How to: Make Shortbread biscuits

My homemade Shortbread biscuits

Hello readers! Today Russ wasn't feeling so great, So we spent most of today snuggled up in bed, and I was watching alot of 'Kirsties Homemade Britain' on YouTube, And there was a bakery competition one, which made me feel like taking over the kitchen again, and I hadn't made any shortbread in a couple of years so I figured I would make some up, and whilst they were chilling I made some Christmassy Cupcakes too, The shortbread came out lovely as it used to, So I thought I would share with you how I make them, As i'm told pastry is difficult to make! (I think I get my baking talents from my late grandmother, and my mum makes pretty good pastry too) So onto the ingredients needed, I like my shortbread with a bit of thickness to it, So I managed to get 12 bars and Russ wanted a shortbread man as he doesn't like gingerbread, But I think I could have made about 15 bars from these measurements. Obviously they will vary with thicknesses!

Ingredients:

2oz Caster sugar, plus extra to finish

4oz Butter, softened 

6oz Plain flour, plus extra for flouring your surface.

And thats it! The key is to have cold hands, a cold work-surface, and cold ingredients! I usually get my ingredients measured out, stick it all into my mixing bowl, and then pop it in the fridge for about 3-5 minutes just to chill it through a little bit. I also run my hands and wrists under cold water before I take the bowl out of the fridge.

After you have done all this, you need to rub the flour and sugar into the butter with your fingertips, try to work quickly as you can, and try not to get your palms involved, as they are alot warmer than your fingertips. You want the mixture to be like breadcrumbs.

Once it is just combined and like breadcrumbs, then you need to gather it together and put it onto your lightly floured work surface. Press it into a rectangular shape with your fingertips, making sure to leave enough thickness for it to be rolled and still be thick enough to your preference. About 1-2cm thick is good for me.

You then want to roll your shortbread gently to the thickness you want, but try not to roll it too much. or with too much pressure, as you don't want to overwork the pastry. You can press it to the thickness you want with your fingers if you wish, I just like mine to be flat, and it saves from handling the pastry too much.

Now you want to grease a baking tray, and then take a sharp knife and slice into rectangles, I do mine about 2-3 inches long, and about 1 inch wide. Then prick the tops with a fork. Put these onto your baking tray, and pop them in the fridge to chill for about 30 minutes.

Now it's time to pre-heat the oven to 190°c.

After 30 minutes of chilling in the fridge, and your oven is heated to 190°c, pop the baking tray straight into the oven, and cook the shortbread for about 10-15 minutes, you want the edges to light golden brown. When they're ready, take them out the oven and place them on a cooling rack. Sprinkle some caster sugar on top and wait to cool. (They're also lovely warm out the oven if you can't wait!) You can enjoy these how they are, or to add an extra bit of yummyness, melt some of your favourite chocolate gently in a bain marie, (keeping it in temper) and dip the shortbread halfway into the chocolate, put back onto a baking tray and pop them in the fridge until the chocolate hardens again. 

This is my foolproof way of making shortbread, Let me know how they turned out for you!

Louie x