A few months ago, Trex and I orchestrated a Bit o’ Britain dinner.  In the weeks prior to it, I spent a weekend learning how to make some of the treats Trex grew up eating.  On the docket as it were, were wee jammy tarts, fairy cakes, a Victoria Sponge and a Trifle.  In the process I learned how to make Shortbread, the way my Gran McQuillan made it since that is the crust used for the tartlets.  Most desserts I’ve encountered from ‘Back Home’ as the household refers to Britain [namely Scotland], are not overly sweet.  Scones are a fine sweet bread that are often made stateside as a an uber sweetened version of a biscuit.  Texture’s all wrong.  I think I love the simplicity in that they let things like jams, clotted cream be the sweetener when enjoying most treats.  I had prepared myself for going about some complex baking, but I have to say, the shortbread left me saying, ‘Wait..that’s it.  That’s all there is to it??’  Not a complaint mind you, until you grapple with the idea you can make it at the drop of the hat as long as you have some really good unsalted butter at your disposal and about 40 minutes start to finish to spare.  Yes, it really is that easy.  And a great first foray into baking for the nervous, unlike myself- I hit the ground running making an Italian Cream Cake.

How’d It Go

Shortbread is insanely easy to make.  A food processor can make preparation as quick as a few pulses.  You can always go old school and mix by hand; I’d recommend cutting the butter into chunks if you do.  I used my mini scone pan to make small traingular shaped pieces.  I also have a mini muffin pan that makes a great sized portion.  Typically you shape it into a round, about a half in thick, use a knife to ‘cut’ pie pieces and for some pizazz, use a fork to tine the edges.  In a round like that, you can dimple it, versus piercing with a fork before putting it in the oven.

Prep time: The longest prep item is getting the butter to room temperature, followed by making your cookies [if you're not making it a round], apart from baking.

What you may not have handy: European style butter like Plugra or Lurpak or KerryGold even, confectioner’s sugar.

Budget: The European style butter like Plugra or Lurpak and any fresh fruit or nuts you might want to use, since this item lends itself to all sorts of variations, will be the high dollar items.

What I Used

I used unsalted Plugra butter.  I find this or Lurpak is great for baking [when you absolutely need real butter].

I also added some chopped pecans and almond slivers.  Using a food processor, you don’t have to worry about pieces being too big, the pulsing to combine gets them down to cookie sized pieces for an even distribution in the cookie.

What I’d Do Differently Next Time

Pretty much nothing.  It’s a straightforward recipe; the fun is in the variations

Options to consider:

Nuts: pecans, almonds, macadamias…it’s a butter cookie, so you’ve got loads of wiggle room for trying combinations

Mini Chocolate chips

Fillings [if you use it to make a crust] Preserves are a tasty and quick way to make jam tarts.  And most grocer’s offer Lemon Curd which is simply a piece of heaven a mouthful at a time.

As temps heat up, go frozen.  Use the shortbread as a crust for mini frozen ‘shortcakes’ with fresh fruit and your fav vanilla ice cream.  Make it ‘whippy’ light by combining equal parts softened ice cream and whipped cream, re-freezing to firm up, then spoon into the tart, top with fruit [see Go Frozen Variation below]. 

My Gran’s Shortbread   Print This Post

I used the provided recipe at http://fiestakitchens.blogspot.com/] to help re-capture my Gran McQuillan’s method, by giving me a base to start from.  Many thanks!

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 sticks unsalted European style butter, slightly softened

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a food processor, combine flour, sugar and salt.
3. Give a quick pulse to distribute the dry ingredients [if you have dry add-ins, add them in this step]
4. Add butter, pulse until combined [be sparingly in your wet add-ins, the dough is a slightly dry crumbly texture].
5. Pat the dough into tins of your choice.  If you have a dough tamper, this works well if you use muffin tins as molds
6. Prick with a fork before baking.
7. Just bake at about 325-350 until golden around the edges, approx 20 mins.  When you smell them, they’re about done.
8. Cool and place into freezer bags for later use or to serve in the days to follow.  It keeps well for a week easy.

Go Frozen

I learned this ‘make your own ice cream, but not’ from my mother, who used this method to make a simple and beyond yummy Oreo Ice Cream Pie.  I’ve since used it many times for a Go Frozen variation of desserts.  What it does is ‘lighten’ the ice cream so it’s not too ‘heavy’  You can have fun with it adding in fruit, toasted coconut, nuts, etc.   Your palette and imagination is the limit.

Ingredients

• 1 pint your favorite vanilla/french vanilla ice cream
• 1 1/2 cups whipped cream
• 1-2c any add-ins you’d like.

Instructions

1. Set ice cream out to soften and whipped cream if not thawed
2. In a bowl, combine the ice cream, whipped cream.
3. Gradually beat in your add-ins
4. Cover with freezer wrap/freezer foil and freeze until firm.
5. Ready to serve as you would any ice cream.