Traditional shortbread

Shortbread has been around since the 12th century. Now any cookie or biscuit that can stand the test of time for so long, is worth making. Shortbread cookies are insanely popular throughout the world. This traditional shortbread recipe is very easy to make.

Using only few ingredients, you will be left with the most buttery, crumbling, melt-in-your-mouth delicious shortbread. A little tip…. you might want to double this recipe, they are truly very addictive!!

Make sure you only use a good quality butter. Remember that this is a butter biscuit, so the flavor of the butter will be the distinct taste that will shine thru in the shortbread.

Traditional Shortbread

Makes +/- 60 Biscuits

Ingredients

200 g Icing Sugar
400 g Plain flour
200 g Cornflour
420 g Butter, Very soft
5 ml Vanilla essence
Caster Sugar for topping

Directions

Preheat the oven to 160˚C
Grease a Swiss roll pan, and set aside.

Place the icing sugar, flour and cornflour into a mixing bowl. Using an mixer, quickly mix the mixture to air-rate it.
If you don’t have a mixer, use a sift and sift the ingredients together.

Now add the very soft butter and Vanilla essence. Mix until a soft, yet firm dough forms.
(Tip: Make sure your butter is very soft, almost melted. If it is to hard the butter will not be able to mix into the flour mixture and you will end up with breadcrumbs instead. If this does happen, Melt about 30 ml of butter, and work it into the dough a little bit at a time until a dough has formed.)

Now press the dough into your prepared pan. You can use your fingers or the back of a spoon. Keep pressing and leveling the dough until it is smooth. Take your time to make sure the dough is evenly spread.

Use a very sharp knife and cut the dough into fingers. I usually make two long incisions length ways. And them make ten to twelve cuts down. But feel free to cut them in any thickness that you would like.

Prick each finger with a fork. So that each cookie will have a set of two pricks. This helps to bake the cookies evenly.

Bake the shortbread in the preheated oven for around 20-25 minutes. Or until the shortbread is slightly golden.

Once baked, remove from the oven and while the shortbread is still hot, sprinkle the caster sugar over the cookies. Use a knife and run over your previous cuts. Remember to do this while the cookie is still hot.

Let the cookies cool in pan for around 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Allow the cookies to cool completly.

Once cooled store the shortbread in an airtight container.

The cookies will last up to 2 weeks.

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