I love shortbread cookies
They're crisp and rich
and made simply with butter sugar and flour are an absolute taste of heaven
I'll start you off with the basics a Vanilla Bean Spritz Shortbread cookie
Then I'll be able to move you up a level
and share my recipe for Scottish Pan Shortbread
After that, I know you'll be ready to take on the challenge of individual Chocolate Raspberry Napoleons
Chocolate shortbread cut-outs cookies
Layered with cream and fresh berries
And for that little something extra
Decorated cut-outs cookies
Topped with a flooded royal icing
So let's start things off with the basics
The vanilla bean spritz shortbread cookies
A shortbread cookies no matter what style share a few common traits
First a high proportion of butter,
Second they have no egg in them,
And third no leavening, baking powder or baking soda
So will relies on these simple ingredients,
of butter sugar and flour to bring them together
The vanilla bean shortbread cookies start with a cup and a quarter of unsalted butter
And this has been softened up to room temperature
Make sure it's very very soft
Because you have to be able to spritz or pipe these cookies
In addition to the butter, I'm using a cup of icing sugar
It's got a fine texture to it
And that really speaks to the fine texture of this particular shortbread recipe
I sift that before I add it to the butter
It's important to beat your butter and sugar very very well
When you're assembling shortbread
You want to be sure to mix it on high speed for about three minutes
Scrape it down again
To add that vanilla bean I'm actually going to use vanilla bean paste
You can use vanilla bean paste and vanilla extract interchangeably
But I like to use the vanilla bean paste
When you want to see the speckle of seeds, throughout whatever it is you're baking
Add about a teaspoon and a half
And I'll just beat that in for second
Now for the dry ingredients
A cup and a half of all-purpose flour
And I'll measure out 1/3 of a cup of corn starch
Good shortbread sort of snaps on the tip of your tongue, and then melts away into nothingness
It's the corn starch that makes that happen
And to balance out the flavors, just a quarter teaspoon of salt
And I can add this all at once to the butter mixture
I'll start mixing this on low speed to start and then increase it
And waited just until the last few crumbs at the bottom got picked up
And I know the dough is perfectly blended
It's a soft pliable dough
Nice and smooth
Now it's time for the spritz in the spritz shortbread cookie
A piping bag fitted with a large star tip
I'm just putting in half of the dough to make it easier to spritz
The first thing I like to do
When piping cookies is first secure the parchment paper onto the tray
I just put a little bit of dough underneath
So that it doesn't move as I'm piping
When making shortbread cookies I do recommend using parchment
Because a simply greased cookie tray
Will actually promote a little bit of browning on the bottom of your shortbread, and you don't want that
And there we go
I've got 40 vanilla bean spritz shortbread cookies
I've preheated the oven to 325
Now a low temperature oven like 325
is common with most shortbread cookie recipes
You want to let them bake slowly and all the way through
Remember they're dense, but still tender
And it takes a good 20 to 25 minutes
Really smell that vanilla bean
It's important to let the shortbread cookies cool completely on the baking tray
Before you lift them
These have cools
And you can see they've just got a hint of golden brown on the bottom
They've spread a little bit, but they retain that spritz shape
And then the key is in that first snap
Now that's a classic shortbread cookie
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