Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Shortbread cookies - take 1


My first attempt at baking shortbread cookies are safely in the oven right this minute! Seemed simple enough.. although everytime i bake i realise how fattening the stuff we eat on a daily basis is. I mean for this albeit simple recipe.. i used almost an entire block of butter. And i only made 26 cookies... i mean admit it, its not that hard to eat 13 cookies! Thats half a block of butter! and about 10 tsp of sugar!!
Ok so this is not rage against shortbread cookies... just calories in general! Sigh!

Basic Short bread ingredients:
225gm of butter room temp (20Cish! not 32C!)
1/2 - 2/3 cups of icing sugar (if you are using any toppings on the cookie then use the lesser amount)
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 and half cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
vanilla/ almond flavouring
for topping - cherries, jam, sprinkles...
*read update at bottom*


Instructions: mix the sugar and butter till its well combined. Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix till well combined. Roll into a ball and put it in the fridge, makes it more managable.
Remove and form into whatever shape or just flatten onto your baking tin abt half inch in height (cut into squares after baking and slightly cooled). You may use toppings such as cherrys, jam, colored icing sugar... etc. My batch made 26 medium sized cookies... next time i'll make em smaller. Bake at about 175C for about 15-20 mins.

ok time to check the oven! And remember!! Limit yourself to 5 cookies per day!
*update*
looks like they were a success.... but i think the next time i will use less butter (200gms) and replace the moisture by adding 1 egg yolk. And making them a tad smaller to get at least 32 cookies :) Also seemed like they were a little too plain. Well perhaps they need some filling of jam or dipped in chocolate. Anyway its hard to tell, since i am rarely if ever happy with any creation of mine :)

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