Shortbread

I've no real tale so-to-speak on shortbread only I remember distinctly the delight my tastebuds felt the first day I bit into one assuming it was just a plain old rich-tea/digestive type of biscuit. They are so much more and require very little in ingredients or time.

One thing is though - don't overhandle the pastry oh and another don't overcook it - any biscuit/cookie hardens as it cools (outside of the oven).

You'll need........

200g unsalted, room temperature butter
100g caster sugar
230g plain flour
65g cornflour
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon cinnamon
23in round tin, greased and lined

You'll need to........

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius and line and grease the tin

Cream together the sugar and the butter using a whisker at a medium to high speed - it should take no more than four minutes. When it's nice and fluffy and all combined, mix in the essence

Mix the flours and sieve into the butter mix with the cinnamon. You can sieve two or three times to get it nice and smooth

Using your hands bring the dough together, here is where you shouldn't over handle

Put your ball of dough in the tin and using a rolling flatten it all out and make sure the edges are filled up

Cover in clingfilm and leave in fridge for an hour

Just before you put it in the oven score the pastry using a sharp knife into wedges and prick it with a fork as well

Bake in the oven for 35 mins until it starts to golden

Score and prick again once out of the oven

When it's cool you can cut it through or else you can just snap it apart

Serve with a nice cool glass of bainne

I shared it out with my colleagues on a hot Saturday and whilst most people either love or hate it, even the usual-haters came for seconds. The lovers came for thirds.




It's really easy to make if you're going somewhere and want to bring on offering or if you're hit with a burst of creativity and you need to make something and have to use what's in the press already. All you really need is butter, sugar, flour and cornflour.




It's fun when it's cool that you can actually just snap it apart, you can see the crumbly bits where it got snapped but it still held the shape. By close of business the plate was empty.