Ingredients / Shopping List
150g plain flour25g cornflour120g unsalted butter60g caster sugar
150g plain flour
25g cornflour
120g unsalted butter
60g caster sugar
Prep to Cook: Oven 170ºC or Gas 3
Get out all ingredients and a shallow Victoria sandwich style cooking tin
Grease the tin or line it with non-stick paper
Prep: Get out a mixing bowl
1. Prep the shortbread:
Sieve both flours together in a mixing bowl
Add the sugar and stir
Add butter cutting it into blobs and rub it in with your fingertips
The mixture should work itself into a paste
2. Prep for cooking:
Press this whole mass into a prepared cooking tin
Cook very gently 170C or Gas 3 for 20 minutes max
It will be soft when cooked but should not be ‘golden’
Sprinkle with another tablespoon of caster sugar immediately whilst hot
Divide into 8 slices but do not lift from the tin until it is quite cold
Shortbread is pale and crisp and light with a buttery flavour. Try not to overcook it or it will become hard. Shortbread can easily be made using store cupboard ingredients for that moment when you want to cook up a treat
Cooks Know How: You will feel sure and confident using the rubbing-in process and you will recognise the way the proportions of ingredients make the dough form without any water. Cooking shortbread causes starch in the flour to convert to dextrins giving a golden colour and sweeter flavour. The butter is absorbed and the sugar dissolves into the biscuit. The flour protein, gluten, sets during cooking to produce a crisp light textured biscuit.