Quick and easy shortbread

The CCMIL (Caked Crusader’s Mother in Law) has a birthday only two days after mine. As she has to be careful about her sugar intake I decided against a cake and, knowing her fondness for a ‘plain’ biscuit, decided on birthday biscuits.

This is such a simple recipe yet the results are amazing. I know some people think shortbread can only be called shortbread if it contains rice flour or similar to “rough” the texture up, but I think this recipe produces a wonderful, buttery, crisp yet crumbly biccie. And surely that’s what we all want?

It was a first outing for my Wilton biscuit cutter and stamp. The ‘happy birthday’ message just about survived baking! I think it would work better on a less buttery biscuit that would hold its definition more on baking – I did try chilling the biscuits before baking to hold the shape more, but it made no difference at all.

This is the type of recipe that works as a standalone biscuit to enjoy with a cup of tea, but would also be a fab accompaniment to a mousse or pannacotta for dessert. You could flavour the biscuit with any extract or alcohol and you could also add dried fruit or chocolate chips. Just think how yummy it would be with dried cranberries for Christmas. It only takes a few minutes to make the dough so is a good recipe to have in your armoury!

Ingredients

125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
55g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinking
180g plain flour

Method

Preheat oven to 190°C/fan oven 170°C/375°F/gas mark5

Line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

Beat together the butter and sugar until you have a smooth paste.

Stir in the flour and bring together to a dough.

Roll out the dough between two sheets of clingfilm. You’re aiming for a thickness of approximately 1cm.

Cut into rounds and place on the baking tray; allow a little room for expansion but no need to leave more than about 1cm. NB. The dough re-rolls easily so don’t waste any of it!

Sprinkle with additional caster sugar.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown. Mine took nearer 18 minutes.

Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Store in an airtight container – they will keep for days and days!

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.