Wow, truly an amazing, authentic shortbread recipe. It's very buttery, moist, dense and MELT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH delicious. I agree w/ the other reviewers by needing a bit more sugar, so I added 1 extra tablespoon white sugar and dusted it with powder sugar immediately out of the oven. (No need for sugar on top b4 baking) I also added 1 tablespoon milk since it was a bit dry and made the dough nice n' moist. I've also used almond extract instead of vanilla the second time and it was VERY good. I cut mine into 1" x 2" inch mini bars and have it with a hot cup of English Breakfast tea in the morning or when I have company and it's HEAVENLY. Keep it in an airtight container and it tastes just like the first day.
What a hit! Thanks Kay!
Having said that - I have made the following modifications with great results:
4 tablespoons white sugar instead of 2 (not quite sweet enough for us the first time I made this recipe) Once pressed into baking dish/pan and before I put it in the oven, I sprinkle with about a tablespoon of white sugar so that it makes a wonderful sweet-crunchy top on the shortbread!
We have Myer Lemons growing in the yard here in Florida so I have also now come up with a lemon shortbread version of this recipe:
Add the juice of half a medium lemon and two teaspoons of grated lemon peel and toss in an extra tablespoon or so of flour to compensate for wetness of the lemon juice - we love this version, I have made this lemon version two times now!
I made 2 batches of this recipe, one hand mixed, and one using my KitchenAid mixer. The hand mixed one came out the way it is supposed to be, in a soft dough form, and it baked out nice and crispy. The other one came out nicely done too, but the dough was too runny, sort of batter-like. I think hand mixing is the way to go. Delicious.
These were very tasty but only after I made a couple of modifications (as suggested by other reviewers). When I followed the recipe exactly, the shortbread came out terribly dry and not sweet enough for my tastes. So I added 1/4 cup more confectioner's sugar, and 1/4 cup milk to soften the shortbread. With those modifications, it was delicious! Thank you for a simple, yummy recipe.
I came on here to find a shortbread recipe because my mother told me to take shortbread dough make two balls wrap & freeze it and then take 1/2 grate it sprinkle on your baking dish (I use a pizza pan) lightly spoon your favorite jelly on it take the other 1/2 and grate that on top. Bake @ 350 for 20-25 minutes. This is a great base for tarts! Cream chz & fruit. Tomorrow I'll be making this with a 3x berry filling fingers crossed.
For the love of GOD, don't melt the butter... make sure it's softened, NOT MELTED... mine didn't bake up right but I'm still giving it five stars because the taste is so wonderful, even if you ruin the batter! Will make again, and next time I'll follow the instructions!
My first time making shortbread and this turned out great! Taking others' advice I added extra sugar and a bit of milk to soften (actually I added cream). Also added a touch of almond extract. My husband is Scottish and he said these are nearly perfect.;-)
Absolutely the best shortbread hands down. Iv'e made it for birthday parties and the kids love it. Its not too sweet like most cookies and so much more can be added. I cut the dough in two and made them into rolls. You can roll them in sliced almonds or poppyseeds crushed peppermints for the holidays then slice them and place them onto the cookie trays for cooking. Fantastic!
These were easy rich and tasty! I froze them and served them a few weeks later and they were still like new. Thanks Kay...
hmm. I wasn't too "head over heels" for this one. Although it cut perfectly and didn't crumble a bit it was rather heavy--condensed. Surprisingly this was the first recipe I'd followed to a T on here! Not sweet enough either but I should of known that with the amount of salt it called for hehe.
