I have promised my fiance to find a good shortbread cookie recipe. NO flavorings, like the pecan shortbread Sandies, NO nuts, just plain as can be. I have never made these, so he went to buy some. There were caramel covered, chocolate covered, or pecan, but nothing plain! I've never had them that I know of, so wouldn't know a good recipe from a bad one. Please help!
I really like this one-it goes together quick and tastes great to me:
1/2 cup butter at room temp
1/3 cup powdered sugar, unsifted
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour, unsifted
Cream the butter until it's light. Cream in the powdered sugar, then the vanilla. Now work in the flour. Knead the dough on an unfloured board until nice and smooth. Spray a shortbread pan lightly with a non-stick vegetable oil. Firmly press the dough into the pan. Prick the entire surface with a fork, and bake at 325 F for about 30-35 minutes, or until very lightly browned. Cool for 10 minutes, then turn out of pan. Cut into pieces while still warm.
I have a Brown Bag shortbread pan that makes beautiful shortbread, but I think you could use an 8 inch round cake pan.
This is a good shortbread recipe from the Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten)
3/4 lb of butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cream the butter and 1 cup of sugar together until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. Add the flour and salt, mix on low spead until the dough starts to come together. Dump this mixture onto a clean surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disc. Wrap disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll the dough 1/2 inch thick and cut with a cookie cutter. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and sprinkle with sugar if desired. Bake for approx 20 - 25 mins until the edges begin to brown.
Here is a link to some shortbread pans:
http://www.brownbagcookiemolds.com/gallery/Shortbread
they just make a very pretty shortbread. You bake them as one big cookie, and then after it's baked, you cut the cookies apart on the scored lines, making triangle shaped cookies.
You can do the same thing in a cake pan-just bake the dough all at once and then cut them apart into wedges after.
There are recipes out there that can be used with cookie cutters, but the recipe I gave is too soft for that. But, it's much easier to bake the cookies in a pan, IMHO
I have the perfect shortbread cookie recipe--it's from Colette Peters and I highly recommend it.
1/2 pound (2 sticks) softened butter or margarine
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/8 cups flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa (optional)
Beat butter till fluffy, add sugar and beat together until well blended. Slowly add the flour, a few tablespoons at a time, while mixing at low speed. Chill dough before baking.
Good luck-- I've made them time and time again!
another for shortbread pans:
http://www.cookieartexchange.com/shortbread_pans.htm
you can see how they come out after they are cut
here's the recipe I use from Good Housekeeping's Baking book
Scottish Shortbread
1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self rising)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups butter (3 sticks) cut up and softened
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, combine cake flour sugar and salt. Knead butter into flour mixture until well blended and dough hold together. Divide dough in half. With hand, pat each dough half evenly into bottom of ungreased 8 inch round cake pan. With a fork, prick dough all over to make attractive pattern. Bake 40 minutes or until golden. Transfer pans to wire rackes; immediately run thin knife around edge of pans to loosen shortbread, and cut each round into 16 wedges. Cool completely in pans on wire racks.
I think I've made this in square pans too
good luck!
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