Shortbread Biscuits Sprinkled with Vanilla Infused Sugar

When it comes to making buttery shortbread biscuits we all have a favorite recipe and I love shortbread that’s light, crumbly and has a slight crunch. Visiting my sister-in-law and over a cup of tea, she brought out a tin of shortbread biscuits a client had given her. Knowing how much my sister-in-law loves shortbread, her client gave her a brief summary of the recipe… now passed on to me. You know you’re munching on a good shortbread when it ticks all the boxes.

Shortbread dough is so versatile and you can change the texture and flavor by adding different ingredients. A basic shortbread recipe consists of butter, sugar and flour. Unlike many shortbread recipes, this one uses melted butter instead of softened butter and uses rice flour and cornflour. Rice flour gives shortbread a slight sandy texture while cornflour gives a delicate crumb. Chilling the dough was not mentioned but I decide to rest the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes before baking, so the flours could absorb the oiliness of the melted butter. I prefer baking shortbread at lower temperatures for longer, keeping their customary pale color. Once baked, remove the shortbread from the oven and let it rest for a minute before cutting into fingers or squares with a sharp knife. Or, you could use a small square cutter like I did. Always cut shortbread when it’s hot and leave in the baking tin to further cool and firm up before removing and transferring to a wire cooling rack.

Shortbread can happily hang around in a biscuit tin for a week, but they rarely ever do… especially when home-made. Share these butter delights with friends and coworkers or take to school bake sales. Biscuits make delicious edible gifts and always look special when placed in pretty packaging.

Do you have a special ingredient that you like to add to your shortbread?

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