Irish Shortbread
Posted
Thu, 12/09/04
Surprisingly, I've never made shortbread from scratch. Being of Irish heritage, one might assume otherwise. The other day Wilbert tasted a piece of packaged shortbread for the first time, and he fell in love. I set about finding a decent Irish shortbread recipe, and found the following at Irish Culture & Customs:
Grandma's Irish Shortbread
2 C butter
Bring butter to room temperature. Preheat oven to 300-degrees F. Cream the butter until it is the consistency of whipped cream. Beat in the sugar. Add salt. Add flour in four portions (one cup at a time) mixing well after each addition. Turn out onto a floured board and pat or roll to 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick. Cut into shape desired with a cookie cutter. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about twenty minutes, or until lightly browned.
Sounds simple, no? The ingredients are basic (I decreased the brown sugar to 3/4 cup and increased cooking time to thirty minutes), but the recipe has no liquids to speak of. By the time I added the fourth cup of flour, it felt like stirring concrete. I tried using my electric hand mixer, but the beaters became clogged in short order. Wilbert stepped in and mixed the final dough, after which I baked two batches. I shaped "fingers" for most of the treats, but also used a little duck cookie cutter on some of the dough.
Homemade Irish shortbread tastes even better than the packaged variety, and goes nicely with a hot cup of tea or coffee. I also like almond biscotti dipped in coffee, but the shortbread wins hands down.
*Related blog posts: 03/09/06: Shortbread Shenanigans (Classic Shortbread) & 12/18/04: Knotwork Baking (shortbread pans).
Tags: Bread & Cookies;
Ireland
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