Nothing Short of Shortbread

For as long as I've had teeth, I've loved shortbread. Like a lot of people, my earliest exposure to this traditional Scottish biscuit was through the Walkers brand of delectable cookies that come in that familiar red tartan tin. They're crumbly yet buttery; crunchy yet delicate enough for a drooly baby to gnaw on with teeny teeth or just gums.

Seized by a desire to bake, I decided to concoct my own shortbread recipe. Authentic Scottish shortbread essentially consists of one part sugar, two parts butter (or shortening) and three parts flour. Ridiculously simple, isn't it? It is an unleavened cookie, which is why it doesn't need leavening agents such as baking soda or cream of tartar.

There's room to play around with the composition by varying the type of sugar, fat or flour used. Granulated sugar, caster sugar, brown sugar, demerara sugar, muscovado sugar, turbinado sugar... I'd venture that any granular sugar that doesn't dissolve or melt into a batter but also doesn't have gigantic crystals should work. Butter and shortening are best for the fats; I would guess from the oil-based biscuits I made in the past that olive oil or vegetable oil might also serve adequately, although the resulting cookie might be crunchier. Oat flour and rice flour (as I discovered during my experiments last summer) have a wonderful nutty, sandy character that brilliantly highlights baked goods that call for a sablée texture.

You can also add other ingredients like egg or milk for a softer cookie, or lemon rind, dried fruit, lavender, rosemary, caraway seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, mint, vanilla or whatever else your imagination can dream up as long as it doesn't make the resulting dough too soggy. I happened to have some subtly fragrant orange peel powder, ground coriander and poppy seeds. The recipe is below and the resulting cookie is shown above. (If anyone is willing to be my guinea pig, I'd also like to try floral variations like lavender or rose and slightly savory combinations like lemongrass and mint, ground walnut and rosemary, or ginger and lime.)

M's Orange Coriander Shortbread
Makes 12-16 squares

50g caster (aka superfine) sugar
100g unsalted butter (or roughly one stick of butter), at room temperature
75g all-purpose flour
75g rice or oat flour
2 tsp orange peel powder (or 1 tsp grated orange rind)
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp poppy seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Lightly grease and line a 8" x 5-3/8" baking pan (or something approximating that size) with parchment paper; ensure that there is extra parchment hanging out of the pan so that the shortbread can later be lifted out with ease.
   
3. With a wooden spoon, cream together the sugar and butter until light and almost fluffy.
4. In another bowl, mix together the two flours, the orange peel powder, ground coriander and poppy seeds.
   
5. Gradually add the dry mixture to the sugar and butter mixture. Mix the ingredients well. The resulting dough should be very crumbly and rather dry.
6. Dump the dough into the lined pan and press it down until smooth and even.
   
7. Score the dough deeply with a sharp knife into 1¼" to 1½" squares. Those of you with an artistic bent can further decorate the shortbread with classic dimples or more intricate designs like the Scots do.
   
8. Bake for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to 315°F and bake for another 20 minutes or just until the dough takes on a light golden color (not browned).
9. Remove the pan from the oven. Lift out the shortbread using the parchment paper and allow to cool on a rack for a few minutes. Separate the biscuits and allow to cool completely.