Buttery Shortbread Biscuits

Shortbread Biscuits for Christmas

Days leading to Christmas is hectic, cold and dark. We crave some comfort snacks around this time. These tasty buttery shortbread biscuits Christmas bakes could be the answer to satisfy those cravings.

Since, I hate shopping before the days leading to Christmas for various reasons. I choose to gift yet another of my favorite snacks. This melt in the mouth buttery shortbread biscuits is one such recipe. I have tweaked this from the original recipe I found from the master Baker Paul Hollywood’s book – How to bake.

Melt in the mouth buttery shortbread biscuits

This shortbread recipe is light and tasty flavor and it is impossible to resist once you have tasted the “Walkers Shortbread” . Walkers is pale comparison because they are not available organic here and its machine made.

For those cold wintry days and cosy evenings with the house decorated for Christmas, this shortbread biscuits are just the one to go for with a warm tea or coffee.

I have posted some more Christmas bakes in my previous blog post Orange drop Biscuits

If you want to watch the video straightaway you can skip the blog and click here ..

Origins of Shortbread

” Shortbread is a traditional Scottish biscuit usually made from one part white sugar, two parts butter, and three parts oat flour. Ingredients like ground rice or cornflour are sometimes added to alter the texture of shortbread. Modern recipes also often deviate from the original by splitting the sugar into equal parts granulated and icing sugar and many add a portion of salt.

Shortbread originated in Scotland, with the first printed recipe, in 1736, from a Scotswoman named Mrs McLintock. Shortbread is widely associated with Christmas and Hogmanay festivities in Scotland and the Scottish brand Walkers Shortbread is exported around the world. “

Final Notes

In order to make this a little bit more crunchy, I added 2 tablespoons of fine rice flour. Set aside enough time to chill the dough before you bake and cool a little first before scooping the biscuits on to a wire rack. Because of the high butter content it can break easily before it has a chance to set.

Variations

You could omit out the rice flour. Its not a must. Another option is try it out with one part white sugar, two parts butter and 3 parts oat flour. This is the traditional recipe. I am yet to try this out.

Buttery Shortbread Biscuits

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Serves: 12 Prep Time: 1 Hour Cooking Time: 20 Minutes 20 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 50 calories 5 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Ingredients

• 225 g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 110 g caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
• 225 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 110 g cornflour
• 2 tblsp rice flour
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Lightly butter 2 baking trays or line the tray with baking sheets.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl using an electric hand-held whisk or wooden spoon, until light and fluffy. Sift in the flour, cornflour, rice flour and salt into the bowl and mix until its all smoothly combines.  Lightly knead the mixture into a soft dough on a lightly floured surface.
3. Roll out the dough to 1 cm thickness between 2 pieces of baking sheets.  Prick the rolled dough with a fork and cut into triangles, or squares. You could also use a biscuit cutter. Repeat this till all the dough is done. Don't  handle the dough too much because it can turn very greasy due to the high butter content.
4. Place all the cut shortbreads on the prepared baking trays and chill for 30 minutes.
5. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170 deg. Centigrade for about 20 minutes or until they just turn brown at the edges. 
6. Leave the baked biscuits on the baking tray to set up slightly before lifting them to cool on a wire rack.
7. Dust with the caster sugar and cool. Store in an airtight biscuit tin.

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