With just six common ingredients, you can whip up this amazing, buttery shortbread in a matter of minutes.
Welcome to Social Studies class. Two weeks into homeschooling and I can definitely say there are highs and lows. This shortbread is one of the highs. My second grader had a choice for social studies projects last week, one of which was to cook a food from her culture. Yes!!! We chose simple shortbread from our Scottish/Irish heritage. It’s one of little Nutmeg’s favorites and can easily be made with common ingredients – so no need for a run to the store during lockdown.
This recipe is so simple, Nutmeg more or less made it by herself. I cut the butter into chunks and helped flatten it in the pan. She did the rest. The result is a buttery, crumbly shortbread with just the right amount of saltiness. Be warned, it’s addictive…
Some other easy treats to get you through lockdown? Salted chocolate shortbread are always a hit. And you can’t go wrong with classic snickerdoodles.
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup corn starch
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ cup sugar
- 8 ounces best-quality salted butter, cubed and chilled
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 300F.
- Lightly butter the bottom of a springform pan.
- Combine the flour, corn starch, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- With the mixer on low, add the butter a few chunks at a time until the dough starts to come together.
- Add the vanilla and mix until combined.
- Press into the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Bake for about 45 minutes of until golden.
- While still hot, cut into 12 wedges.
This looked so simple, but I have to tell you that something is wrong. I weighed the flour and cornstarch so I know I added the correct amount. Two sticks of butter (from a pound package) provided the correct amount of butter.
The dough came together ok. The oven was heated to the correct temperature (and my oven is calibrated). But, the butter started to leak out of the springform pan and smoke in my oven, requiring the oven to be cleaned after the bake was finished. Also, the shortbread (although just golden) was incredibly hard. I would not make this recipe again and that is a first for any recipe you have provided. All ofthem are always so delicious.
Hi Lee – Sorry this one didn’t work for you. We didn’t have that issue when we made it, so I’ll give it another try to see if I run into the same thing. Thanks so much for the feedback.