The name – shortbread – refers to its tender, crumbly texture, achieved with a high ratio of fat that coats the protein in the flour, keeping gluten strands short.Julie Van Rosendaal/The Globe and Mail
Texture has so much to do with the appeal of a cookie – whether you’re going for crispy, chewy or melt-in-your-mouth, The Globe’s food columnist Julie Van Rosendaal will guide you to that perfect texture with a Cookie of the Week recipe throughout December. Next up: How to make chewy, gooey chocolate chip cookies.
One of the cookies most closely associated with Christmas, shortbread is simple and perfect – a 1:2:4 (or 1:2:3) ratio of sugar to butter to flour that at its core has remained unchanged, save for slight variations in types of flour and sugar and how it’s mixed, shaped and baked, for centuries.
The name – shortbread – refers to its tender, crumbly texture, achieved with a high ratio of fat that coats the protein in the flour, keeping gluten strands short.
The lack of liquid, even in the form of an egg, further restricts the formation of gluten, which is triggered when liquid comes into contact with flour. Many recipes go a step further, calling for a portion of oat or rice flour or cornstarch, all of which are gluten-free, giving shortbread an even shorter, sandier, more melt-in-your-mouth texture.
Whipped shortbreads have a slightly higher proportion of butter to flour – a 1:2:3 sugar-butter-flour ratio makes a softer dough that can be beaten to incorporate air, and is often extruded with a cookie press and topped with a glacé cherry.
Scottish-style shortbread, which isn’t whipped and is usually made with all wheat flour (and sometimes some oat flour, which gives it a wonderfully tweedy texture), tends to be denser and sturdier, and is often baked in cake pans, cut into wedges and called petticoat tail shortbread. Shortbread dough can also be shaped into a log and sliced, or rolled out and cut into shapes; without eggs or leavening agents, it holds its shape, and keeping the oven at a slightly lower temperature allows it to bake more evenly. There’s also the option to wrap a chunk of dough around a chewy caramel-pecan chocolate to enclose it before baking for a divine stuffed shortbread.
In my grandma’s recipe box, there’s a typed-out recipe card titled Nancy Carroll’s Mother’s Shortbread, which follows the same 1:2:4 ratio (a quarter of the flour is rice flour) and instructs the baker to roll the dough out into one giant cookie to bake and then bash into pieces. I scored mine instead before baking – use a knife to cut the dough into any shapes you like, but don’t pull them apart on the sheet – and then cut along the same lines when they’re freshly baked and still warm. I love that the resulting cookies are an assortment of shapes and sizes.
Blank-slate Shortbread
Though shortbread is perfect on its own, it can also be a blank canvas for all kinds of flavours and additions. If you’re going for flavour, try adding grated citrus zest, dried flowers (such as lavender or rose), finely chopped fresh herbs, dry tea leaves or spices as you beat the butter and sugar – adding them at this stage will help them release more flavour and distribute it throughout the dough. Additions such as finely chopped chocolate, nuts, candied ginger or citron can go in with the flour and salt.
- 1 cup butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (or 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup rice flour)
- 1/4 tsp salt
Preheat the oven to 325 F. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar for about a minute, until pale and light. Slowly beat (or stir) in the flour and salt. Once the dough comes together, knead it a few times, until it’s well-blended and smooth.
From here, you can roll the dough out and cut it into shapes with a cookie cutter or knife, or shape it into two logs to refrigerate, then slice and bake for 10-14 minutes, until pale golden. For petticoat tail shortbread, divide the dough between two 8 or 9-inch round cake pans, cut each into 12 wedges and press around the edges with the tines of a fork, then bake for about 20 minutes, until pale golden.
To bake yours in the style of Nancy Carroll’s mother, roll it out (doing this on a silicone mat makes it easy) to about 1/8-inch thick, transfer to a baking sheet and cut into strips, squares or whatever shapes you like by running a knife or pizza wheel lengthwise and crosswise through the dough. Poke each piece once or twice with a fork.
Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until pale golden. Cut along the same lines you scored while the cookie is still warm, and let them cool on the sheet.
Makes about two dozen cookies.