Shortbread

Buttery, tender, rich, melt in your mouth, that's a shortbread worthy of a gold star.   I have a collection of shortbread recipes given to me and I thought it was time to put them up against one another, to find that gold star.  The three recipes each use different sugars and oven temperature varies.

THE CONTESTANTS

 Irish Shortbread

This is my mom's recipe that she has used for 40 odd years, perhaps more.  She would always press it into a pie plate score it and dock with a fork.  I opted to roll it out and make cutouts from it.  I wanted to see how each recipe would hold up to cutouts.

This is the only recipe that uses an additional flour other than all-purpose flour, that being rice flour.  The rice flour add a tenderness and slight crumbliness to the cookie since the flour is gluten-free.  There is just the right amount so that you do not get the graininess typical of baked good made with all rice flour.

IRISH SHORTBREAD
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup rice flour
1 lb butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla


Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cream the butter and sugar until well mixed together, about 2-3 minutes.  Add the vanilla.  Add the two flours and mix until all combined.  Roll out to desired thickness or press into pie plates.
Bake until edges turn a slight brown colour.  If you are making small cutout cookies this should take between 12-15 minutes, 45 minutes for the pie plates.


Next up, my sweetheart's great grandma's recipe that seems to be the closest to a Scottish Shortbread, even though she was possibly from Denmark.  This recipe differs from the other two in that all the ingredients are dumped together and mixed versus having the butter and sugar creamed first.  Brown sugar is used and almost gives a certain nuttiest to the end taste and a nice overall richness.

SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 lb butter
1/2 tbsp icing sugar (the secret ingredient)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees farenheit.  Add all ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix until crumbly.  Keep mixing and it will all finally come together.  Press into a pan or roll and cutout.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until edges start to colour.

Lastly a recipe that has been my standard shortbread and the one I use for all my decorated cookies.  I was introduced to this recipe when I was the bakery manager at With the Grain Bakery (WTG).  I believe the recipe came from Cape Breton where my former boss and owner of the bakery got her start.  Icing sugar is the key ingredient to the success of this recipe, the cookie truly melts in your mouth.

WTG Shortbread
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups icing sugar
1 lb butter
1 tbsp vanilla
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cream the butter and icing sugar to combine, add the vanilla. Add the flour and salt, mix until a ball forms.  Roll and cut into desired shapes.  Bake for 12 minutes or until edges just begin to colour and cookies loose their gloss.

THE RESULTS

IRISH SHORTBREAD - least sweetness, marginal richness, (a favourite of mine)
SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD - The Runner Up, nice nutty flavour, rich

WTG SHORTBREAD - THE WINNER!!!!!!
                               Best flavour, melts in your mouth, buttery rich and smooth