Brown Sugar Shortbread
1 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed and just slightly rounded.
2 cups flour, sifted
1/4 cup flour, sifted and reserved for board
Classic Scottish shortbread is so tender and delicious! In Grandma's notebook, the instructions say to make it the first week of December and put it in a tin under the bed until Christmas Eve. Now I know why. It isn't just because it improves with a bit of age. If you don't hide it, it will be gone the day after you make it.
Traditionally, the butter is cut into the flour and sugar and then the whole thing is kneaded carefully with cold hands for about 5 minutes. This recipe does it a bit differently with delicious results!
Method:
Preheat the oven to 325˚F.
Have the butter room temperature or nice and soft but not melted. Don't try and rush warming it by heating.
Whip the butter until nice and light. You will notice it change colour.
Add the sugar gradually and whip until very light and fluffy. It should look almost like whipped cream. If you are using vanilla, add it now. It isn't in the traditional recipe but I like to add a splash.
Add 2 cups of flour half a cup at a time blending after each addition. Do not over mix. Sprinkle the 1/4 cup of flour on the counter and knead it gently into the dough until mixed, about 3 minutes. If your hands are very warm, you may want to stop and wash them off in cold water, dry them and continue kneading.
Divide dough in half. I use a kitchen scale to do this and now wonder what I did without it! Pat dough into lightly greased pans and pierce dough with a fork. For this recipe, I used 8-inch cake pans but you can use whatever you like. You can even pat out into a rectangle about 3/4 inches thick, slice them into 3/4 inch fingers any length you want and bake on a cookie sheet. This is nice when you want to dip one end in melted chocolate later. You can also get beautiful shortbread pans that create lovely designs.
Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or just until you see the edges start to turn golden and the surface is no longer shiny. Let them cool about 5 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a cutting board and slice while they are still warm. I do mine in 8 pieces per pan.
Cool completely on a rack and handle carefully. They are delicate at this point! Once they are completely cooled, put in a tin or plastic container with a tight-fitting lid and stash away for two or three weeks. The flavour improves with age.
They are lovely with tea on a snowy afternoon.
Beautiful pans for shortbread
 | Nordic Ware Snowflake Shortbread Pan Amazon Price: $19.84 List Price: $36.00 |
 | Nordic Ware Cast-Iron Aluminum 9-by-9-Inch English Shortbread Pan Amazon Price: $23.00 List Price: $30.00 |
 | Brown Bag Thistle Shortbread Cookie Pan Gorgeous traditional thistle design! Amazon Price: $33.26 List Price: $34.95 |
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