Shortbread
Shortbread is a wonderful starting point for all kinds of sweet adventures: top it (nuts, chocolate, jam); flavor it (lemon, hazelnut, coconut); or do both (cappuccino with a mocha ganache drizzle, anyone?). Then again, if you're a "make mine vanilla, please" kind of guy or gal, leave it alone; it can stand on its own in perfect simplicity.
Our guarantee: This light-gold, crisp/flaky shortbread is buttery and mildly sweet. It will be about 1/4" thick.
Read our blog about shortbread, with additional photos, at Bakers' Banter.
- 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, at cool room temperature
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract, optional
- 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
Directions
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1) Preheat the oven to 300°F. Lightly grease two round 9" cake pans. If you worry about the shortbread possibly sticking in your particular pans, line them with parchment, and grease the parchment. |
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3) Divide the dough in half, and press each half into one of the prepared pans, smoothing the surface with your fingers, or with a mini rolling pin. |
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6) Remove it from the oven, and immediately turn each shortbread round out onto a clean work surface. |
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Recipe summary
- Hands-on time:
- 15 mins.
- Baking time:
- 35 mins.
- Total time:
- 50 mins.
- Yield:
- 2 dozen shortbread wedges
- Recipe comments (11) »
Tips from our bakers
- A scale is handy for dividing shortbread dough in equal halves. Each half of dough in the above recipe will weigh about 10 1/2 ounces.
- If you're having trouble pressing the shortbread flat in the pan because it's sticking to your fingers, cover it with a piece of plastic wrap, and push on the wrap. Remove the wrap before baking.
- DO cut the shortbread into wedges while it's still warm! Waiting till it's cool will result in crumbled, misshapen shortbread.
- Although we usually use unsalted butter in our baking here at King Arthur, in this case salted is preferred. Why? Because, with no liquid in the recipe, it's impossible for added salt to disperse itself fully through the shortbread dough; you end up with unpleasantly gritty bits of salt in each bite.
| Nutrition Facts | |
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| Serving Size 1 wedge (25g)
Servings Per Batch 24 |
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| Amount Per Serving | |
| Calories 120 | Calories from Fat 70 |
| Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat | 8g |
| Saturated Fat | 5g |
| Trans Fat | 0g |
| Cholesterol | 20mg |
| Sodium | 55mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 12g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0g |
| Sugars | 5g |
| Protein | 1g |
| * The nutrition information provided for each recipe is determined by the ESHA Genesis R&D software program. Substituting any ingredients may change the posted nutrition information. | |
Reviews
07/15/2009
Made this for my family,we all loved it,it is fast and easy. So yummy.
03/15/2009
Excellent recipe -- simple, easy, and so tasty I was asked for the recipe multiple times.
02/27/2009
12/26/2008
We lightly drizzled both dark and white chocolte over the shortbread. Everyone raved!! The shortbread is so good even without toppings too!! :)
12/20/2008
I have made many shortbread cookies in my 27 year career as a pastry chef, and this is one of the best yet simplest recipes I have ever come across and is very similar to the one I use for and with my company Gourmet-2-Go! Thank KAF for reminding us that the simplest recipes are usually the best, tried and true!
12/16/2008
excellent - even better the next day we don't like almond so I used 1/4 tsp Lemon EXTRACT - wonderful and fragrant as well
12/07/2008
We made this on site during a holiday class. It was easy to make, but more importantly, fabulous to eat! I would leave it plain.
11/25/2008
I have a variation on this recipe, and it turned out very well and gives an "authentic seeming" cookie. Because I made this to go in a K.A. shortbread form, it's for HALF the recipe listed: Scant 1 cup of sugar (I used granulated sugar b/c I liked the slightly grainy texture) 3/4 C Flour 1/2 C instant rolled oats 1 t Vanilla 1 stick salted butter Cream together sugar and butter, add vanilla and beat. Add oats and combine then add flour. My dough was still a bit sticky so I dumped it in the oiled shortbread form, pressed the dough in with my hands, sprinkled lightly with flour and then used a mini rolling pin to flatten nicely. Prick and bake as per original recipe, though I found to get a "golden" color, my oven required 45 minutes at the 300F. I might have a slow oven at that lower temp, though.
11/07/2008
I made this with my 6 year old son. We enjoyed spreading the batter then studding it with semisweet chips. I used your white-wheat flour. The bake time was under 30 minutes. I used a large baking sheet and cut the warm shortbread into approximately 1" squares,
10/19/2008
A lovely, easy, delicious & tender shortbread. Thank you.
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