I have already established the fact that I am a DaSwiGerm, or
Danish, Swiss, & German; AKA
"Euro-Mutt", several posts back, but when it comes to Holiday baking, my traditions have branch out a little. I am bringing this up now, because over the next month I'm going to be tackling a hodge podge of traditional as well as non-traditional holiday baking projects. Things such as Gingerbread men, Gingerbread Houses, Pfeffernussen, Spekulatius, Buche de Noel, Truffles, Springerle, Linzer Augen, Gelatin Fudge, Haselnuss Divinity and Turkish delights. All of this culminating in Aebleskivers on Christmas morning.
One of these projects that is not necessarily a "family tradition", though it has become a personal one, is Shortbread. I LOVE shortbread... all kinds of shortbread... From my mom's Lemon Surprise Shortbread to Coconut Shortbread, Hazelnut Shortbread, Green Tea Shortbread and Orange/Vanilla bean shortbread. Did I mention I love shortbread?
But even though my family roots began far from the highlands, my all time favorite is traditional Scottish shortbread. Now when I say this, I really mean traditional... Slightly sandy and crisp, lightly sweet, deliciously buttery with a touch of saltiness. Totally awesome!!!
I have 1 wooden mold (
a thistle of course, complete with sun rays) that I use to make large 6 inch cookies. I think this is the size that is broken over the bride's head when she is taken over the threshold of her home for the first time, but I am not sure about that. It makes it a little difficult to eat, but someday I will invest in a "petticoat tail" mold, but not right now. (
The petticoat tails are cut into wedges). I sometimes just make small rounds and dock or prick a sunburst in them to celebrate Yule and the return of the sunlight.
Now lets talk ingredients cause the recipe is so simple it will blow your mind.
I make my Scottish shortbread with European butter. When I make flavored shortbread, I use American butter, but for me, the Scottish shortbread is uber-special so I make the investment (
although Kerrygold brand is Irish, I am sure there is a joke in there somewhere, but it eludes me).
There is NO vegetable shortening in shortbread - Never, Ever. Even though they share a common root word, all this means is that the fat inhibits the formation of gluten (
which is a stretchy long protein) and "shortens" the dough. Butter, which is an animal derived shortening, does this just as well, especially European butter which is about 85% fat, as opposed to American butter which is only 80%.
Originally, Shortbread was made with Oat flour instead of Wheat. I use unbleached AP flour anyway, becuase for all the weird grains I have in my freezer, oat flour is not one of them. I have noticed a lot of recipes out there claim that rice flour is used for "traditional" recipes... This makes no sense to me, since shortbread was made with what was available in the kitchens at the time. I doubt very much that any Scottish woman had rice flour just lying around in the 1400's when most of the time they didn't even have wheat flour.
There are several advantages to using Oat flour, I suppose. Not only does it lower serum cholesterol, which kind of counteracts the effects of the Butter you are about to eat, but it is also lower in gluten. All butter contains at least a little water, even the European butter has water in it. Water forms gluten, so if you are using a flour that is low in gluten, then you will have a finer texture to your shortbread. As a bonus, oat flour also contains antioxidants that help your baked goods remain fresher for longer periods of time. Which makes a whole lotta sense if you are making Butter rich dough before the age of refrigeration. With all this, is it no wonder that the Scots used Oat flour for their delicious shortbread? I am sticking with AP flour though. ;)
Eggs - There are NO eggs in shortbread, well, at least not in Scottish Shortbread. There is also no flavoring, at all... No Vanilla...
Butter is the flavoring of Scottish Shortbread, which is why the quality of the European butter you use is SO important. :) So please find a Butter that you like the flavor of. If you want a flavored shortbread, do what I do, use American butter, cause the European butter is way too expensive to cover up with extracts and such.
OK, now the recipe.....
Scottish Shortbread
1-2-3
There ya go, that is all there is to it.... Hmmm, I guess I should flesh this out a little bit.
OK....
1 part Granulated Sugar
2 parts Unsalted European Butter
3 parts Unbleached AP Flour.
TA DA!
OK, enough of the teasing.... But this is by weight, not volume...
4 oz Granulated Sugar
8 oz Unsalted European Butter
12 oz Unbleached AP Flour
1/2 tsp of Kosher Salt, (
though Celtic Grey Salt or Fleur de Sel are better)
The ingredient list is THAT simple, and infinitely scale-able. Such as 6 oz sugar, 12 oz butter, 18 oz AP flour & 3/4 tsp Salt...... 10 oz sugar, 20 oz butter, 30 oz AP flour & 1 1/4 tsp Salt... and so on and so forth. (
Please note that 1/4 tsp Salt is necessary per 4 oz of Butter)
The fun part is the assembly. So here we go.
Whisk Flour, Sugar and Salt together in a medium bowl.
Add sliced COLD butter and begin rubbing it into the flour mixture (
just like making Pate Brisee)
Bring the dough together slowly,
but try not to melt the butter with the heat of your hands (
you can use a pastry cutter as well)
Sprinkle a wooden mold with either Corn Starch or AP Flour.
Press the dough into the mold.
Sort of "smear" any excess towards the outside of the mold and remove.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400F (205C) degrees.
Tap the mold onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
(
This takes a little finesse, A LOT of tapping and occasionally some beating)
Bake for 5 minutes at 400F (205C) degrees, then reduce the heat to 325F (162C) and bake an additional 10-15 minutes; checking every 5-10 minutes - do not let the edges brown too much. (
which I did on the first one--- Oops! But that's OK, I get to eat that one right away) You want the shortbread to be "just" set in the middle, remember, this is real butter and it will burn very easily. Besides, there is a little bit of carry-over when they are removed from the oven.
In the mean time, redust the mold and fill with more dough, it can be chilling while the first one is cooking... Yes, it takes awhile this way, but they are so awesome look at, that it's almost a shame to eat them.
Then again, It IS Shortbread... (
Besides, I had that one that was over done, so I ate it)
Mangia!!
~~
Wash the mold in warm water before first use - I do not recommend soap as the stoneware appears to be similar to the Pampered Chef stuff and soap is a major no-no on this particular type of material.
Then gently sift either AP flour or White Rice Flour over the surface.
Now it is ready to have dough pressed into it.
The Beauty of Shortbread, is that you will never have to spray it with oil again. That is, as long as your using it for Shortbread, for the butter content is so high that your mold will, afters the initial oiling, stay lubed up for eternity. When you go to bake another batch, simply sprinkle it with more flour and voila!
Mangia!!
