Happy Valentine’s Day people! What’s the plan? I am definitely hanging out with bae in my right hand and a mug of milk in my left. Cookies can be bae too right? As long as its a warm cozy moment?
For those of you who are feeling depressed or unloved, I just want you to know that you are awesome and worth more than that. February 14th is not even a public holiday. We still have to go to work, sweat it out, brace the crowd in the trains to come home and still cook dinner!
Feeling good already? In case you are still feeling crappy, just ring my doorbell, I shall pass you a couple of these delicious shortbread cookies.
So today I am sharing this amazing recipe that should be safe locked in your repertoire. Initially, I was not sure whether I should be calling this as the best shortbread recipe. It’s not like that the recipe isn’t good, because it is definitely one of the best. Having said that, just that you know when you search for a recipe on google and every description would say it’s the best recipe? Like you type for chocolate chip cookies recipe and you get a lot of results that say “The best chocolate chip cookies recipe.”
At times, I am intrigued. Mostly though, I’m skeptical.
Nevertheless, I don’t want 7.7 billion people in this world to be deprived of this very good shortbread recipe, hence the name remained as such because this Best Shortbread Recipe deserved that crown and it’s moment of glory.
Shortbread is Scottish by origin and is such a classic. A good shortbread should be buttery and crumbly. Since it does not require a whole lot of ingredients as a lot of a basic shortbread recipes only have 3-4 ingredients, the quality of butter is really important. One thing that I have to emphasize upon is that, splurge on the butter if you can.
I did Lemon and Thyme Shortbread and and the house smelled UBER AMAZING while these were baking away. You can do these plain or in SO many flavors. Other options would be
- Orange and cranberry
- Lavender
- Dried fruits
- Caraway and orange
- Rosemary
You can also drizzle them with white chocolate or dip them in some chocolate. Add sprinkles, if its your kinda thing. So many ways to jazz things up!
With regards as to how the cookies should look, there are a number of ways you can shape up these cookies.
You can roll them out and use cookie cutters to form them into shapes.
Secondly, you can roll them into a circle and cut into wedges. Yup like this one.
Finally, you can press them into a square/rectangle pan and cut them into squares/rectangles. This is the most classic way of forming a shortbread in my opinion. Although I just eyeballed the cookies while cutting it, you can use a ruler if you want to be precise. I also pricked the shortbread with a fork to create those little marks on the shortbread that you get on store-bought shortbread. Yeah look at me, a home baker and trying to be all fancy!
My mom loved these shortbreads so much that she was telling me to make these for Eid. Yup, Eid is more that 3 months away and she is already planning what cookies we should be making. I totally got that attribute from her. I mean it’s only Thursday but I am already thinking as to what should I eat on Sunday.
Store-bought shortbread are nice but home-made ones are superior. If you are feeling like having some cookies, then you have to give this recipe a try. I mean if you are gonna eat cookies, at least make it count.
- 200 g plain flour
- 70 g caster sugar
- 125 g good salted butter
- A small bunch of fresh lemon thyme , leaves picked
- 1 lemon, zested
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Preheat the oven to 160°C.
- Mix the flour and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Rub in the butter with your thumb and forefinger.
- Then add the thyme, lemon zest and vanilla.
- Push the dough in a 8 by 8 pan lined with parchment.
- Cut into squares or rectangles.
- Alternatively, you can roll the dough into a circle and place it onto a baking sheet lined with parchment.
- Once done, leave to cool, then put away in an airtight container.
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