmeal also known as masarepa in latin America. Now this may not be readily available where you live but if you can find it I highly recommend trying because the flavour and texture are the best. It will be either white or yellow corn, I like yellow it the shortbread comes out lovely and golden.
  • Cornmeal, the typical cornmeal that you commonly find isn’t precooked, it also isn’t ground as finely. It can be used in the shortbread and is lovely but it has a grittier texture adding to the crunch. If you don’t mind this then go ahead and use it.
  • Corn flour, this tends to be ground a lot finer than any of the other cornmeal varieties. Again this one would be a lot easier to find in your local supermarket. the end result would be a smoother creamier buttery cookie. Again this is a great choice.
  • Lastly there is semolina, not as easy to find and you would want the fine semolina powder. But I do love the flavour that it gives to the shortbread it is buttery with a light crunch. It may be mild but semolina does have a distinct flavour if you know how it tastes already, otherwise most people wont notice it.

How to make Shortbread

Begin by pre heating your oven to 350C, 175C

In a medium or large mixing bowl add in the flour, cornmeal and butter. Then using your fingers rub the butter into the dry ingredients. You want it to resemble a breadcrumb like appearance. You can also use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment to do this for you.

Once there are no big lumps of butter remaining add in your sugar. Again using your hand mix this into the crumbly mixture, distributing it well.

Now we want to bring the dough together. So once again with your hands start to grab the mixture and squeeze it to form clumps a bit like massaging it and keep doing this until a nice smooth golden dough ball forms.

It is a little like making shortcrust pasty, the difference being pastry needs to stay cool where as shortbread does not. Although saying this you don’t want it so warm the butter melts. We want softened butter for shortbread.

Place the dough ball onto a floured surface and roll out to around 1cm thickness.

Now comes the decisions as to what shape to choose. This is a personal choice and one that you need to decide on. Although fingers would be the simplest choice all you need is a knife, if you have cookie cutters then this would be an option too.

Whatever shape you have decided on needs to then be place onto a lined cookie sheet. Because they are unleavened they don’t tend to grow that much. So you can place the relatively close together, this doesn’t mean close to touching tough.

Bake

Place the sheet into the preheated oven and bake for around 20 minutes. You don’t want them under cooked but also not too browned. The should still have a very light golden look to them.

Remove the sheet from the oven and leave the shortbread to cool slightly before placing them onto a cooling rack to completely cool.

They will firm up and become crunchier as they cool.

It can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.

My Top tips for perfect shortbread

• Try to keep the shortbread no thicker than 1 cm or half and inch. By doing so the shortbread will have a lovely soft crunch.
• Unlike pastry I like to really work the dough, this will soften the butter down and hold the dough together also adding to its butteriness.
• Don’t have your oven too hot. Originally they were actually cooked in a cooler over for longer. So go cooler and longer rather that hot and quick.
• Use room temperature butter that has softened slightly. You don’t want it very soft it should still hold its shape when cut with a knife.